Posted on 04/04/2012 3:26:48 PM PDT by Libloather
Students angry over pricey courses pepper-sprayed
By GREG RISLING | Associated Press – 2 hrs 37 mins ago
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) — A state agency that oversees California's community colleges asked the attorney general on Wednesday to assess the legality of a school's plan to charge students more for popular classes.
The move comes the morning after Santa Monica College police pepper-sprayed demonstrators as students angry over the plan tried to push their way into a meeting of the school's trustees, authorities said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I went to SMC for two semesters. Yeah that was pretty much all I could tolerate in that school. For 13 dollars a unit your getting ripped off, especially with the kinds of far left freak teachers you get stuck with, glad I left, it really is a crappy school
>> Still there was a moment there when a baton-swinging charge would have transformed victory into poetry.
In my dreams: a phalanx of “baton” swinging university cops chanting “EAT MY CLUB! EAT MY CLUB! EAT MY CLUB! EAT MY CLUB! EAT MY CLUB! EAT MY CLUB! ...”
thx for the link
I am opposed to the use of fascistic tactics even by those who may have somewhat legitimate grievances. This seems like a very simple and obvious conservative position to me (i.e. respect for due process and the rights of others) but I realize that some people are too stupid and ignorant to get this. If this is your problem then I wish you the best in overcoming it.
As for the substance of the students’ grievances, we can only speculate since their protest was so inarticulate. But education at Santa Monica College is subsidized by California taxpayers and California is going broke fast. All services must be cut and all fees must be raised. So yes, they are asking for “free” stuff. They are asking (demanding!) that their subsidies be continued without reduction.
Finally, your post really makes no sense because you decry these students overspending on their educations but propose having taxpayers in general pay for it instead. If the education costs more than it is worth (due to outrageous salaries and pensions, etc.) then it doesn’t solve anything to have the taxpayers who never see the bill pay instead of having the student pay, see the bill, and then decide whether to buy.
If these kids are racking up huge debts at Santa Monica College and the education they receive will not increase their earning power enough to pay off that debt in a reasonable time, then they need to just do something else such as stop borrowing money and get a job.
So when you go clubbing you don’t necessarily take a dance partner with you!?!
You miss the point entirely, the whole reason that California is in such a mess is because of the over paid union parasites that infest every corner of the current educational system here. Just take a look at the UC board of regents, they jack up tuition by 30% last year claiming a “tough fiscal environment” then turn around and give themselves and all the UC administrators nice juicy 10% raises. The students have finally kind of caught on to the scam and are doing the only thing that’s really effective which is to get in their face and challenge them on it. If they did the standard tea party polite protest they’d be ignored so I agree with their tactics.
You on the other hand want to see some heads split open just so you can chortle about what clueless idiots these students are and how they deserve it for getting upset about not getting what you got when you went through the system. The ones with the fascist tactics are the school administrators not the students but you’re too blind to see that.
Whoops!
No shame. The mob was turned away.
I missed nothing. I acknowledged in my post that excessive salaries and benefits are part of what ails California. Extending subsidies does nothing to bring salaries down.
The students have finally kind of caught on to the scam...
There is no evidence that the students think that school employees are overpaid. You are just making that up. All we know is that the students don't want the price they pay to go up. Big deal. Everyone likes lower prices.
... and are doing the only thing that’s really effective which is to get in their face and challenge them on it. If they did the standard tea party polite protest they’d be ignored so I agree with their tactics.
This is garbage. The students used force and this is illegal, immoral and completely ineffective. You support fascistic tactics either because you are retarded or else because you yourself are a commie fascist. Conservatism requires that people use reason and obey the law. Go be a criminal elsewhere.
The ones with the fascist tactics are the school administrators not the students
C'mon. The administrators are holding a meeting and taking a vote, etc. This is what they are paid to do. The yelling and pushing and deliberate disruption of public business is the only thing fascistic here and it is the protesters doing it.
Actually, that meeting included students to voice their opinions, and those that held the meeting said they had no idea that many would show up, stating they didn't have the room for others to speak. Those in the hallways were basically shut out.
“You support fascistic tactics either because you are retarded or else because you yourself are a commie fascist.”
I’m not the one calling for peoples heads to be bashed in, that was you and is typically what “commie fascists” do to those that they don’t like, look in the mirror when you say that and it’ll be a whole lot more effective.
