Yes socialism is teaching the world to set back and wait for the government to save you. It makes it better later as you can blaim them for our sorry exsistance...lol
Nas,
There is a direct relationship between the US welfare system and its miserable educational performance ratings among all industrialized countries.
What is the incentive to seek a college education for generations of welfare freeloaders? NONE.
Getting pregnant at 15, dropping out of school and get fed by the government like mother and grandmother did is the easier way out.
And if the baby needs a little extra, she can always convince the baby's father to knock off a couple of liquor stores for cash.
I have tried to explain to several FSU women why this situation casues resentment, rejection and little tolerance among the main stream in US.
Their point of reference is completely different.
None of them can understand why anyone would intentionally reject as much public education as they can possibly getfor the sake of governemnt subsidies that keep them stuck among the lowest social economic levels.
Its a hell of a lot more complicated than that toad. In the FSU there was a direct corelation between the education that one received (IF one qualified for it through means of apptitude testing) and the economic success that people had. Obviously hard sciences provided the best opportunities, but even state sponsored postions in the arts and humanities provided respect and better income and opportunities.
Students RESPECTED teachers who were seen as real professionals - and being slected for a professional or academic program was a privalege not a right.
UNTIL THE FALL of the USSR engineers got jobs as engineers, artists had positons as artist (and better apartements etc.) OF COURSE there are unemployed professionals NOW in the FSU. BVut that is a recent phenomenon.
In the US there is no opportunity driven education system. We all know people who have degrees and will never work in their area of study. College is seen more as a right of passing for the middle and upper classes and not as a means of advancement for the lower class. A way to kill four years and at the end of that time you get a piece of paper that says what you already knew - that you are a member of the upper or middle class - and that you can cooperate with some program for four years - and now maybe someone will hire you for something (though not neccessarily what you studied).
I won't argue that social programs in general quench any fire to get ahead. And there are families that have been on welfare or assistance for generations and they see it as a perfectly acceptable way of life. I also dislike Social Security because it a giant Ponzi scheme that steals from EVERYONE and breaks down the traditional structure of the family - totlally breakig the dependent bonds that kept us together - and almost forcing grandma and grandpa to have as little contact with ther grandchildren (from their SunCity retirement home) as possible.
Jet you should read Matt Groenigs (sp?) School is Hell. Same guy that does the simpsons as part of his Life is hell comic. I think you would love his view of school and especially the grad school stuff...simply hellerious...yes pun on hell.....
GL TALL TOAD said: "What is the incentive to seek a college education for generations of welfare freeloaders? NONE. Getting pregnant at 15, dropping out of school and get fed by the government like mother and grandmother did is the easier way out."
Hmmm ... It seems some of us including me have not endured the hardships and poverty other people have endured in this country. I hear theories about blah blah how the welfare system is really against the people and all that. But, without a legal system that protects the weak and poor, this world would be a jungle. Think for once that it could be you that homeless person that you see on the street.
Three years ago, Rangiroa, French Ploynesia, sitting around the dinner table near the beach with a French couple and another couple from Southern CA. The heated debate evolved around the persistance to find out why the French are willing to pay 45% of their income in taxes to have in essence unlimited unemployment benefits and welfare programs for those in need. The couple from Southern CA just couldn't get it. But, how is it possible to WANT to pay more taxes? they kept asking.
For your information highschool education in Europe is much more advanced than in the USA. Public highschools in Europe on average can easily beat the hell out of private highschools here. And the dumb asses have all these welfare programs ... scraching my head
wtrav2,
My tax bracket is 36% Federal + 10% California = 46% Taxation
F... the french!
The vast majority or people in welfare in California are NOT needy. Give me a system that educates and foments self steem and I'll support it with more taxes than I pay currently.
Until then, I stand by my opinion that our so called welfare system is a fiasco and a miserable failure.
TOAD - I have a PhD in HARD KNOCKS (trust me) but since the school is nonaccredited I don't list it with my accredited degrees.
Nasfan6 - Where do I find time for women? I wen to college and grad school during the years when I was married. Now being single I have something entirely new to study... Oh yeah...
Hey wtrav - soon as i get a chance I intend to fill you in on all the details regarding my Moldovans via your email address. Things are happening right now though, so I will write when they are complete.
To anyone: Just a little note regarding the Romance Tour I took last year to Odessa. As I have already mentioned I have a few degrees - but what really surprised me was the level of education among my fellow tour participants.
We (the men on the tour) tended to meet in the hotel restaurant for breakfast. It was (of course) an Eastern Eurppean style breakfast slices of cucumber and tomato, sausage slices, "curd", etc. (A lot different than traditional American breakfasts). We tended to discuss the details of the activity the day before.
I was until we had been there a week or so that we really began to talk about our lives in the US. I discovered that among the seven or eight "regulars" who congregated for breakfast at the same time was, an anesthesiologist, a psychiatrist, a state judge and an attorney. Of course they all dressed and acted like average Joes. And the physicians in our group asked that they never be addressed as "Doctor". They did not want to find a Russian gold-digger.
The two remaining "regulars" hadn't done all that poorly in life either. One, who was now retired, had owned but sold several franchised retail stores. The other owned a large construction firm in Florida.
The trip was not all that expensive - but I was amazed at the education level and success of the participants it seemed to attract.