The ignorance of the American electorate is obvious. One need only follow our election campaigns and see who gets elected. Madison said 250 years ago and it is emblazoned on my high school that “Education is the true foundation of civil liberty.” This ignorance can be reduced with proper education. Fundamentalists in particular, fanatically resist that the government wants to educate their children. Republicans cater to them by pushing educational decisions to the local levels, where the curricula will be established by the dunces in their midst. They are terrified that their young might learn something modern. This is great for republicans because with an ignorant electorate they can be convinced to vote against their own self interest. One of the reactions to federal standards by some of these dunces is home schooling. Just calling it that is a joke in many cases (not all). A function of government is to educate its people. And the people who administer it should be the smart ones, not the dunces.
Proposals to make college affordable to all is essential, especially now. Back in time, I got a college degree and a good one, which cost me fifty dollars per semester. I got a masters degree in the Air Force. And I went to graduate school on a PhD program on the GI bill. So college level and graduate school cost me virtually nothing. My children are saddled with student loans but at the undergraduate level they once weren’t too bad. Tuitions were reasonable at ivy league colleges. But later on, law school and business school are draining them. And my grandchildren are even worse. Today college students without means and their parents are saddled with huge debt and can’t find jobs that pay enough to cover it. The banks are raping the students. The cost of money for banks is close to zero and the interest they charge, which republican congress refuses to change, is obscene. At least something is being done to take the loans away from the predatory banking industry. But a democratic platform is and should be to make college level education affordable. In most of Europe, college is free for those who want it and have the intellect. It was once so in the US and I believe could be again and should be. State schools should be as close to free as possible with totally free being the goal.
Where will the money come from? Don’t get me started. I don’t have the time. Kudos to Harvard for what they are doing for low income families. Maybe other schools will follow suit. I live in hope.