“The administrators are holding a meeting and taking a vote, etc. This is what they are paid to do.”
Ya sure its what they always do, have a nice polite meeting while they screw you blind. No need for public input, lets just have a meeting and do what we want to do, and oh by the way there are some serious questions as to how legal the action of these administrators are and what they did (jacking up the price on core classes) may be illegal but that don’t matter does it so long as everyone is nice and polite while taking it up where the sun don’t shine all is sweetness and light.
Any way it is clear that 1) you hate young people that don’t sit quietly in the corner while being screwed over by their elders, 2) you revel in blood letting and encourage violence against those that you disagree with and 3) you could really care less about the real problem which is not students getting angry at being financially raped but the greed and corruption of the administrators and all the other public officials that should have a hell of a lot more angry people in their face than they do.
“Actually, that meeting included students to voice their opinions, and those that held the meeting said they had no idea that many would show up, stating they didn’t have the room for others to speak. Those in the hallways were basically shut out.”
It doesn’t really matter, I’ve been to a lot of these meetings, both public and private and it’s always the same. A bunch of over paid public employees with a agenda. They’ll give you your 30 seconds and sit there waiting for the formality of “public input” to be done and over with. Once the legal requirements for public input have been satisfied they always vote the way they were going to anyway. I’m not sure why people even bother to show up. The only time these over feed idiots even pause their agenda is when people get pissed off enough to actually riot or cause some kind of mass disturbance which is why these kind of tactics have worked so well for the left. Bottom line is that if your polite they’ll just ignore you, if you get in their faces they may at least pause and may actually listen since at heart they are nothing but cowards.
If I see someone I like I can usually “seal” the deal.
“Would you like to come back to my place and see my cave drawings?” Whonk!
“You should be rooting for the students in this case as they are finally waking up to the realization that they are being royally screwed in order to prop up the outrageous salaries and pensions of the over feed unionized State employees. They’re not asking for free stuff as these colleges are supported by our tax dollars and were set up for the express purpose of providing a low cost alternative to the UC and CSU system.”
You so have a point there
A liberal society has no long-term ability to maintain basic services,much less higher education and other luxuries.We don’t live in a perfect world where higher education,given what it entails,can be all that cheap or free.
I honestly feel for the very young students caught in this,less so for uh professional learners who want to stay in college forever and who knowingly vote for some of the most corrupt politicians on the planet,just because they happen to have a D next to their name.
Again though a socialist society such as California,is not going to produce the surplus needed to keep higher education affordable.
I've attended similar meetings too...Eventually, I too came to the conclusion, it was an utter waste of time. Like writing your congress person...It's a waste of paper and no doubt they'll put ya on one of their lists.
“A liberal society has no long-term ability to maintain basic services,much less higher education and other luxuries.We don’t live in a perfect world where higher education,given what it entails,can be all that cheap or free.”
Higher education is a racket in the US and could be so much cheaper than it is today. The reason for the high costs are easy to identify:
1. Accreditation, in order for your degree to be worth anything in the job market or in order to get a professional license you must get your degree from an “accredited” school. Most classes could be taught on-line for literally free (MIT even has them available on-line for free you just don’t get credit for them) but because this would not be an accredited school you would not really have a degree that would be worth anything. The accrediting organizations don’t really enforce quality so much as quantity, by making sure there are limited accredited schools they ensure that tuition remains high and they will never accredited some on-line school that offers classes for free or very cheap.
2. Tenure - Another total scam, who ever heard of a job that you can’t be fired from except in the teaching profession. You would be amazed at how many professors teach only one or no classes every term yet are full time employees that can never be fired.
3. Federal government - The explosive grow in administrative staff at most universities is mainly driven (well not mainly but a good percentage) by an insane amount of federal/state regulations. This plus the natural tendency for admin to hire assistants at the drop of a hat.
4. Federal student loans - Right now the only organization giving out student loans is really just the feds, with no limit on the amount. This is basically free money to the colleges and because they know the feds will loan any amount there really is no real reason to control costs, so they don’t at costs have been going up at incredible rates (~10% per year).
5. Public employee unions - Most colleges are run by states and so all the employees are usually part of the public employee union which means fat salaries and even fatter pensions.
Given the cost drivers it is relatively simple to control costs but politically impossible, for now.
LOL!
Here is something that I hope these idiots learn someday, Higher education is not a Right, it is something that has to be earned AND PAID FOR.
Cheers!
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