http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/01/18/todays-college-students-should-demand-from-lawmakers-the-same-opportunities-those-lawmakers-received Comments On: Today's College Students Should Demand From Lawmakers the Same Opportunities Those Lawmakers Received by Goldy en-us Copyright 2013 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Sat, 25 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Sat, 25 May 2013 17:30:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Your description of college sounds like what I experienced in high school.

I went to a state university (and not a name-brand one), but I was still fortunate enough to find a group of students interested, not just in getting good grades, but in learning and mastering ideas. I discovered the pleasures of intellectual exploration, in and out of the classroom. I morphed from being a B-C student in high school to graduating college with honors, then going on to get three graduate degrees.

Some of the chage is due to more maturity on my part. Some was luck, because I was admitted to the university's honors program based upon my test scores rather than my high school GPA. But, yes, college was a transformative experience for me, and as a teacher with nearly 25 years in a high-school environment, I've seen it transform many, many students, too. First, though, they have to be able to afford it.
Posted by Clayton]]> Mon, 21 Jan 2013 11:25:11 -0800 The Stranger
We all know dumb people with a 4-year degree. We all know bright people who barely finished high school.
Posted by clashfan]]> Mon, 21 Jan 2013 09:06:31 -0800 The Stranger Posted by gnot]]> Sat, 19 Jan 2013 21:08:41 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Ken Mehlman]]> Sat, 19 Jan 2013 09:56:16 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Free Lunch]]> Fri, 18 Jan 2013 20:12:19 -0800 The Stranger
People spend way more on (mostly untaxed) services these days, or buy goods on the internet (often untaxed). If we had a tax code that keeps up with economic growth (yes, I'm talking an income tax here), we wouldn't be in the revenue bind we are today. And it would cost taxpayers no more, on a relative basis, than it did 30 years ago.

Sales taxes also mean the poor in WA pay incredibly high tax rates, while the wealthy pretty much skate right by. Something has to give - namely: the rich need to give more (pay higher tax rates), and the poor less (lower tax rates).


Posted by cloudveil1]]> Fri, 18 Jan 2013 15:41:02 -0800 The Stranger I was looking for this link. finally found it.
http://crosscut.com/2011/08/11/washingto…
(am I going to get slaughtered for posting a like like this?)
This article seems like an easy summary of some of the things that state govt does now that it did not before. yes, more things, and things got more expensive as well.
I'm all for less expensive state-funded public education, but something has to give, somewhere. I'm only trying to point out that the general fund is limited, and we can't have everything we want.
Posted by semi-crepuscular]]> Fri, 18 Jan 2013 14:49:44 -0800 The Stranger Posted by cloudveil1]]> Fri, 18 Jan 2013 14:44:04 -0800 The Stranger Posted by cloudveil1]]> Fri, 18 Jan 2013 14:41:03 -0800 The Stranger
The census maintains web-accessible records of state spending by category back to 1992. In 1992, Washington's real per capita spending on higher ed was $726. It is now $855. (To be clear: those numbers are inflation-adjusted and per head of population, not per student head.) I'm sure no one disputes that if I dug up records going back to 1975 and 1985, they would show an even larger real per capita increase.

What is happening is that the average state taxpayer is investing moderately more in higher education, but that sum is being dividided among a much larger fraction of the population that wants to avail itself of higher education, and to some extent also into a much fancy-schmancier higher education experience (star profs, LEED buildings, etc.)

If Goldy really wants to return to buying the same higher education we did 30 years ago, that's fine by me. I think far too many people are going to college anyway.
Posted by David Wright]]> Fri, 18 Jan 2013 13:18:28 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Mattini]]> Fri, 18 Jan 2013 12:58:11 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Original Andrew]]> Fri, 18 Jan 2013 12:43:28 -0800 The Stranger
The problem is that people weirdly and incorrectly assume that those in power want to invest in education, infrastructre, building a prosperous middle class, etc.

No. Their goal is to totally annihilate the middle class and the poor, and they've largely succeeded already.

Even as the middle class implodes, people ask "what's wrong with the eCONomy??" There is nothing wrong with the eCONomy--it's functioning precisely as designed.
Posted by Original Andrew]]> Fri, 18 Jan 2013 12:39:17 -0800 The Stranger
@21 nails it. University education is one of the few remaining tools for contesting the 1%'s drive toward neo-feudalism.

Pricing higher ed out of reach is another expression of official disregard for medieval levels of inequality. It's what fuels revolts.
Posted by Che Guava]]> Fri, 18 Jan 2013 11:50:47 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Goldy]]> Fri, 18 Jan 2013 11:37:28 -0800 The Stranger
@12: The plural of anecdote is not data.
Posted by kk in seattle]]> Fri, 18 Jan 2013 11:32:01 -0800 The Stranger
Plus, college education can teach people critical thinking skills, which is unacceptable in a screw-everybody-but-the-already-rich plutocracy.
Posted by screed]]> Fri, 18 Jan 2013 10:50:06 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Subdued Excitement]]> Fri, 18 Jan 2013 10:46:34 -0800 The Stranger
@15 I'm aware that my personal experience gives me an anti-education bias. That doesn't mean my mind can't be changed on the subject. I have a definite pro-gun bias, but arguing w/ people on the internet has slowly but surely convinced me that stricter gun laws might be a good idea.
Posted by Ken Mehlman]]> Fri, 18 Jan 2013 10:34:54 -0800 The Stranger Posted by semi-crepuscular]]> Fri, 18 Jan 2013 10:33:22 -0800 The Stranger
Until you realize a capital gain it is untaxed, and it's untaxed when you "donate" it to a "non-profit" which does what your hobby was and gives you free box seats and free limo rides to sports games and your "non-profit" private jets - all of which pay no state taxes or any other tax for that matter.
Posted by Will in Seattle]]> Fri, 18 Jan 2013 10:24:12 -0800 The Stranger
I hate the children of WW2 parents.
Posted by Westlake, son!]]> Fri, 18 Jan 2013 10:18:01 -0800 The Stranger
Your experience may not be the same as the the experience of others. The difference between understanding and not understanding that is what often separates the good from the bad.
Posted by douchus]]> Fri, 18 Jan 2013 10:12:35 -0800 The Stranger Posted by chaseacross]]> Fri, 18 Jan 2013 10:12:13 -0800 The Stranger Posted by oyezoyezoyez]]> Fri, 18 Jan 2013 10:09:55 -0800 The Stranger