Should College Be a Constitutional Right?

by AdriHead Posted 2012/07/11 22:38:43

Related Topics: Congress, New York, Student, College, Loans, Poll, Americans, Student Loans, Partisan, York, University, US, 150 Years, Average American, rate, 67

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564 votes
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	Yes	177 votes	31%
	No	387 votes	69%

We all know student loans can be killer. And though Congress recently announced a tentative deal that would prevent student loan rates from doubling, according to a recent poll, that's still not enough for the average American.

A national poll done by the Carnegie Corporation of New York found that most Americans (76 percent) believe that access to higher education should be a constitutional right. Additionally, 67 percent believe that the cost of college is the biggest barrier to that access. It's a controversial issue, but it has to be asked: Do you think easier access to college should be a constitutional right for all Americans?

GOOD.IS reports:
A deeply divided Congress gives us little hope, but 150 years ago an equally partisan climate produced some of the nation's top public universities.

+25

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rustyshackelford 2012/07/11 23:08:27

No

+12
moderated...
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More polls by AdriHead

Steve King to Headhun... 2012/07/12 14:36:04 (edited)

+3
You are correct, I didn't. (btw, neither did you)

My point is that It has to start in the lower grades and be fixed there first. IF you qualify there, you get to matriculate to higher education, based on intelligence, ability, desire and finances. Otherwise you have older impulsive, uneducated people running around with college degrees, bringing down the value of a college education, who are no smarter than they should be in High School.

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Headhun... to Steve King 2012/07/12 15:28:52

You make an impressive example of your statement here

"older impulsive, uneducated people running around with college degrees, bringing down the value of a college education, who are no smarter than they should be in High School."

Thanks you for he demonstration. and good bye. I don't deal with mindless ignorance as you display.m Try to control yourself and you friends by not coming back whining with childish attacks.

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jimmy d to Steve King 2012/07/12 14:35:21

+4
I concur. We haven't moved the needle on test scores despite spending absurd amounts of tax dollars since jimmy carter hijacked the school systems from the states in the late 1970's. Yet another overeach by the feds. And these people are going to let them run 20% of the economy with ocrappercare.

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Character to Headhun... 2012/07/12 16:35:33

+1
Higher education is a human right? Wow. Just so you know, human rights are those which have always existed since humans existed. Higher education is a relatively new development in human history. Ergo, higher education cannot be a human right by definition. It might be a new right based on the human right to make choices, but that's quite a stretch.

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Headhun... to Character 2012/07/12 17:23:49

No all education is a human right and has been intimately involved in human development for millions of years. Without learning and advancement we would have perished long ago

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Kigan 2012/07/12 14:18:02

No

+1
It is something you must earn.

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Wesloco 2012/07/12 14:11:50

No

+3
... what a ridiculous notion! The purpose of the Constitution is to protect us from those who would give an advantage to one group over another. This is to say that a school would deny access to learning to someone based on arbitrary features such as religion, color, language etc. We don't need to give everyone an education but we cannot deny them the opportunity to gain one. That being said, an educated populace is the single best advantage that we can have as we compete in a global arena so it behooves us to invest in the education of our young people and this investment should take priority over low tax rates, bloated millitary, and ever expanding prisons.

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Chris - The Rowdy One! #187 2012/07/12 14:11:36

No

+8
I am horrified at the high number of yes votes. What a bunch of idiots we have in this nation that have ZERO idea about what a free republic really is.

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Kruzer to Chris -... 2012/07/12 14:33:22

+5
Evidently you have an idea of the entitlement programs and how that destroys any community, state, and nation. Lazy people always want something for nothing.

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jimmy d to Kruzer 2012/07/12 14:38:35

+5
And once they are on the entitlement drug it's difficult to break the addiction. It's the only reason ocrapper is even still in the running for his re-election.

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Chris -... to Kruzer 2012/07/12 14:40:16

+1
Amen to that! I am quite smart!

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Dr. John to Chris -... 2012/07/12 22:45:43

+1
Sorry, Chris! I'm one of those idiots that clicked "yes". But only because there was not a third choice. "Opinion" or "Other".

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Chris -... to Dr. John 2012/07/13 13:08:13

+1
It is OK....I still love you my friend!

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Dr. John to Chris -... 2012/07/14 04:47:51

+1
Oh, Good!! I was worried!! :-)

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JenSemPa 2012/07/12 14:10:43

No

+5
The value of a college degree has been diluted enough as it is, given that so many people have one these days.

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Reichstolz 2012/07/12 14:01:05

No

+3
I would contend all of those who attended and graduated from college who currently cannot find a position, shouldn't have attended. It is obvious they weren't bright enough to choose fields of study that they would find employment in.

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MichaelJ 2012/07/12 13:55:40

No

+2
College should be for those students who actually have the scholastic achievement to indicate they will succeed in college. How many students are getting student loans or Pell grants that have never shown any indication they would be capable of succeeding in a university when they barely scrapped by in high school?

There is NO right to higher education nor should there be. Lets try a completely novel idea, support those that have demonstrated they have the ABILITY to succeed and not just some blanket program that just requires you to be breathing to recieve student loans or grants from the federal government.

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ScoobyDoobieDoo 2012/07/12 13:03:02

Yes

+2
It's a network of cause and effect; if everybody had the right to free higher education, then so many more people would be fully educated and therefore much more capable. If everybody went to university, you could pull the country out of recession in just a few years... Partly because you'd be the most powerful in the world.

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Reichstolz to ScoobyD... 2012/07/12 14:02:34

+2
It is no different than artificially raising wages. Once all are college graduates it just lessons the advantage that college attendance brings.

