No Child Left Behind or Another Bush Con-Game?

B_VinylBoy

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You missed the point. I illustrated the cost of college as a comparison to the cost of public elementary and high school education. College shoud be way more expensive. I don't expect a poor inner city kid to have $3000 for a year of college. I do wish the public schools of DC, with a budget of $13000 per child, to do a better job. You don't, so we will never agree.

I highlighted the problem here.
By making college more expensive, you're essentially making it even more difficult for the poor to better themselves. Some will do their best to graduate with honors, get high school diplomas and/or GEDs, only to go for many jobs and be turned down because another kid was able to go to college at these high rates and has a degree. Even I have had to struggle landing a job. I wasn't able to finish college, but I do have over 16 years experience working as an IT temp & Computer Help Desk Specialist in various print & design firms and music entertainment companies. Yet, the new kid fresh out of college and with a degree would always get looked at first even though he has no real work experience. This is some of the unfair prejudices that people without college degrees have to prepare themselves for. And as college tuitions and student expenses continues to rise, this vicious cycle will continue and many more people who deserve opportunities to get ahead will have them pulled from underneath them all because they were born & raised poor.

BTW, I never said that schools that do have the budgets shouldn't do a better job. But many school districts don't have the funds to begin with. Others, as in the example you listed above, probably have budgets where the money doesn't get where it would benefit the students the most.
 
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Wyldgusechaz

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I highlighted the problem here.
By making college more expensive, you're essentially making it even more difficult for the poor to better themselves. Some will do their best to graduate with honors, get high school diplomas and/or GEDs, only to go for many jobs and be turned down because another kid was able to go to college at these high rates and has a degree. Even I have had to struggle landing a job. I wasn't able to finish college, but I do have over 16 years experience working as an IT temp & Computer Help Desk Specialist in various print & design firms and music entertainment companies. Yet, the new kid fresh out of college and with a degree would always get looked at first even though he has no real work experience. This is some of the unfair prejudices that people without college degrees have to prepare themselves for. And as college tuitions and student expenses continues to rise, this vicious cycle will continue and many more people who deserve opportunities to get ahead will have them pulled from underneath them all because they were born & raised poor.

BTW, I never said that schools that do have the budgets shouldn't do a better job. But many school districts don't have the funds to begin with. Others, as in the example you listed above, probably have budgets where the money doesn't get where it would benefit the students the most.

A lot of people mis understand what college is really about. I have checked on tuitions nationwide. You can go to Florida State university for $2800 yearly tuition. San Diego State same cost. University of Texas $8000. Ohio State $8000.

Now understand REALLY what college means. Except for some limited degrees, like maybe accounting or journalism, a college degree is simply a TOOL that you use like a hammer or screw driver. It says I went to school, spent the time to get a degree, and proved I can get thru a 4 year curriculum. "Hire me, because I have shown some degree of industriousness, some degreee of intellectual aptitude, and the abilty to run laps and get thru what is essentially a chore to prove I am a little bit better than one without a degree." Period.

The degree only gets you in the door. Thats it. You get in that first door, and then you start kicking down any other doors that are set in your way by what you produce in real life, in real time. The marketing class you took 6 years earlier is worthless. The English Comp class you took sophomore year is even more worthless, although I guess worthless is the bottom so more worthless is a bit redundant. You get what I am saying. Get the cheapest degree you can and then show your stuff in the actual world.

You are right tho, true experience should trump a nominally valuable degree.
 

B_VinylBoy

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Now understand REALLY what college means. Except for some limited degrees, like maybe accounting or journalism, a college degree is simply a TOOL that you use like a hammer or screw driver. It says I went to school, spent the time to get a degree, and proved I can get thru a 4 year curriculum. "Hire me, because I have shown some degree of industriousness, some degreee of intellectual aptitude, and the abilty to run laps and get thru what is essentially a chore to prove I am a little bit better than one without a degree." Period.

Exactly. A tool to essentially put you ahead of the pack. But it's a tool that is only reserved for those who can afford it, and doesn't always represent the best candidates. You could essentially pick up a degree in Graphic Design, still not know how to fully operate Photoshop, and get your foot in the door at a prestigious firm over someone who actually has the knowledge. To me, a degree only states that you spent the time to earn the title of something... and it gives employers a person to point a finger at if things don't go as planned.

The degree only gets you in the door. Thats it. You get in that first door, and then you start kicking down any other doors that are set in your way by what you produce in real life, in real time.

That's essentially what everyone wants. A chance to prove themselves. Degree or no degree, what really should matter is the end result and a person's effectiveness to complete a task properly.

The marketing class you took 6 years earlier is worthless. The English Comp class you took sophomore year is even more worthless, although I guess worthless is the bottom so more worthless is a bit redundant. You get what I am saying. Get the cheapest degree you can and then show your stuff in the actual world.

But settling for a "cheap degree" doesn't always work in one's favor as well. If you take two people with the same Computer Science Degree, one got theirs from MIT and the other got theirs with Honors from Salem State College, which one do you think is going to get the nod first? Again, it gets to the point where people who just don't have the monetary assets to get ahead are getting left behind. It's all part of the issues around social class in this country that really needs to get fixed.