Originally posted by Thomas Crowne
Logiclock, do you think the only two options are entry level jobs or crime. That's BS. One can work their way up without college, and it is not
unheard of for people to (GASP!!) start their own business.
In order to start your own business, you need money or loans. I know this from experience. And both are hard to get - you need to prove that you have
an education, or you have the assets to cover the banker's risk. If you read my post, I didn't say that those were the only two options available -
I said to most people, which is true. Try "working" your way up at a McDonalds (Managers top out around $9), or a Manager job at a supermarket. In
order to enter middle-management, a college degree is a virtual requirement. They want people to make educated decisions and understand the
implications.
Even the US military follows the same pattern. As an enlisted man, the highest you can go is Sergent (I'm aware of officer's training school, but
your chances are much higher with college). Go to college, and you can go in as an officer directly. It's like the model of corporate America.
Everyone wants educated people.
Regardless, education is not a God given right, and it sure as heck isn't the responsibility of you to pay for others' education. If you would like
to donate to someone's education, fine, that is a great thing. As a matter of fact, I would be all about such charities were I allowed to keep my
money, rather than the government deciding how much I should keep and where they should spend the money they stole from me.
OK! So write the government a check to refund your $4k that they gave you in tuition reimbursement, since it's unethical for others to finance your
education. After all, that $4k was stolen from someone else along the food chain. They sure didn't get it from the inmates.
As a matter of fact, I am aware that "rehabilitation" does not work, and that recidivism is very high. Education is not rehabilitation to begin
with, you are merely making a more educated criminal. How can you "rehabilitate" those who have not been first "habilitated"?
That's ridiculous, and you know it. Without rehabilitation, prisoners are guarenteed to come out the same. With rehabilitation, you at least have a
chance of making them better people. Not every prison sports outstanding rehab stats, but some do.
As I have stated before, people have the ability to get educated, whether it is through the loans I took and had to pay back, working at the same time
to eat and to feed my family, or through government programs that exist already. They do not wind up in prison because of a lack of education, and an
education is not what will repair their lacking in morals and character.
College isn't guarenteed to keep you out of prison, but remember: I said it was the 'best way' to make people into better citizens. I'm sure
you'd love the idea about state-run morality schools. And you can't force parents to teach kids morals, so what's your idea? The least you can do
is to invest in their minds and hope that they make better decisions as a result.
As far as getting laid off, I am aware of that scene. You make your destiny, or you lie in excrement in self pity.
I'm not exactly working the field in which I trained; I haven't opened an avionics component in a long time. But I am still employed and still
making a decent living. Is it because I thought about crime? No. Did my education have anything to do with that? Not any public education, higher
or otherwise. That training came from home. And no government funded school can duplicate that.
I don't care that I was laid off from those jobs. They were all dead-end. But I'm missing your point on how it relates to college. If I understand
you right, you're saying "College doesn't make you a better person, and nobody should be under any obligation to support it." Right? You can't
deny that college gave you more options for success. It's these other options for success that make life easier and take away some of the temptation
for criminal behavior.
When you get a degree and you're on a career track, chances are you have more to lose than someone who doesn't. If you look at the statistics,
there's a direct relationship between violent crime and lack of education, and there's no way to spin those numbers.
[Edited on 11-12-2003 by logiclock]