This is what I have learned from working in a working class mill city: Everyone is right, everyone is wrong. Or, once again, things are complex; too complex for our political system to handle.
Recently I've begun to see a new patient, Ray (not his real name). He's 23 years old (no he isn't, but let's say he is). He is from one of the local minorities; we have many different minority groups in this city. He came to me because he almost lost his temper and beat-up his cousin. His cousin, who was strung out on various drugs, was pushing his girlfriend around and calling her a whore. The cousin and his girlfriend already have a baby. They live off the money she gets from the state to pay for the child. They don't do much else. They don't seem to want to.
Ray lies with his mother, who works at the big chain store. His father is in NYC somewhere. His father comes home about three times a year. Ray dropped out of H.S. One day when he was bored he signed up to take his GED. He passed it all that day. Ray works, making $8.50 an hour cleaning up a pizza restaurant. He wants to go to college but he doesn't have the money. Two of his sisters already went to college. One is an LPN and works in a nursing home. The other got pregnant, dropped out, and owes about $15,000 in student loans that she will never pay. Ray isn't sure that going to college will help get him a job that will allow him to pay back the money he needs to go.
The politicians on the right say that giving money to poor folk to pay for college is a huge waste of money. Many of them drop out, or get ripped-off by these on-line private schools, or private trade schools. They say government programs waste enough money. They have a point.
The politicians on the left say that the only real way out of poverty, and to get Americans working again, is through education. $8.50 an hour won't pay for a car, not to mention a wife, a kid, a house. People need an education, a good education, life skills, job skills, thinking and problem solving skills.
I say, don't give or lend people money, make college free. Sate colleges should be totally free. They should also raise their standards so that when people graduate they not only know something, they know a lot. There should be free remedial programs for those who do not have the skills for college.
The money for those colleges should come from taxes. Everyone should pay taxes. It's like investing in our country. If you have, you should give. If you take, you should pay back.
But what if you're lazy? But what if you're crazy?
1 comment:
In Germany those who want to learn a trade become an apprentice for 3 years. They don't receive much money during that time and are often treated like crap but at least they don't have to pay for it and they actually learn something.
Ray would be able to attend an almost free high-quality university college/university ($750 a semester) and wouldn't even have to pay that if he's too poor, too smart, has a child or is disabled in some way. He also gets very affordable student health insurance and all kinds of help.
Sounds like a paradise but like you said - what if you're lazy, what if you're crazy?
*sigh*
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