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CLASS OPPRESSION [SIZE 5]“For the sake of the I shall give you the law.” One of the most incredulous things about the American voting population is their continuous focus on the wrong thing. When asked the secret of his success Wayne Gretzky replied, “I try to skate to where the puck is headed.” The one thing that has been repeatedly documented to reduce crime, increase property values, lower the trade deficit, increase the American GDP and generally enrich the American Civilization and expand the Meritocracy on which the prosperity of the American Civilization is based, is: educational opportunity. While breath is wasted on birth certificates, fighting gay marriage terrorist commandos and conformity to antiquated doctrines, our (yours and mine) and grandchildren have been marked as an exploitable economic reservoir for the manipulation of debt that has replaced the once proud, wealth generating American manufacturing base. The college and university students of America have been targeted as another wealth transference opportunity to transfer the money from the lower 99% of wage earners to the top 1% of wage earners. The mean spirited and obscenely greedy exploitation of our students runs the gamut from high rate “Student VISA” cards to the current short life span of college text books. Our students are the message America sends to the future. Instead of nurturing the future of our county, and our species, our students are being treated like sacrificial sheep for the alter of corporate profitability. We can afford massive “Family Farm” subsidies to Monsanto, ADM, Mobile-Exxon, RJ Reynolds and John Deere but we cannot afford to provide books and the other tools of a quality education for our students. Our students are the foundation of America’s future prosperity and the masters of our economic engines are forcing them into economic servitude. I have two things to share with you. The first is a published essay written by a recent graduate and then I also wish to share with you the published interim results of an ongoing study of the actual documented cost of educational failure. Student loan reform is needed now Students face enough of a financial challenge without lining bank executives' pockets. Congress, please take student loans from private banks and shift them to the existing government program. By Molly M. Claflin September 21, 2009 Congress is considering what may be one of its most important pieces of legislation this year: whether to take the student loan program away from private banks and shift it to an existing government program. The House passed the bill Thursday, and the Senate could take it up as early as this week. It's the first step toward reforming how students pay for college. And in this troubled economy, students are the best investment the government can make. Two-thirds of today's college students rely on loans to fund their education, according to the Department of Education. As the cost of college rises and interest rates creep up, everyone has suffered. Everyone but the lenders. The lenders are large for-profit companies that, under the current system, act as middlemen for student loans. But the government provides the money and assumes all the risk by guaranteeing the loans; the lenders broker the deal and make all the profit. The largest student lender, Sallie Mae, boasted an astounding 1,900% return on its stock between 1995 and 2005 and paid its executives hundreds of millions in bonuses. Or, to be more accurate, I and thousands of other students actually paid the Sallie Mae executives -- in interest on our college loans. Currently, students can get low-interest loans from a federal program or from a bank. The proposal in Congress would take the program out of the hands of for-profit lenders. The huge subsidies -- now being used to pad the pockets of bank executives -- would instead fund more government loans. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the plan would save the government $87 billion in subsidies over the next decade. Just think of what $87 billion could do, if reinvested in students. The proposal also would block a scheduled increase in the loan rates to 6.8% in 2012 from 3.4% in 2011. The bill would allocate $40 billion of the money saved to government Pell Grants, which benefit low-income students. The maximum annual grant would go up -- to $6,900 by 2019 from $5,450 in 2010. If Congress helps more students afford college, more could go on to invent the next supercomputer, write the great American novel, cure cancer or solve the climate change crisis. We're already working on all of these issues, but we need the government's help to succeed. The private lending companies argue that cutting out banks could result in more lost jobs. But the number of loan officer jobs that might be eliminated is far outweighed by the thousands of new jobs that could be created when you help more students go to college, thrive and start their own companies. The lenders even have the audacity to argue that cutting out the banks takes away an important revenue stream at a time when they're already hurting. This is exactly the problem with the current system: It puts the lenders before students. One of the largest lenders, Citibank, has received billions in bailout money, yet the bank is making huge profits on loans to students struggling to pay monthly bills. Take away the subsidies to the for-profit lenders and their profit margins and it will mean more money available for students. Then maybe more of us could answer President Obama's call to service; to skip the private sector and instead focus on serving our communities -- often the reason many of us went to college in the first place. More could practice public interest law and help secure the rights of the poor, or practice medicine in underserved, rural communities. More could return to the classroom to help the next generation succeed. It's hard to save the world when you know that all of your hard work is going to pay for some executive's bonus. Reforming the student loan system creates a snowball effect. By helping finance a student's education, the government helps that student embark on a successful career. Years down the line, that student will be able to buy a house, a car or a business. And long term, it will build a nation of educated, career-minded and socially minded citizens who can help create a better future while paying into Social Security and the tax system. As I make my transition from classroom to community, I understand that I owe a debt to society. I appreciate the opportunities I've been given and the loans that helped me afford