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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mary Cluney who wrote (328270)	10/9/2009 10:38:41 AM
From: skinowski	17 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793698

If you had to explain America’s economic success with one word, that word would be “education.” I disagree. It was respect for individual rights and the spirit of entrepreneurship. Education was and remains important - but the USSR had a very decent and completely free educational system, and yet their "economic success" remained... well below par, to put it politely. China has more smart people - many of them educated - than our entire population. And yet, it's taking them a while to catch up. Whatever economic success they enjoy did not take place until they embraced a very considerable degree of economic liberation and respect for ownership - and a market style of economic thinking. Sometimes I find Mr. Krugman - with all his fame and his Nobel and all that - to be, with all due respect, not all that terribly bright.

To: Mary Cluney who wrote (328270)	10/9/2009 2:34:17 PM
From: MJ	Respond to of 793698

Mary Cluney Thanks for posting the article by Paul Krugman calling for more stimulus money for public education such as the Community Colleges in California with which I fully disagree. As Paul Krugman wrote------citing California as an example- "As a result, education is on the chopping block. And laid-off teachers are only part of the story. Even more important is the way that we’re shutting off opportunities. For example, the Chronicle of Higher Education recently reported on the plight of California’s community college students. For generations, talented students from less affluent families have used those colleges as a stepping stone to the state’s public universities. But in the face of the state’s budget crisis those universities have been forced to slam the door on this year’s potential transfer students. One result, almost surely, will be lifetime damage to many students’ prospects — and a large, gratuitous waste of human potential." Mj COMMENT: The Community Colleges seemed to some people to be a good idea when the idea took hold nationwide. Temporarily they appeared as the panacea for getting more Americans into colleges and Universities------as a bridge to being productive members of society. One can continue to ask for more money to flow from the Federal Government to the States and localities; however, I submit that it is not necessary and only prolongs what is now needed a major revision of the educational model that includes Community Colleges. This nation moved from a classical form of education to include the community colleges; thereby, prolonging the time that people spent and now spend pursuing a basic BS or BA degree, much less an MS or MA degree leading to a doctorate degree. In other words, America has lost its bearings in education leading to some people becoming "professional students as they follow the current route from daycare through the numerous stages of public education". It's time to take a look at that great experiment. Do we truly need Community Colleges that prolong the academic education? Is it time to eliminate that middle step of Community Colleges in public education? mj