privatization of education
Clayton Cramer
> > are kids from working class backgrounds attending University of California,
> > but the majority are from families that could afford to pay their own
> > way.
>
> Not true. The majority of UC students receive financial aid.
> You do mean `lower economic class' when you say `working class', don't you?
> But note that most `middle class' ($15K-30K / year) people must work to
> maintain their current life style. So `working class' is not an entirely
> accurate term to describe to lower class. The `non-working class', ie
> that which does not work, composes of the welfare class and the richest.
>
Hmmm. First you say, "The majority of UC students receive financial aid,"
as a way of suggesting that the students come from families that are
struggling financially. Then you define 'middle class' as $15K-30K/year,
which by California payscales is lower middle class, then you say that
"'middle class' ... people must work to maintain their current life
style," presumably to keep up the payments on the Winnebago. Those of
us who grew up lower middle class find your definitions highly specious.
Your definition of 'non-working class' is pretty questionable also.
Welfare includes a lot of working poor, and there are very wealthy
people who work -- and work hard. (Probably more than there are of
the "idle rich".)
Sounds like definitions designed to justify the status quo.
> > Second, remember that the requirements of UC (and most other good
> > schools) make it unlikely that kids from economically deprived back-
> > grounds will be able to enter. Even if allowed in under special
> > admission policies, many, if not most, are inadequately prepared for
> > UC, and drop out within the first year. THEIR INADEQUATE PREPARATION
> > IS PARTLY EARLIER EDUCATION, AND PARTLY THE CULTURAL DEPRIVATION OF
> > GROWING UP POOR.
>
> That means that one should try to remedy those problems. Politicians are
> reluctant to address those problems since the payoff will come about 12
> years later, when a successor can claim credit for what the original
> politician did.
Actually, politicians ignore people without political influence --
subsidies to the middle class and above are the reason that UC seems
to get the first pick of the budget, and California State University
system (which is much less elitist) gets the scraps.
Clayton E. Cramer