KaskadskyjKozak

Could you be any more repugnant, or throw an even noisier temper-tantrum?

ummm, are you playing the (humorless) role of j_bot now?

Fixed that for 'ya

I would say it all depends on the young man or woman. If they had a particular inclination and skill set, were interested in some trade but thinking that for some reason the had to go to college to "succeed" - well then a bit of an analysis is in order. I know folks, including family, that in retrospect would have done a hell of a lot better getting trained in, say PT assistant or dental assistant; plumbing or engine repair - rather than the English and Labor Studies degrees they came out with - both from a financial and overall life benefit standpoint. Exactly. It depends. And maximizing salary is not everything in life.

I've seen stoners eat raw top ramen. That can't be good for you. :noway"

While I think that there should be more done to provide access to kids going the college I would argue just as much for impoved access to technical schools and apprenticeship programs. Shoot - my car mechanic has got to be the most well-read, well-educated person I know. AND he knows how to fix things, which most college grads seem to be afraid of. Plus, he works 4 days a week and likely matches or beats my salary. College is definately not the only alternative and certainly not the only way to develop critical thinking. Yes. Precisely.

Homeopathics! a very lucrative area of private education, as i understand it.

While I think that there should be more done to provide access to kids going the college I would argue just as much for impoved access to technical schools and apprenticeship programs. Shoot - my car mechanic has got to be the most well-read, well-educated person I know. AND he knows how to fix things, which most college grads seem to be afraid of. Plus, he works 4 days a week and likely matches or beats my salary. College is definately not the only alternative and certainly not the only way to develop critical thinking. Yes. Where is the head slamming into desk emoticon? What I love is how a thread about the Greek economy imploding, which in large part is due to excesses in government bloat, morphed into "US education is too expensive", then into "college is good". The next step of course is to make the connection from "college is good" to advocate funding through taxes everyone's college education, and ignore the excesses that this causes (which we already see mentioned in this thread), leading in the worst case to economic collapse - hello Greece! But hey, let's just spew a few banalities about corporate shills, freedumb, etc. and demonize the right-wing to ignore the real questions and problems.

I've heard pot can help the chronically morose learn to laugh. Sounds like medical marijuana has a future for j_bot!

SERVICE GOON!

Don't get me wrong, I'm psyched that those folks can get back to doing whatever it is they were doing and free up some resources better spent somewhere else. But after spending time in Los Angeles over the last couple years and seeing plenty of the homeless and destitute with joints to their lips instead of pints of MD 20/20, I'm skeptical about the broader impacts. Real good marijuana-infused baked goods down there though... Soma for the peeps!

No, no, no... the public needs to finance any and all educational choices, irrespective of what tangible benefit such an education may yield, and irrespective of the (rising) cost of the education. Don't address the cost issue at all. Make the rich pay. Great conclusions from our "educated" liberal cohort and their critical/thinking/analytic skills, no?

There is no such thing as "free".

BTW, I agree with you on the utility of General Ed. requirements beyond pure-tech. That's kind of why I chose to go here: linky rather than take the easy way out elsewhere on the same university campus.

Interesting. How did you "realize" that? I mean, did you know JayB when he was 20. I did. He lived one room over.

Of course all of Americas ills would be fixed if only everyone could go to college irrespective of aptitude or will. The result will be an enlightened populace of intellectuals who all can read, write, think critically, and, of course, vote dumbocrat! And everyone will make more money, live healthier, and not work at Walmart or McDonalds!

No, I think his claim is they didn't get a four degree because of bad parenting and access counts for nothing. One thing's for sure. Less access to higher education is definitely better for America. Cuz, you know, college doesn't really make you any smarter - not if you don't deserve it, anyway. No correlation or causality required. Hell yeah. Drop all admissions standards and just pay for tuition 100% with taxes. One size fits all for everyone!

"PS: The biggest hurdle I face in the engineering world is people who can't write or communicate worth a damn " I'm sure they're thrilled to communicate ideas with you.

which shouldn't be too difficult since no moron follows you around smearing your person at every turn. Insults take various form: for example they can be crude or not. Your not being crude doesn't mean you don't use insults and personal attacks. Commenting in this fashion without providing a demonstration of your claims once in a while is acceptable in my book but doing it at what seems every single appearance of yours on this board puts you in the same category as KKK. YOU dispatch more gratuitous insults than anyone else in this thread j-bot.

Which people? In your work, don't you operate under the assumption that everyone should have equal protections under the law? Maybe I misunderstood you, but your statements on this board implied that you thought everyone should have access to health care. Maybe our fields of should are just more or less wide. As far as politics go, politics (when defined as a field of struggle over power) is all there is, I've never posted anything here that would suggest otherwise. Given you postings, I think we're talking about a difference in attitude, not viewpoint. We worship one thing here: Money, and we're paying the price for that on a very personal level. How do we turn America to a values based society? One issue at a time, I'd wager. Money will always be an important practicality, but it would be nice not to see American's sell their privacy, altruism, satisfaction, and health so cheaply. For example, I was at a fambly gathering this week and heard a tea bagger go on about how we should legalize drugs but allow insurance companies to charge them extra. Sounds really reasonable, right - until you get to the details, which, of course, would involve mandatory drug testing for all insured. Ie, to save a few bucks a year, this 'libertarian' was willing to give up a substantial aspect of his privacy - even down to his bodily fluids. Ever apply for a mortgage? Apply for a job? Submit to a credit check? Background check? Answer smoking or non on a life insurance form? These are all voluntary exchanges that come with a set of conditions that people can either agree to or refuse. Giving an employer consent to conduct a background check, for example, is vastly different than enacting legislation that grants the government or any other entity to do so without your knowledge or consent. The idea that anyone who is willing to disclose whether or not they smoke, drink, climb, or go cave diving in exchange for a private party selling them a life insurance policy can't have legitimate reasons for thinking that all of the above are none of the governments business is quite amusing coming from a self-described civil libertarian. Picking and choosing what to nickle and dime people with for insurance premiums is not the right direction we need to go in. We need things to be simpler with less stupid barriers rather than the other way around.

more passive aggressive behavior from you, but of course no specifics per usual. Jim seems more the openly aggressive type. More action, less talk...that kind of thing. not from my perspective since I have been the recipient of countless personal attacks below the belt from him mostly without any explanation. He seems to be playing the same game Attila plays. His challenges to your non-substance-based hand-waving are actually quite above-the-belt.

Don't electrocute yourself.

Amen to that! You finally got it right!

So that is your "platform"? Exactly the contents of that link are what you propose, with no deviation or exception to anything? You might try dropping your content-less stream of insults and babbling-terminology-spew and actually state a solution for once, j-bot.

j-bot offers nothing but arm-waving. You can try to twist that arm all you want to give a "solution", but past experience has shown that what he has to offer is nothing but a denial of reality (e.g. the whole question about addressing state-deficits when tax-increases have been rejected repeatedly by the voter), and a refusal to consider any alternative that involves any kind of sacrifice, whether it be a budget cut, or personal lifestyle change (cue up the "austerity narrative" in 3...2...1). Having some kids wait a few years working is not a bad idea. Considering the propensity for a good number of freshman to guzzle beer and hit the clubs, I'm not sure I buy the idea that money and time is really as dear a resource to quite a few as is claimed. Working part time is an option as well - cut course load/units from 16 to 12, work part time and take 5 years instead of 4. Doesn't seem that bad an idea.