them. But student loans shouldn't be a Wall Street business venture. They represent the struggles and dreams of millions of families to help the next generation succeed. They provide hope, encouragement and a chance to focus on the huge challenges before us. The money you invest in us will be returned in the form of a better world. Just give us a chance. Molly M. Claflin is a recent graduate of Stanford Law School. If we do not have college and university gradates who will then seek careers in to benefit society such as; education, city planning, humanities, sociology, law enforcement, dance, medicine, accounting, recreation, dance. . . What will happen to the even younger students? Here is a study on exactly what educational failure will cost: From The Los Angeles Times: Dropouts costing California $1.1 billion annually in juvenile crime costs Study finds that cutting the dropout rate in half would save $550 million and prevent 30,000 juvenile crimes a year. Law enforcement urges more dropout-prevention programs. By Seema Mehta September 24, 2009 High school dropouts, who are more likely to commit crimes than their peers with diplomas, cost the state $1.1 billion annually in law enforcement and victim costs while still minors, according to a study being released today. The California Dropout Research Project at UC Santa Barbara found that cutting the dropout rate in half would prevent 30,000 juvenile crimes and save $550 million every year. "This study demonstrates the immediate impact dropouts have on both public safety and the economy," said project Director Russell W. Rumberger. "If California could reduce the dropout rate, it could subsequently reduce the juvenile crime rate and its staggering impact on the state budget." Drop-out statistics are notoriously difficult to pinpoint, but according to the state Department of Education, nearly 19% of students don't graduate from high school. In Los Angeles County, the figure is more than one in five, and at some L.A. schools, fewer than half of students graduate within four years. The California Dropout Research Project previously studied the economic effect of not finishing high school and found that for each group of 20-year-olds who fail to complete high school (roughly 120,000 per year), the economic loss is $46.4 billion. Lawmakers asked the group to study the immediate costs of dropping out, so they focused on juvenile crime. Law enforcement applauded the research and urged more intervention programs to target students at risk of dropping out. "The connection between dropping out of school and juvenile crime is very clear," said Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer. "The simple fact is if aren't in school, they're much more likely to be on the streets causing trouble, engaging in criminal activities such as burglary, thefts, graffiti and arsons." Dyer and others urged the governor to sign legislation, SB 651, which would require the state Department of Education to produce an annual report that accurately depicts the number of students not finishing school. The report would also identify early signs that a student might be on the path to dropping out, such as truancy. Such indicators would allow schools to target at-risk students. "Dropout prevention is crime prevention," said Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, chairman of the board of the nonprofit Fight Crime: Invest in , a bipartisan effort by law enforcement officials and crime victims. "Schools need better tools for identifying potential dropouts so they can target interventions at the who need them most." Rumberger said the savings from reduced crime could be used to fund drop-out prevention efforts. "Interventions pay for themselves," he said, noting that the state will see $2 in savings for every $1 invested. Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times |
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10/1/2009 7:29 am |
Nice article Ricky. But I think we have enough lawyers, sociologist, elementary school teachers, History majors and other assorted non-productive non essential educated unemployed folks. Lets provide assistance to more essential cirriculums like medicine, science, and divinity majors......have a nice day... "The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind."....T. Paine
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Please don't forget the skilled trades!!! We need more carpenters, plumbers, electricians etc. etc. Yes, education is certainly a key factor, and so little money, compared to other areas, is spent on it.
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10/1/2009 6:16 pm |
Please why is everyone determined to put words in my thoughts.....I said we have enough of them I did not say we didnt need them......tyvm....Also it would be nice if you respond to the blog instead of my comments....Sorry Ricky "The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind."....T. Paine
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10/1/2009 6:18 pm |
Amen Rocketship as a former Vocational teacher I couldnt have said it better. "The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind."....T. Paine
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10/2/2009 4:35 pm |
Exactly. The only way to solve a problem is to fist define it.;
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10/2/2009 4:40 pm |
flirty; You make many valid and excellent points. However the issue I wish to draw attention to is the PREDATORY LENDING PRACTICES that allow banks to collect outrageous administrative fees for handing out federal dollars to students.
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10/2/2009 4:44 pm |
I cited this concern in my segue to the second article.
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10/2/2009 4:47 pm |
Exactly. Without quality teachers who will lay the foundations of an education? The issue I wish for all to be cognizant of is THE RIP OFF OF MONEY LINING THE POCKETS OF BANKERS instead of the being spent on education by qualified students.
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10/2/2009 4:57 pm |
Please don't forget the skilled trades!!! We need more carpenters, plumbers, electricians etc. etc. Yes, education is certainly a key factor, and so little money, compared to other areas, is spent on it.
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10/2/2009 4:59 pm |
Please why is everyone determined to put words in my thoughts.....I said we have enough of them I did not say we didnt need them......tyvm....Also it would be nice if you respond to the blog instead of my comments....Sorry Ricky
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