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Obama, in jab at Santorum, says college not a luxury
reuters.com ^ | February 27, 2012 | Caren Bohan and Samson Reiny

Posted on 02/27/2012 7:12:07 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe

WASHINGTON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - In a veiled jab at Republican White House contender Rick Santorum, President Barack Obama said on Monday that a college education was not a luxury and pledged to do all he could to rein in skyrocketing tuition.

"We can't allow higher education to be a luxury in this country," Obama said at a White House meeting with Republican and Democratic state governors. "It's an economic imperative that every family in America has to be able to afford. And frankly, I don't think any of this should be a partisan issue."

In comments last week that stirred controversy, Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, criticized Obama's emphasis on higher education.

"President Obama once said he wants everyone in America to go to college. What a snob," said Santorum, who has sought to court blue-collar voters and conservative Republicans as he vies to become the Republican presidential nominee to challenge Obama in November.

On the campaign trail, Santorum has also compared public schools to factories and called for a reduced role for the federal and state governments in education.

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Having EVERYBODY go to college would be a burden on our economy. It would take an enormous amount of money and, by the time it’s over, college degrees would be - to borrow a phrase from Dave Barry - as common and as valuable as bowling trophies. So more and more people will seek higher degrees, which will cost more and more money ...


21 posted on 02/27/2012 7:36:40 PM PST by Irish Rose (Will work for chocolate.)
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To: mardi59

Or better yet, bring back the high school standards that actually meant one was competent.


22 posted on 02/27/2012 7:36:40 PM PST by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults.)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Oh really, mister president? Every kid HAS to go to college? How is it then any more than 13th - 16th grades?? Blue collar workers make more than most humanities grads today. How would it be any better?


23 posted on 02/27/2012 7:42:06 PM PST by Yaelle (Rick Santorum for People's Representative)
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To: Jonty30

Or better yet, bring back the high school standards that actually meant one was competent./

I’ve been watching that show “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader and sadly most of the contestants do not do well. I literally cringe when I see this. It is a sad testimony as to what happening in schools across the country.


24 posted on 02/27/2012 7:45:10 PM PST by mardi59 (I'm not looking for MTV, I'm looking for MVP. Newt 2012!)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Apparently he wants everyone in Indonesia to go to college to, since he just announced a large grant to pay for Indonesians to get MAs.

After all, he was an Indonesian citizen when he got a government scholarship for foreign students to attend Occidental College.

Besides, we need to give the Muzzies more of our tax money.


25 posted on 02/27/2012 7:47:21 PM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

When Dictator Obama dictates that “ - - - every family in America has to be able to afford __________ “ (fill in the blank), then he means to take your money, and your yet to be born descendants to achieve whatever HE wants to do to America.


26 posted on 02/27/2012 7:49:47 PM PST by Graewoulf (( obama"care" violates the 1890 Sherman Anti-Trust Law, AND is illegal by the U.S. Constitution.))
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To: mardi59

“...maybe he should figure out a way to keep half of them from dropping out of highschool first. “

...but a “soft” bachelor’s degree is basically a “remedial high school” diploma these days, isn’t it?


27 posted on 02/28/2012 7:39:02 PM PST by The Antiyuppie ("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.")
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To: The Antiyuppie

All colleges do anyway is create more liberals.


28 posted on 02/28/2012 7:40:42 PM PST by mardi59 (I'm not looking for MTV, I'm looking for MVP. Newt 2012!)
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To: mardi59

“All colleges do anyway is create more liberals.”

Well, at one time, that was true...briefly, until they started actually making money, owning a home, having a career, kids...and then they became reliable conservatives.

This is true today, also: after a few years in em and pee’s basement, scraping together enough dough at a miserable dead end job to begin to pay back debt, and balding before you even think about getting married, it may not even take as long.


29 posted on 02/28/2012 7:45:27 PM PST by The Antiyuppie ("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.")
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To: mardi59

This show is no joke. I am absolutely certain that a good number of my junior high school peers at that age could easily take on college students today. It’s frightening, really.


30 posted on 02/28/2012 7:48:25 PM PST by The Antiyuppie ("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.")
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To: The Antiyuppie

It is frightening, and sad.


31 posted on 02/28/2012 7:56:56 PM PST by mardi59 (I'm not looking for MTV, I'm looking for MVP. Newt 2012!)
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To: Tailgunner Joe
College IS a luxury that way too many families just cannot afford anymore. The more government got involved, the more expensive it got. So many parents, and many students, go into great debt to get into a 'good' college, then the kids major in some liberal arts program that won't pay enough money for them to be on their own for many years.

Except for kids who major in the hard sciences, Mathematics, and possibly some Business courses, most won't be getting top paying jobs, and will be in debt to those colleges for a LONG time. Too many kids who might prefer to enter a trade are discouraged from doing so by those with a snobby attitude toward technical or trade schools, when if they did that instead, would come out with a real skill, and owing a LOT less money than their college educated peers.

32 posted on 02/28/2012 8:03:01 PM PST by SuziQ
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To: Tailgunner Joe

The product of Occidental, Columbia and Harvard proves Santorum’s point.


33 posted on 02/28/2012 8:11:20 PM PST by depressed in 06 (6 November, 2012, the day our embarrassment is sent back to Kenya.)
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To: SuziQ

I have a fairly well-paying professional job right now.

I am seriously considering taking welding courses. A welder who once did some work for me told me “you won’t get rich, but you won’t ever starve either”.


34 posted on 02/29/2012 4:29:23 PM PST by The Antiyuppie ("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.")
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