Monday, April 16, 2012

California Community Colleges Shelve Two-Tier System

The most offensive line that  I read a recent article  about the California Community College Crisis read as follows:

“The issue served as a rallying cry for community college students across the nation who believe they should have a free education.”
Education, like any other commodity in this world, does not grow on trees. Where do today's students get the notion that they are entitled to something for free?
The argument that has advanced over the years has suggested that education is a right, and as such every human being is entitled to it. If a group or an individual perceive that the have been slighted, denied this precious right, then they are permitted to sue in court and harass the government until they get what they want.
The vulgar, violent behavior  on display at Santa Monica City College a few weeks ago, where a group of students attempted to barge into a Trustee’s meeting, is a symptom of this nasty entitlement mentality. The crowd became so violent outside the trustee meeting that was discussing the two-tier plan, that policemen on site feared for their safety andattacked the raging student crowds with pepper spray.

The upswing in  this arrogant, unjustified rebellion has swept across college campuses all over the state, threatening the delicate balance of safety for all. Cash-strapped and cutting budgets, community colleges have fewer options for offering more courses, beyond creating a hierarchy of tuition. Those who are willing and able to pay should not be prevented from doing so. There is no such thing as a free lunch, even in public, post-secondary education. It is time for the young adults of today to stop acting like children and grow up.
No one has a right to  infringe on the rights of others as an act of protect. No one has any right or authority to cause pain and suffering  to an entire campus, or threaten authority figures, on account of budgetary woes. The students at our local community colleges are learning some hard economic lessons, which they would have learned if their high school teachers and college instructors had explained to them properly the inescapable truths of scarcity, supply, demand, and how the state, in all of its august and arrogant power, cannot overcome these cold, hard economic facts.

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