Originally posted by: josphII
what trash. comparing the benefits of being wealthy and affirmative action??? what would you prefer - giving ppl spots in universities and promotions because they are black, and taxing the rich 90%?and last time i checked Yale is a PRIVATE institution, should they not be able to do as they please?? whats also funny is the very racist affirmative action policies at Yale, and other private schools, make the very racist affirmative action policies at UM (and other public schools) look like a joke.
I am not comparing the benifits of being wealthy, but the benefits of being born wealthy(to become wealthy you need to work hard, to be born wealthy you need to do nothing). You would love to think that America is a level playing field, and i wish it were true, but it is not. Affirmative action seeks to address this disparity. Yes Yale is a private institution, but shouldn't a wealthy student be able to get in on their own merits, because that is what you seem to be advocating, that everyone be addressed on their own merits so if you hate affirmative action you should hate the legacy system even more. The legacy system helps people who have allready had every type of help imaginable.
inadequite eduction, poor home life, blah blah blah. this is one reason why so many ppl are dislike democrats - because all they have are excuses! its easier to bitch about something you dont have, rather that doing something about it.
So please tell me exactly what a 5 year old child going into an underfunded school is supposed to do about the fact that his school has far fewer resources than a school in the next town because the other school district gets more money because it is has a richer population. You cannot tell me that he has the same chance at success in school as the kid starting schol in the rich district, well you could but you would be more blind than i think you are. So all through school one kid has to work much much harder than the kid in the rich district and even then he will probably do worse in the end. So now the two are going into college and you are trying to tell me that this kid who has had everything stacked against him, who if he had been in the rich district would have done much better with the same amount of work, should not get preferential statistical treatment. I love how affirmative action is racist, don't you think there is a reason that minority students don't do as well in school, don't you think that reason might be that the schools they went to sucked, rather than that they are not as smart as the rich white kid. You tell me which answer is more racist.
For the record, i am not a democrat, and i take offense to being called one, democrats as a group are far to centrist in my opinion.
i think everybody agrees that in theory it would be nice for teachers to be paid 150k, but ill tell you this, if salaries were suddenly raised to 150k probably less than 1% of current teachers would be re-hired. and this is another reason why ppl dislike democrats. the primary responsibility of education is the parents responsibility, not the teachers. when parents stop blaming other ppl for their son/daughtes lack of education and start taking responsibility you will realize that getting more qualified teachers isnt a nessesity, its a bonus. the fact that so many ppl DO succeed in public schools is proof of this.
So the education of children is the responsibility of their parents? Ok so you are telling me that all the people who can afford to send their kids to private schools are shirking their responsibilities as parents? I didn't think so. Or is your solution for everyone to be home schooled? Its ever so easy to blame people who can't afford to put their kids in a better school, or can't afford the time to teach their kids in lieu of a good school, because both parents have to work. I think we do agree, however, that paying teachers more would result in massive layoffs of current teachers, because their would be more competition by more qualified candidates, i personally have no problem with more qualified people teaching in schools, and i would expect to have to pay for that quality.
what garbage. this is NOT the system in place right now in America and when ppl stop blaming 'random chance' and realize that if they simply work hard they will reep the benefits. is anybody else disturbed by this total lack of personal responsibility? when ppl stop blaming others for their problems (weather it be education, lack of a good job, etc) and start taking responsibility for their actions (or inactions) maybe theyll realize that they can do something about it.
Personal responsibility you say, my response to that is societal responsibility, did it ever occur to you that society is as much to blame for a person's initial circumstances as they are. Another apt analogy, if i were to put 100 people in 15 foot holes in the ground and I give them no food or water, sure some of them will claw their way out, but who is to blame for the ones who don't make it out. Let me spell it out for you, many people start life in the equivalent of a fifteen foot hole, are they to blame if they don't make it out, you would probably say yes, i would probably say, why don't you jump down with them and try it out for yourself.[q\]