News Roundup – education, fracking and more
Over one trillion dollars in student loan debt
I’ve talked about this before, but one of the things that is going completely wrong in our society has to do with education and the cost of education. Yes, I’ll go ahead and say it, “back in my day…,” getting an education was a no-brainer. The cost of education was relatively miniscule compared to the rewards. College was expensive but affordable. The average middle-class family could afford to send their son or daughter to almost any school in the United States. Although some families had to take out loans, the loans weren’t overwhelming, crushing and never-ending. Today it is different. With the median income of the middle class stagnant or falling and the cost of higher education continuing to skyrocket, making the decision to go to college can place the average American family into a debt spiral that they can never get out of. The honest truth is that there was a time when states thought that they had a responsibility to educate the population. States and the national government subsidized student education. Over the years that subsidy has lapsed. This requires the student to take on more and more of the burden.
Yesterday, I briefly talked about rape and sexual assault in the military. What I forgot to mention was the pitiful excuses that are being thrown around. For lack of better phrasing, I will just say the “they are young men with raging hormones” excuse is possibly the worst. Where in the world are we supposed to find young men that are more disciplined and more trained to follow orders than the US military? Rape and sexual assault in the military must stop and must stop now.
I love David Letterman’s explanation of fracking. He is 100% correct.