Posted on 11/09/2005 10:43:17 AM PST by texassizednightcrawler
Higher education is slowly becoming a catalyst for a class system in America and Congress is fueling the problem.
Congress is proposing to cut financial aid funding to students. Any student whose family is classified under the level of "lower-middle" class is going to have a difficult time finding finances to receive a higher education. I once heard someone say, "The world needs ditch diggers too." Well, that is fine and dandy, but digging ditches barely keeps pay above the poverty level.
The class system is slowly emerging, driven by America's higher education system. Rich kids will get to go to college, while the poor ones will not be able to afford it. The same privileged few running our country will continue to rule. The poor will continue to struggle to live, thanks to less government assistance.
I know, less government assistance raises red flags and allegations of "just live on welfare your whole life," but what does the government expect people to do? They wonder why people pump out five kids to receive more benefits. Granted, there are some citizens who plot and scheme so they do not have to work, but not everyone thinks and operates that way. Some just do not have the resources and the ones they do have are limited.
Which brings me to the point of my column: Is a higher education worth it under America's capitalist system? Think about it. Students are financing their lives away for a degree. Getting a degree does not guarantee a student a job when they graduate. Do you know how many people I know who are waiting tables to pay off their loans because they cannot find a job in their fields? It is not a trend just occurring in West Virginia, but across the country, in cities large and small.
The further I go in my college career, I realize I should have attended a two-year trade school. I could have been making money by now, rather than adding to my debt acquired while in school. Think about it. In a capitalist society, going to trade school is your best bet. No taking classes not related to your major and racking up loans. No getting caught in the "well-rounded" education trap emphasized at four-year institutions. What better way to fade into oblivion and join the "capitalist machine?" At least then, citizens can make some money sooner to survive.
As students, our backs are against the wall. If you do not go to college, you do not make enough money to provide for yourself. Go to trade school, you might luck into a job that pays more than $25,000 a year, but chances are, you will end up working a service job until you die, because there is no such thing as retirement in the service industry. They just do not have credible two-year journalism schools in the "system's" eyes.
I once had a respected, tenured professor tell us in class, "A well rounded education means you can recite poetry at the dinner table." Learn from this proverb. Tell your Congressmen that cutting financial aid is not the answer if they want to save money. Revamp and evaluate the school system itself. If you want qualified workers to fuel capitalism, then make it worth it for a student to go to a two-year institution, not a penalty. Cut out the unnecessary courses provided in four-year colleges and help students save money, while getting the training we need to be productive pawns of American society.
YES! YES!! HAA-HAA
bump
This is like saying that those who don't take these classes or who don't go to college have no appreciation of the human condition, which is totally false. People who are interested in the human condition do their own reading - they do not need to be forced into it.
But as you say, different strokes for different folks.
"A liberal Arts education teaches one how to live, but it does not teach one how to earn a living.
I would not put the hard sciences into a "learning by yourself category" for most people, although I've taught myself a programming language or two when my job required it. Philosophy and the humanities, yes. That's why they make less money in the market - because they are easy to learn.
For the recored. I work two jobs totaling sixty hours a week on top of the 18 hours I take at Marshall University and yes Marshall will accept any idiot with a check book. Too bad this idiot is the managing editor, that is why I am allowed to write columns.
Hate to tell you this, but i work sixty hours a week on top of a full scholl schedule. I have worked since I was fourteen and have paid all of my bills on my own. My mom is disabled and my father has not been around for a long time. Way to go skippy.
Ok, school. see what a $40,000 college debt gets you. haha
I'm not sure why you're so full of vitriol at me. What did I say to you?
And, Skippy, I'm a 52 year old woman on my 2nd career, working, going to grad school, running a home. At one point, I worked in NYC, commuting daily from Philly, and taking classes at night. My husband died when my son was 14 and I have been doing everything for us as a family since then. Everyone does what s/he has to do.
You're not the only one who gets to play the violins, Skippy. You don't get to tell me about working and carrying the heavy load that life handed you.
scholarships. Kids whose parents make "enough" can't get many of them.
I JUST DO NOT BUY THIS.
You have learned well, young grasshopper. Your liberal masters are most pleased.
It is the Government that is the source of all assistance and all wealth.
If Government assistance is not available, then the "poor will continue to struggle to live".
Very, very good, grasshopper.
Oh wow, do those pics fit the serious goals of FR?
What you say is a load of bull. I don't EVEN HAVE my Associates of Applied Science in Graphic Design yet and I have had job offers STARTING at $25,000 a year. My old man has an Associates of Aviation Electronics he got while in the Air Force. Upon retirement he had his pick of the lot for jobs. He now makes $60,000 A YEAR!!! with just an Associates! He could have worked for an airline as a technician but turned it down because of the up-down economy of the airline industry. So don't tell me that a trade school is worthless. People with Microsoft certification make lots of money. And all of my relatives who started out with an associates degree in the hospital industry were never hurting for jobs as they worked as Nursing Assistants along the way while trying for their RN degree. A Bachelors may be required for some degrees, like Journalism, but in many fields you are overqualified.
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