Journal HanzoSan's Journal: The reason why I am not and can never be conservative. 11
Our education system, while alot of people say more money cannot fix it, the only way I think it can work is if we pour money into it. Conservatives usually believe in private education, and this is the main reason why I could never be a conservative.
Let's ask each and every conservative a question, how many of you went to public schools, then we can take it to the next step and ask them how many of them would be able to educate themselves without the public school system?
Private schools cost money, and the only way our economy works at all is through the education system, I see investing in education as the same thing as investing in R&D, companies do this, why shouldnt our government?
Conservatives say they support tax cuts, I could be convinced to support tax cuts. I could also be convinced to drop most of the social programs, like welfare, free healthcare, etc. I do however think education is an essential service which every human has a right to. No one would be where they are today without an education, and to think that people should inherit their education quality, should we just go back to the system europe had, where peasants arent allowed to read or get an education and nobles are allowed to get the best education?
Its 2003, in this day and age education is manditory for survival. So what would I like to see a president do? I'd like to see the education budget be at LEAST half the military budget, because just like its important to build a big gun, its also important to have the intelligence to control the guns we create. Education and Knowledge should be free, physical objects can be sold, services can be sold, food, water, shelter, all of this can be sold, but once you begin to sell information and knowledge, this is where the true divide begins.
What happens when all knowledge is controlled by an elite class and the price of knowledge is raised so high that 99% of the world cannot afford to learn? If you cannot learn you cannot get a job, if you cannot get a job you have no class mobility, so I'd think it would be essential for anyone who supports the conservative agenda to always allow a person with nothing to someday through hard work move up. When it actually costs money to move up, well then no one moves up, the people at the bottom of the pile will stay there forever because they are too poor to afford the new programming book, or to learn the new math, or to go to school or college.
What is my solution? Make education free for all, allow a person in the USA to get a free education up to a bachlors degree, increase financial aid funding, increase funding to public schools, build more schools so that schools can be smaller, share as much information as possible, try to create free books to compete with the books that cost money and give the free books away to poor communities who we know cannot afford to buy them, etc.
I'm not against the conservative agenda if it allows class mobility, when you know for a fact that class mobility will be impossible due to the fact that information and education has a price, how can you support the conservative agenda and call it fair?
Yes there are libraries but for how long? The RIAA is declaring war on all public knowledge. Microsoft is declaring war on public knowledge. This is why I support the open source movement and file sharing, its supporting the spread of knowledge. Sure I'd like people to get paid, but there must be a balance, there must be free knowledge along with knowledge which isnt free, when we get to a point where one company buys all the knowledge that matters and controls everything(like microsoft or what the riaa is trying to do to the music industry)
The only thing you can do to stop a knowledge monopoly is to begin a boycott. So I will never buy another RIAA CD, or another software product from Microsoft. I will do my best to support any product which competes with it, and any software product which is open source.
As a solution, I will start buying used CDs. I suggest others do the same, and try Linux, its free.
Post your comments.
insightful piece.. (Score:1)
as for the riaa/microsoft stuff, I stopped buying them a long time ago
Re:okay, I'll bite (Score:2)
Re:okay, I'll bite (Score:1)
I wasnt allowed to do that, the public education system failed me, if not for the computer and the internet I would not be as educated as I am.
Public Education is not responsible for my knowledge. However I also have a talent with computers and can learn best using them, not everyone is like me.
Re:okay, I'll bite (Score:1)
I would hope so. Most systems have at least some standards.
Re:okay, I'll bite (Score:2)
That depends on how much money your family makes. My single parent family making $20,000 a year could not afford to put me in private school, it just was not an option at all.
So you say conservatives arent in favor of paying twice? You forget that the poor dont pay for public education, believe me private school costs thousands per year, yes I'd put my kid in private school but Its not my mothers fault that she got a salary of $20,000 a year simply because shes a woman.
Educated or not, women make unfair
BS degree (Score:2)
Right now, everyone and their brother has a high school degree (essentially free), so those of us who really want to succeed must spend the money/time in college to get a BS and set ourselves apart. If, under your plan, everyone has a BS, then those of us who attend college now will just have to go through even more schooling to set ourselves the same distance ahead. The only way your plan could work in this respect is if a BS was stil
Re:BS degree (Score:1, Troll)
Uh everyone does have a BS/BA now, thats why it should be mandatory.
When you have to compete with 6 billion people, and most of them have some kinda degree, your degree is worthless. This is why people with BS degrees dont have jobs in the tech industry, even if its from MIT.
my take on this (Score:1)
Anyhow, I have never heard this about conservatives only liking private school. I attended public school and received an excellent education. I was even able to test out of 18 hours of college credit because of the rigorous training I received at my PUBLIC school. The public schools in my parish were excellent, b