As mentioned in last week's post, Rick Santorum is neck-and-neck with Mitt Romney in the polls in Michigan and Arizona, and with that comes added media attention. That's why the comment that he "almost threw up" after reading President John Kennedy's speech about the separation of church and state from way back in October came back into the headlines, as well as his comment that President Obama is a "snob" because "he wants everyone in America to go to college."
The "snob" comment is especially curious, considering that Santorum himself hold a Bachelor's degree, M.B.A., and J.D, and by his own admission encourages his own children to go to college. Santorum also misconstrued the President's words about "higher education" to mean only "college." President Obama clearly was also talking about getting more Americans to attend community colleges, trade schools, and vocational institutions, as well as helping those to obtain a four-year degree from a university. Santorum then took his argument into demagogue territory by saying that people don't need "some liberal college professor trying to indoctrinate them," and that the President wants people to attend college to "remake" them "in his image."
While I think that what Santorum said was purely to score political points from the "Tea Party" faction of the Republican Party, I can only view his comments as hypocritical and disgraceful. Many families, including my own, view higher education as the key to social mobility. In this globalized economy, having something beyond a high school diploma is virtually a prerequisite for getting a decent, well paying job. Statistics don't lie: for those who have less than a high school diploma, unemployment is 15%, those with a high school degree--9.5%, with an associates degree--7.5%, while those who have a Bachelor's degree or higher are only 4.4% unemployed. Why aren't these numbers mentioned more on the campaign trail? Why is it that no candidate, Barack Obama included, has explicitly tied education with employment? Probably because, in this day and age, people want to be instantly gratified. 7,000 high school students drop out of high school every day in America. Getting an education is, and should be, hard. If most Americans won't make the connection, why should their politicians?
Santorum said some incredibly ignorant stuff when he was talking to that "Tea Party" group, but his statement that "not all folks are gifted in the same way," is absolutely true. Not everyone should go to college. I know plenty of people who have no business being on campus. That's OK. But absolutely everyone should have the chance to obtain a higher education--college, trade school, community college--regardless of their standing in life.
Sources:
-Article About High School Dropout Rate
-Unemployment Statistics By Educational Attainment
-Obama Comments on Higher Education
-Washington Post Article on Rick Santorum "Snob" Comments
The "snob" comment is especially curious, considering that Santorum himself hold a Bachelor's degree, M.B.A., and J.D, and by his own admission encourages his own children to go to college. Santorum also misconstrued the President's words about "higher education" to mean only "college." President Obama clearly was also talking about getting more Americans to attend community colleges, trade schools, and vocational institutions, as well as helping those to obtain a four-year degree from a university. Santorum then took his argument into demagogue territory by saying that people don't need "some liberal college professor trying to indoctrinate them," and that the President wants people to attend college to "remake" them "in his image."
While I think that what Santorum said was purely to score political points from the "Tea Party" faction of the Republican Party, I can only view his comments as hypocritical and disgraceful. Many families, including my own, view higher education as the key to social mobility. In this globalized economy, having something beyond a high school diploma is virtually a prerequisite for getting a decent, well paying job. Statistics don't lie: for those who have less than a high school diploma, unemployment is 15%, those with a high school degree--9.5%, with an associates degree--7.5%, while those who have a Bachelor's degree or higher are only 4.4% unemployed. Why aren't these numbers mentioned more on the campaign trail? Why is it that no candidate, Barack Obama included, has explicitly tied education with employment? Probably because, in this day and age, people want to be instantly gratified. 7,000 high school students drop out of high school every day in America. Getting an education is, and should be, hard. If most Americans won't make the connection, why should their politicians?
Santorum said some incredibly ignorant stuff when he was talking to that "Tea Party" group, but his statement that "not all folks are gifted in the same way," is absolutely true. Not everyone should go to college. I know plenty of people who have no business being on campus. That's OK. But absolutely everyone should have the chance to obtain a higher education--college, trade school, community college--regardless of their standing in life.
Sources:
-Article About High School Dropout Rate
-Unemployment Statistics By Educational Attainment
-Obama Comments on Higher Education
-Washington Post Article on Rick Santorum "Snob" Comments
No comments:
Post a Comment