Domestic Issues, Education

Students are standing up!! (updated)

Posted on: March 4th, 2010 by ecthompson md No Comments

I really like this. Students have gotten the shaft in this country for 30 years. Reagan raised student loan fees and interest rates. The states followed and it has been open season on students ever since. Why is tuition so ridiculously expensive?

From CNN:

A movement born of $1 billion in budget cuts to California's state university system has blossomed into a nationwide protest, as students and professors in 33 states will challenge administrators and state lawmakers to ante up.

Most of Thursday's demonstrations will focus on cuts to state-funded colleges and universities, which supporters say drive up tuition, limit classes and make higher education unobtainable to many.

A blog called Student Activism said in a Twitter update that 122 events are slated from coast to coast -- most on campuses, and some at state capitals.

Dissatisfaction, anger and an uncertain future have led professors and students to call for a day of action to defend education. (more...)

From LAT:

A day of passionate protest against education funding cuts attracted thousands of demonstrators Thursday to generally peaceful rallies, walkouts and teach-ins at universities and high schools throughout California and the nation.

From Los Angeles to New York and from San Diego to Humboldt, students, faculty and parents at many schools decried higher student fees, reduced class offerings and teacher layoffs in what organizers described as a "Day of Action for Public Education."

"We are paying more to get less of an education. That’s why I’m out here today to protest against that," said Cal State Long Beach art education student Jessica Naujoks, who joined an estimated 2,500 others at a campus rally there.

There were reports of some trouble in Northern California. Demonstrators blocked access to UC Santa Cruz and smashed the windshield of a car, triggering denunciations of such violence. At UC Berkeley, fire alarms were pulled in some classroom buildings, interrupting lectures. But statewide, no arrests were reported by early evening. (more...)

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ecthompson

I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're so up in arms about.

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MH

I am not sure they are asking for it to be less. But if they raise the tuition and don't offer the classes even if there is a waiting list. The students just want to be able to finish in the shortest amount of time. I know that is what bugs my son. Is the part of not being able to get the class. There are waiting lists to get into these classes you would think it would pay for the instructor.

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Joe White

I have no problem if American students want to take a lax attitude toward their education and party the 4 years away. Just don't expect me to consider the level of government funding a crisis in that case. Why should the quality and result be more important to me than it is to the recipient? If American students busted their hinies like the Japanese students do, maybe Americans would think it worth it to pay more.

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MH

You know I think the officials making the cuts are worrying about what these graduates are going to do. So lets make it more difficult to graduate and then maybe they won't come after my job. My son started college late since he was in the army. Now the classes he needs to finish his degree are not there. Not for lack of people enrolling for them but for the budget cuts. Graduate school in our home state won't be possible since the other state schools have dropped that program. So the student loans are going to be huge for out of state tuition. The jobs aren't there for the uneducated that pay since they want to fill the positions with graduates.   The tuition increase would be acceptable if the classes weren't eliminated..

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MH

You are funny.  That is okay Japanese put their education first and see how they are doing.

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Joe White

College students need to grow up, knock off the binge drinking, get a job and work their way thru school. If they want to be treated as the adults they are supposed to have recently become, they need to act like an adult. Most college students enjoy an extended childhood of dependence when they are supposed to be becoming independent. Ask not what your country can do for you. Get off your and do something for your country. Educational inflation has outpaced the rest of the economy for a long time, and there is no reason to keep throwing money at professors to enable them to coddle these college students. State universities, tighten your belts. It's on.

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  • Errington C. Thompson, MD
    Errington_ThompsonDr. Thompson is a surgeon, scholar, full-time sports fan and part-time political activist. He is active in a number of community projects and initiatives. Through medicine, he strives to improve the physical health of all he treats.
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