January 16th, 2008
Obama and Edwards and Vegas, Oh My!!!
Plan A: Carson City
I intended to see Senator Barack Obama speak on Monday night. A friend and I made the 30-mile trek to Carson City to hear the Democratic candidate’s views on the state of education in our country (and to collect a little fodder for this blog post). Yet as we approached the community center slated to house the town meeting, we were greeted by a never-ending python of Obama supporters with over-sized campaign signs and poorly drawn banners grasped firmly in hand. Visions of my first trip to Disneyland immediately came to mind, especially the three-hour wait at Space Mountain that my father and I suffered through in the blistering heat of southern California. And though my friend and I contemplated weathering near-freezing temperatures to wait in line with the rest of the lemmings, the allure of a late dinner and a cocktail proved too much for us to ignore.
Plan B: Vegas!!!
No, we didn’t continue our venture down Highway 395 to Sin City (although a vacation and a warmer climate would’ve been nice). I’m talking about the Democratic debate that took place on Tuesday night at Las Vegas’ Cashman Theatre. This time, only Senators Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John Edwards were asked to attend.
Similar to the New Hampshire debate, the war in Iraq and the economy took center stage in Vegas. MSNBC’s Brian Williams and Tim Russert asked questions that often pitted the candidates against each other on various aspects of these issues. Yet I must give each of the senators credit for sneaking-in their plans for improving education in the United States. Of course, the customary ’scrap No Child Left Behind’ and ‘institute universal pre-K’ were mentioned at length.
For this post, however, I want to focus on a few words uttered by Sen. Edwards near the beginning of the two-hour broadcast. While answering a question on the economy, he proposed free tuition and books at a public institution of higher learning for any student who works at least ten hours per week. I don’t know about you, but that’s about 99.9% of students currently enrolled at a college or university. (To see a more detailed explanation of Edwards’ plan, check out Peavine’s post on the senator).
So what do you think of a tuition/work plan? Although a ten-hour workweek seems a little measly, could this idea help fix our nation’s postsecondary education problems, or would it create a whole new batch of issues? It would certainly make a college education more accessible to the citizens of our nation (which I’m all for). And how would it affect online education, since a majority of distance-learners also hold full-time jobs? Should more be done for them?
Though I firmly believe in the maxim “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” Sen. Edwards’ proposal is too good not to discuss. Let me know what you think.
10 hours? Why, In my day, you had to work 20 hours AND wait in line like lemmings for everything.
Comment by redhead — January 17, 2008 @ 12:51 pm
Ten hours sure does seem pretty minimal. How could the state system possibly afford something like that? I worked 10 hrs/week when I was in college, and frankly didn’t really consider it “working during college.” I like Edwards’ idea in general, and I know college keeps you busy, but to get free tuition, I’d think the kids would have to work a leetle bit more.
Comment by Calliope — January 18, 2008 @ 6:47 am
As usual, I like Edwards’ plans. Talk about making higher education more accessible! What he should do is add some kind of environmental (”green collar job”) bent to to it. If you volunteer for an environmental cause (guidelines needed of course), you receive some sort of educational bonus. Or something. Oh – and maybe for those working in a full time job for a non-profit or NGO, the tuition waiver applies – which addresses the full timers who also attend online.
Comment by Nearly Graduated Office Worker — January 24, 2008 @ 5:07 am
Hi Nearly,
Thanks for the comment. I like the idea of green collar jobs and tuition credits. I think the number of occupations that qualify for these credits definitely should be expanded, and a ‘green collar’ program would contribute to our ’save the environment’ efforts.
I also think the ‘community service for tuition’ plans in the works should be extended to include almost all volunteer work, not just AmeriCorps, Teach for America, and the like. If a person volunteers at a cancer treatment center or coaches a Little League team, I think they deserve a little bit of compensation. I know that people should do these things out of the kindness of their heart, but that just doesn’t seem to be enough for some. Maybe tuition reimbursement will nudge some folks to do a little bit more.
Comment by A. Dupin — January 24, 2008 @ 7:44 am