Free College

President Obama announced yesterday a proposal to give free community college to anyone who is “willing to work for it”. The specifics of the program at this point are vague. It is proposed that students who keep up a 2.5 GPA and are making progress to complete their degrees in a 3 years or less could receive this help if the state the community college is in opts into the program.

This is because the Federal Government is going to pay 75% of the tuition and State governments would pick up 25%.

This program is modeled after a program began last year in the state of Tennessee. About 58,000 of the states roughly 62,000 high school seniors have applied for the program. It is my understanding that the Tennessee program is funded by Lottery monies.

There were no specifics given in the Presidents announcement about how this program would be funded. I would be interested in finding out how many billions of dollars this is going to cost the taxpayers, you and me.

I fear that this might be another unfunded mandate handed down by the Federal government for the state and local governments to bear the burden of.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have any problem  with assisting children from underprivileged families in order for them to get an education. A good education, if the individual applies what they have learned, is the best way for a person to change their lives and break the cycle of poverty.

However, just guaranteeing an education doesn’t guarantee a job in the field they get their degree in. There are people in this economy who are under employed. Meaning they are working in a field that is not what they studied, and are making less money  because there are no jobs available in their field.

I know young adults with degrees who are working jobs making $8-9 per hour because there were no jobs available in their chosen field. They should be making $22,000 to $25,000 per year at least based on estimates.

I fear this is another in a long list of education programs, both Democratic and Republican, design to “improve education”. However, government has been largely unsuccessful at improving education. That is why we have so many failing schools and failing students. While I don’t have any answers for this problem, I don’t think another bureaucratic program is the answer because most of the money will be spent on the bureaucracy created to run the program and very little of the money will actually get to where it is needed.

I have rambled on this a good bit and I appreciate you sticking around to read all of it. As I said I don’t have any good answers for our education problems, but I know that the government solutions have not worked before. Maybe this one will, but I doubt it

I am certain this program will create much discussion on both sides. Please share your opinion below about this new idea of the Presidents. I look forward to reading them.

The Day After

Yesterday, Nov 6, 2012, was election day in our country. I know some church folks who thought that the world would end if President Obama won the election. Well I was on the way to work this morning and the sun was coming up over the horizon just like any other day.

One thing we as followers of Christ have to learn is that we are no longer in the majority. The culture war that we have waged with our Christian talk radio stations and our mainstream conservative media persons for the last several years has been lost. We are in the minority.

So what do we do? The best example from scripture is in the book of Acts. We need to do as the apostles and other Christians did in the early church. We need to realize that we are probably not going to change the culture in our country. We must learn to be the hands and feet of Jesus and love each person we come in contact with to Christ.

We have been labeled by the radical left as extremists. We are being shouted down by those who don’t agree with us. The only way we are going to change that perception is through love.

Of course this doesn’t mean that our pastors and evangelists are to sugar coat the gospel. On the contrary, those men like the prophets of the Old testament times are to take the stand against the sins and ills of our nation just like they have been because that’s what they’ve been called to do. However, they to will have to learn to call sin by its true colors and learn to do so with a tear in their eyes.

To borrow an analogy from sports, we now have to play the game from behind. Just like in sports, some teams have the ability to come from behind, while some do not. We shall see if the church has what it takes to come from behind and if the church can handle a little adversity.

One last thought, I have heard more calls for prayer for our nation in the days leading up to the election. We should continue to pray for the President, the Congress, and the rest of our federal, state and local government leaders daily. That, my friends, is the best way to influence the culture. We need a revival in America, and prayer is the only way that revival will come.

 

As always  your comments and responses to my thoughts here are welcome. I try to read every response even if I’m not able to respond to each one.

 

 

Tell Me What You Think #2

This is the second in a series where I’m asking my readers to think a little about an issue that is being discussed. It may be religious  or it may not be. Just depends on what’s in the news ans what catches my eye.

What do you think about the rising gas prices?

Any thoughts on the possible causes for the increase lately?

Any ideas for possible solutions to the problem?

After I read some of your ideas, I will try to come up with some of my own and post them later.

Thanks for your ideas!

Mike

Somebodies Pulling My Leg!

The other day, I read a news article in which one of the top executives of one of the oil companies told Congress that he believed oil should only cost $60 a barrel. That day, oil was trading on the open market for $100 per barrel. somebodies pulling my leg!

There are two problems with the price of gas in this country and supply and demand has NOTHING to do with it. We have a government that has tried to stop any new exploration for oil in this country, both onshore and offshore. We also have speculators in the commodities markets who are driving the prices up. These events have nothing to do with how much or how little we are driving in this country!

I fact, every time some third world dictator blows his nose the wrong way, the price of oil skyrockets. the fact is, that we have enough oil in the ground on United States controlled land to supply this country with fuel for many years! We don’t even need the oil from the Arab countries!

I do realize that we need to invest in and explore alternative energies, but that doesn’t need to happen by putting our people in this country in greater financial difficulty by artificially keeping the price of fuel high.

I am fed up with Washington politics. I am neither Democrat or Republican. In my opinion, we should vote all of them out not year from the President on down through the Congress and take back our govt. Maybe then our voices could be heard above the special interest groups that rule Washington now!

I don’t know about you, but I’m sick and tired of being lied to by both sides of this issue. Yes, somebody is pulling my leg and I wish they would let go of my leg!

Hello World!

My name is Michael Turner. I’m 52 years old and while that may not be middle age to some of you, it is to me. I’m a opinionated “old ” guy, but my children insist that I’m not old.

I love to read, and watch some tv. I am a Christian, but not a finger pointer. I like to leave that to others. Instead, I will write about things that have happened to me, things that I’ve observed, and things, like politics, govt, and economic issues that I have an opinion.