Posted on 02/16/2008 4:42:18 PM PST by jdm
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Obama Says Community Colleges Key to Economy
Community Colleges: Doing the work high schools won’t do.
Sadly true.
What’s the need here?
Community colleges wouldn’t be necessary to teach the basics, if the public high schools improved their performance, but Mr. Obama isn’t going to point that out as it doesn’t look well for the NEA.
As far as technical education, America already has a plethora of proprietary schools teaching everything from computers to tattooing. How fair is it for a businessman who owns such a school to get increased competition from the government who doesn’t concern itself with profits?
McCain got hammered for saying the same thing in Michigan.
On this issue, I agree with Obama...and stop with the glorified high school comments.
He wants to give college students $4,000 tuition credits, to make community college “completely free” for most Americans.
Free? Someone will have to pay for it...the taxpayers.
And we can’t do a decent job of educating kids in 12 years, so let’s tack on 2 more.
While I feel education is a good thing, and there is some merit to the proposal, what we are going to find in a practical world is that no amount of financial aid for education is going to change the attitudes of inner city residents.
The net result of more education aid will be even greater disparity between those willing to take up the challenge of actually improving their lot in life and the professional victim class.
The only way we are ever going to improve the lot of the very poorest in our society is to somehow change their attitudes and beliefs.
Actually, a lot of students use community colleges to earn a very reasonably-priced 2 years’ college credit before transferring to a 4 year school. If you take the right classes practically everything can transfer to the 4 year school.
I’m not for making them “free,” as Obama advocates because nothing’s free. However,when I hear about or read stories about college grads with crushing student loan debts because they attended some private college for four years, I always wonder how much they could have saved by going to a much cheaper community college for classes like Western Civ, or Chemistry I or other classes like that.
I was agreeing with the community colleges being a good step to a four year university. Forget offering them for free.
People have a tendency to misuse “free” government handouts and take them for granted. Once something is “free” it loses its value.
If they want the users of the “free” education to work off the aid, then fine, just don’t take it out of my pocket.
Not true. Community college can be a stepping stone to four year university, not glorified high school. It isn't for "teaching the basics." Also some of the best tech education around. Maybe the value of the community college depends on its locale.
Admittedly now they've dumbed down some of the classes at the community college because the kids coming out of high school cannot keep up. That wasn't the case when I attended,not such a piece of cake back in "the day."
I liked being able to live at home with my family a few extra years. Saved lots of money by going that route and then transferring to the university.
You are absolutely correct. Especially in the medical/dental field (LPN, ultrasound tech, x-ray tech, dental assistant (w/x-ray cert). In 18 to 24 months you can have a good paying job. The CC in my county has an excellent rep and outstanding placement office.. I see the commercials for ‘medical assitant’ programs at business schools on TV and I just cringe...a better tech. program is offered at the CC for less than 1/3 the price. Community colleges are an outstanding resource (particularly for adults re-training for a career shift). I have to agree w/Obama on this one as well.
Maybe in some states, but here in MA, that would only buy you 8 courses, and that's the equivalent of one year of schooling.
Community colleges are wonderful resources, but since they ARE so inexpensive, it's a great way for folks to learn self-sufficiency by paying for it themselves, or their parents doing it, if they want to do that. Why should the government pay for someone's full education? They can already get financial aid for their classes; there's no need for additional tuition credits, other than to cement the middle class into entitlement programs.
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