Jocks and beauty contestants aren't cultivated for intelligencce, though she may have been reasonably intelligent but easily flustered. But education is a societal investment; we did fairly well because of the GI Bill. But later, and it hasn't gotten any better:
Returning home from World War II service as a gunner on an Army Air Forces bomber, Mike M. Machado went to St. Mary's University here with all expenses paid.
"My rich uncle sent me to college -- Uncle Sam," said Mr. Machado, now 70 years old, who went on to earn a law degree and become a state judge. Under the G.I. Bill, he received full tuition of $85 a semester and a monthly stipend of $250 that covered the living expenses of his family of four.
Almost 50 years later, Jacqueline Williams got out of the Air Force and entered a two-year college, but the $4,800 a year she receives under the G.I. bill did not begin to cover her tuition. It will cover even less when Ms. Williams begins a nursing program this fall at Incarnate Word College here, where the tuition is $13,500. She draws from Federal student loans and holds two jobs to pay her expenses.
A half century after Congress passed the G.I. Bill, a debate over the.....
nytimes.com |