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Steve King to ScoobyD... 2012/07/12 14:28:01

+2
If everyone has a college education, then the person with Bachelor's degree is no more educated than if everyone has a High School diploma. At that point, no one has an advantage, which was the point of a college education.

If the education system in the USA would start pushing kids to do better, bring back the grade of "D" and "F" and then ACTUALLY fail kids, rather than just passing them through, we would actually be looked at with admiration, the way we once were.

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Lady Wh... to ScoobyD... 2012/07/12 15:30:28

+2
WELL SAID

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Gwen 2012/07/12 13:01:57

No

+2
The poll answered was about "access" to higher education.....a different matter than the question posted implies...

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Steve King to Gwen 2012/07/12 14:29:37

+3
"Access" to the younger generations means "free", in today's language.

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dave b 2012/07/12 12:54:50

No

+3
Why should it be? Next the freebie wanters will want homes, cars and their bills paid under the Constitution. Where will it end?
Most of us have worked and paid our own way through life, all the while supporting those who wont do the same for themselves, as well as supporting an uncaring government who pisses away our tax dollars on everything under the sun except here at home.
This country has lost its f'n mind.

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Steve King to dave b 2012/07/12 14:30:33

+2
These same people in this study make the Constitution out to be a menu for what they want and the government, their concierge.

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RandyScott 2012/07/12 12:40:01

No

+2
You have a right to earn the money to go to college, or be smart enough to earn a scholarship. You don't have the right to take more out of my paycheck, so you can go to College.

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Vieuphoria 2012/07/12 12:36:26

Yes

+3
Everyone should be able to get access to education. Not just university, but also training schemes for less academic people. Invest in people, not corrupt banking systems.

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Reichstolz to Vieuphoria 2012/07/12 14:03:04

+2
You have to steal from the wealthy to "invest" in anyone.

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Vieuphoria to Reichstolz 2012/07/12 14:05:08

Well no.

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Reichstolz to Vieuphoria 2012/07/12 14:09:36

+1
That is how our government is funded, for them to "invest" they first must confiscate, and they surely aren't doing that from the poor.

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Vieuphoria to Reichstolz 2012/07/12 14:10:32

+1
You're putting a delightfully bias spin on the concept of tax.

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Reichstolz to Vieuphoria 2012/07/12 14:12:09

+1
Taxation is confiscation at the point of a gun. Where do you think the money to fund government "investment" comes from? Obama's stash?

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Vieuphoria to Reichstolz 2012/07/12 14:14:53

I assume you were taught with state schools?

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Reichstolz to Vieuphoria 2012/07/12 14:19:26

As a matter of fact I was.

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Vieuphoria to Reichstolz 2012/07/12 14:20:13

+2
So you're happy to take, but not to give back?

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Reichstolz to Vieuphoria 2012/07/12 14:25:56 (edited)

+1
Believe me I pay handsomely for all the services I use. If "giving back" is your argument, then can I give back being bussed into an inner city school, when my parents lived where they did so I could attend a better school system?
Wouldn't it be better for me to utilize my labor, than to have it be wasted by government?
If giving back is your argument why then is it not equally disbursed among all who attended a public school?

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Vieuphoria to Reichstolz 2012/07/12 14:30:43

+1
I'm not saying there are not problems with the tax system. But to give for a country to thrive it needs to look after its people. Each generation pays for the next. It's people who put their money elsewhere that are the issue, costing countries billions. It's abotu greed. That said, I believe in flat taxes. But In now way is it stealing, it's about giving back and providing like the previous generation did for you. My grandparents worked damn hard their entire lives to pay tax for my parents generation to benefit, same for my parents, same for me. Somewhere along the line people got greedy.

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Reichstolz to Vieuphoria 2012/07/12 14:36:35 (edited)

+1
I understand why you cannot grasp the concept, you do not live in a free society. In America, while it is true parents want the next generation to have more opportunity in life, they do not look to government confiscation and redistribution to make that happen. They look to their own efforts to provide for their children. Here government is seen as a barrier to prosperity, not the arbiter of it. You may call it greed to want to limit government's ability to confiscate labor, that is fine. I consider it greedy to be able to survive without your own effort.

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Vieuphoria to Reichstolz 2012/07/12 14:51:54

+2
I can understand why you don't grasp the concept, you're clearly very arrogant. We believe in different things. I just draw issue in sensationalism and lies. Which you seem to enjoy.

That said, not living in a free society is working out ok with me sir. I went to school and college for free, now at university with a government loan which is quite a good deal. Outside of that I work 2 jobs and care for my grandparents. My grandparents and I were schooled by the state, and they are on a state pension. We can also go in to a hospital when ever we need and get care, and not end up in debt because of it. Pretty fine really.

Funnily enough we have a conservative government. Which i'm sure you'd like to have :) General consensus is they're running us into the ground. They are a failure. They are corrupt, and are more obsessed by their own wealth (and the business' that support them) than that of countries. That's the conservative way though.

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Reichstolz to Vieuphoria 2012/07/12 15:29:52

+1
That is the rub, you didn't go to college for free, you went off the labor of others. Again your loan is from the production of your neighbors. You are full of crap, you can go to the hospital for care when there is an opening. And the production of others allows you to do so.

There is nothing conservative about your government. Frankly there has been no conservative example of government in the world since the 1920's. I find it humorous those who want to live off the labor of others, characterizing any system as working fine. Of course it does you have no personal responsibility, no worth without government, and no contribution to the world.

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