Posted on 03/14/2015 5:18:15 AM PDT by maggief
President Obama on Saturday urged Americans to sign his new “Student Aid Bill of Rights” and collectively work towards reducing the cost of higher education.
“In an economy increasingly built on innovation, the most important skill you can sell is your knowledge,” Obama said in his weekly address Saturday. “That’s why higher education is, more than ever, the surest ticket to the middle class.”
“But just when it’s never been more important, it’s also never been more expensive,” he added. “The average undergrad who borrows to pay for college ends up graduating with about $28,000 in student loan debt.”
The president touted several of his initiatives aimed at lowering that price tag. He cited expanding tax credits, giving more Pell Grants, reforming student loan programs and pushing for free community college as examples of progress. Despite these, Obama said, such measures were not enough.
“But all of us — elected officials, universities, business leaders — everybody needs to do more to bring down college costs,” he said. “Which is why this week, I unveiled another way that we can help more Americans afford college. It doesn’t involve any new spending or bureaucracy. It’s a simple declaration of values — what I call a ‘Student Aid Bill of Rights.’ ”
Obama said the document lists four principles. It starts by saying every student deserves access to a “quality, affordable education.”
From there, it states students who take out loans should have access to “resources to pay for college” and an “affordable repayment plan.”
Finally, it said borrowers deserve “quality customer service,” “reliable information” and “fair treatment” during the repayment process.
The president asked Americans to sign his new declaration and then share it with as many friends, family members and students as possible.
“In America, a higher education cannot be a privilege reserved for only the few,” Obama said. “It has to be available to everybody who’s willing to work for it.”
The “Student Aid Bill of Rights” is available at WhiteHouse.gov/CollegeOpportunity.
Those days are gone forever on a slow boat to China courtesy of fowl trade.
College worked for me.
I have a PhD in Mathematics. I also still have the little footstool I made in high school shop class, where I learned to use almost every one of the tools in the carpenters' toolkit. I've never regretted the time spent in woodworking shop or mechanical drawing. The skills learned there have served me well in life, even though I never held a job as a carpenter.
Whether they learn to use handtools in school or from their father, children need to know those things.
When I was teaching in Turkey, one day my department chairman remarked to me that the big difference between the engineering students he knew when he studied in America, and the students coming into Turkish universities, was that American engineering students were familiar with hand tools. I wonder if that's still true.
Construction. Thirty-odd years ago a lot of guys entered the construction trades by starting at the beginning as framers or roofers or painters and working their way up as they gained skills and experience. Some guys financed college educations by painting houses during the summer. Now I defy you to find a painting crew or a roofing crew that speaks English. Find a framing crew that isn't from south of the border.
In one generation that work force was gone! They started recruiting 18 year-olds as "full time associates" who had to be trained and 'work-hardened.' which meant they had to be trained to use the simplest of tools without hurting themselves. HS Grads, many could not read, write, or do shop math. (Used to be 7-8th grade stuff.) They train the brighter ones for that, too. Showing up was an alien concept for many, even with a Honda bonus for 30 days on-time show up! Those that stick with it are the old-fashioned 'set for life' American worker.
No union ever.
Dirty Little Ohio Secret: Honda operates a 2-tier employment system, with a cadre of "associates" who are paid big time rates + fabulous benefits, plus many more part-timers who are limited in annual hours, pay, and benefits, and who cannot become "associates" no matter how good they are and even if supervisors want them! It all works and nothing leaves the plant unless it's (a) perfect, and (b), paid for!
Foreign manufacturers in general, BTW, make a bee-line for rural areas where they still hope to find trainable good workers with an already decent skill set. They avoid "urban" workers like the plague, although they may even send a bus to big up a few presentable examples for their 'stats.'
I agree, but you didn’t answer the question: what nation is getting rich off of construction? And in my area, some of the crews are hispanic, most are white. So I “defied” you. There are plenty.
College in and of itself confers no advantage unless one is taking courses relevant to a productive life. So much money has been wasted on “soft” liberal arts courses that are irrelevant to life as we know it. I feel sorry for those who spent four years as lotus eaters. Society will leave them behind to a marginal existence
For the most part, college is nothing more than a jobs program for unemployable liberals and a money-laundering operation for the Democratic party.
I will. Thanks. My only fear with Khan is that he’s left of center and teaches the prevailing liberal wisdom. His math stuff is very good, though.
*****
your explanation seems reasonable.
Just wondering: do you have any explanation---if there is nothing controversial about Obama's high school and college records---why Obama doesn't simply release his high school and Occidental and Columbia undergraduate records?
If Obama's high school and college records have nothing controversial in them, I wonder why Obama puts up such a ferocious fight to keep his records from the public by hiring high-priced lawyers to make sure that his Occidental and Columbia undergraduate records are not released to the public. It looks suspicious to me.
For instance, I heard that some of his Hawaii high school records---even part of his elementary school records---have mysteriously disappeared while none of the records of Obama's classmates are missing.
Obama: Release your Occidental and Columbia undergraduate records. By doing so, you can finally put to rest the hot rumor that you enrolled at Occidental as a foreign student from Indonesia.
No one factors age and experience in either. Late hubby was 30 yrs 2 way radio repair, his course work was Engineer level, worked up to trouble shooter level and took all the workshops he was offered and was sent all over the US to fix big problems local shops couldn’t. When the company folded, all he could find were jobs that offered beginners wages $18K a year. No health benefits, and you paid for the moving. At 50+ every one wanted his experience but not willing to pay for it. He died at 57 massive heart attack.
Then you have to factor in that 2 way radio except for LEO and Fire is now a obsolete field. Cell Phones have replaced it.
This is really an Occam’s Razor issue.
Is there one person who’d think less of Obama (whether or not they like him now) if he found out that as a 17 year old kid Obama had ticked a “foreign” box in his application to Oxy? I don’t think so: confirms what birthers think they already know, doesn’t mean a thing to lefties who already think that American exceptionalism is bigotry.
But there are a LOT of people who have a lot invested in the idea of Obama being extremely smart and intellectually diligent, and would be shaken up badly to see bad grades and low board scores ... and the simple fact is that standard affirmative action policies, read against his academic path, could have allowed him to have had pretty bad grades and board scores at very points.
******
This is mirse.
I disagree with your statement above where you talk about what the public would think if it learned that Obama may have checked the "foreign" box on his Occidental application in 1979.
If all 17 year old Obama did was check the "foreign" student box on the Occidental application, I don't think that Obama would be facing a serious problem today.
But it becomes a very serious problem that could be a felony if Obama applied for and accepted scholarship money and student loans specifically reserved for "foreign" students. That is fraud, and is a felony.
Again, if Obama accepted scholarships and student loans at Occidental and Columbia reserved for "foreign" students, he would have committed fraud and a felony>
This means that Obama should have been disqualified from running for president in 2008 if he did indeed commit fraud when he filled out his Occidental application in 1979.
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