the whole thing makes it seem like they did something horrible, when all they did was game the system to get some more games and music to pass the time with. I'm not opposed to that either. Prison shouldn't be about punishment, it should either be about containment (e.g. folks so dangerous we can't have them running the streets) or reform. Anything else is just sadism.
I agree with the sentiment. Our prison systems are more about crushing the person rather than containment or reform.
I would actually think that this incident should provide an opportunity to gauge these inmates' skills and see if we can use that energy towards giving them additional skills (and help them reform and reintegrate into society with a chance to get a job.)
I'll have more stuff to avoid at the grocery store. Thanks Science!
Screw that. I can't wait to eat an apple-flavored, mint-smelling apple-onion hybrid. All the good nutritional shit without the wince-inducing smell and taste.
This is much more what I've heard from my friends who have emigrated here. This is not that much crazier than the rest of the world, generally. Yes, our government could be more efficient, I would support that in a heartbeat.
But you should immigrate the right way - I've done it to two countries. If you're not even willing to respect that amount of the law of the land you're moving to, I for one think you're a disrespectful cunt that shouldn't be allowed to move anywhere.
Oh shut the fuck up. I came here easily and legally and I had no problem becoming a resident and later a US citizen. My case is not the norm, however.
I'm referring to the millions others who also come legally and the right way and still, as a matter of being a numbers' game, they end up in decades-long limbo waiting for an answer or worse.
Go project your sanctimonious bullshit somewhere else.
Dude that article is from 1956. America in 2018 just isn't comparable to 1956. It's lost the will to build. Consider there are 550 million europeans with access to education easily as good as American, at a fraction the cost. There are 2 billion Indian and Chinese, of those a small % but high number are rich enough to send kids overseas to get a great education, previosuly the prime target for that was the USA (until Trump, now they go to Europe/Canada/Australia).
This high tech advanced tech stuff is common now and has gone global. Hence, there are more foreigners than Americans with the skills. Hence, it's hard to find Americans.
The choice is this: Import the foreigner, or export the job. Which would you prefer? We can move the jobs to Vancouver/Sydney/Dublin/Berlin/London easily enough.
Well, a lot of this folks still think the World operates as if we were in the 50's. It explains a lot.
You may have noticed you basically need to be rich to get a degree in America.
Utter fucking bullshit.
^^^ This. I don't think a person fitting the economic profile I had 30 years ago could go to college. No way no how.
I made it by sheer luck, a lot of people helping me, pell grants, a scholarship and a non-trivial amount of student loans (which I'm still paying.)
Now, and due to the exorbitant cost of living, all of that is almost gone, except student loans. You either fail to graduate (because you have fucking eat sometimes) or take so much loans you end up in financial indenture for life.
This is not the same for all, though. If you live within driving distance of a 4-year university, you *still* get a chance to make it through college while poor.
But if you do not live within commuting distance from a college or university, forget about it.
I could see the changes coming when I was in college, and boy I'm glad I could graduate. No way I could do it again. And I see how much I need to save in college funds for my kids, it might be cheaper to send them to study overseas (or move my entire family).
I. AM. NOT. FUCKING. KIDDING.
The game is rigged against you unless your parents are within the 13% upper income bracket. Believe it. Believe it now more than ever.
It is the wrong kind of immigration policies in US that allow for this "cheapest labor exploitation". Speaking as a Canadian, the work permit here, which is equivalent to H1-B in US is bound to the employer, but the permanent resident status, equivalent to green card is not. So you get here on work permit, apply for permanent resident status couple years later and your employer effectively has no leverage except a just pay and a healthy work environment. Sure it costs 2 years before you can apply, however its not like a decade or so in US at the mercy of your employer.
You've pretty much perfectly described the system in the US as well. I have no idea what you think is different, except maybe the green card process is a bit longer here.
No. It's not a bit longer. It's damned atrocious. I know cases of engineers and doctors waiting for 8-10 years for a decision.
I'm like, why are we doing this? If we have a professional working here for 8-10 years, just give the papers to him/her automatically. That person has obviously shown value.
And why wait 8-10 years of more? Put a cap, and tell them yes/no within 2-3 years. That way people can plan accordingly instead of living in a damned limbo.
Our incompetence is turning into cruelty, honestly. This is why I get so pissed at people saying "huurr durr come here the right way" without knowing we are making that all but impossible in the most idiotic, dysfunctional and capricious ways possible.
None of those powers can implement restrictions on people that the Federal government is forbidden to do. That is, the "shall not pass any laws, etc, etc" is transitive from the federal all the way to the local.
Yes, go back home. the majority of illegals in America are here not because their nation is at war (i.e. refugee), but are here to make more money than they would in their own nation. Some of the illegals that I know continue to send money to Mexico and Brazil, to their wives, where they are buying up land for retirement.
Now, I do not report them because sending them home will solve NOTHING. Instead, I continue to write CONgress critters and push for e-verify on all jobs and to cut off all funding to any state that is giving money to illegals (other than emergency medical, nothing should be given to them).
And BTW, those illegals are here because they got shot down for immigration. Wny? Because they have no real skil. So they come here, work jobs that simply do not pay their taxes, so that they undercut the legal workers, including other immigrants.
Many of your ideas have merit, but you are way off on that one. I've personally known engineers who have been shot down because of immigration red tape eve though there were highly qualified people, the type of desirable immigrants we claim to want to have.
And with the current climate we are now denying legal entry to refugees who do have a reason to ask for asylum (thus forcing them to come illegally.)
You can't have privacy when you drive around in plain view with a clearly readable personal ID number. The only way to get your privacy back would be to end the requirement to display a license plate number.
You have an expectation of privacy of where you are going or who is using your car (because the plate identifies the car and the owner, not who is driving it.).
Besides, the spirit of the law is that we are not to be under a surveillance system. We are not meant to be under constant mass surveillance unless there is an actual legal reason to do so (say, you are under investigation or something.)
Sadly we have been sliding down that rabbit hole without waking the fuck up. We are deep in it now.
Really? You have a State Issued ID that MUST be affixed to your car, and you are willfully driving it and PARKING IT in public view, on private property. And that is invading privacy?
Driving in public view with a government issue plate does not imply giving consent for tracking. A LEO can trail you legally only if he/she has legitimate cause to suspect something. For having someone tailgate you 24/7, a specific investigation must go on. IANAL, but I'm sure a judge would have a problem with people being tracked without reasonable cause (and if he does not, then it is confirmed the country has taken a definite turn to the worse.)
Well in New Zealand I have access to 26 different ISPs, Fibre goes in next week and I can have 900/400 unlimited, no traffic shaping, no port blocking, ie true net neutrality for US$68 / month.
This is what happens when you keep big business out of government and you have a government by the people for the people.
You guys should try democracy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
you left out the fact that NZ has a tiny population consolidated mainly in a few centres making this sort of option very viable and cheap whereas the same is incredibly expensive to provide in Australia or the US or many countries with exponentially more people are area to cover.
You left out the fact that 80% of Americans live in densely packed metropolitan areas with densities comparable with metropolitan areas in NZ. The argument about lacking the same variety of internet options only apply to rural America.
For 80% of the US population, the lack of alternatives have little to do with absolute population numbers (and more with big bizness/gubment red tape orgies.)
What do you think the constitution is? It is the supreme regulation of your personal freedoms.
The Constitution is a document that defines the structure and operation of the core elements of the government and the attached Bill of Rights is a RESTRICTION on what the government is allowed to do. The Constitution/Bill of Rights does not grant rights to anyone.
Ugh, it grants rights by virtue of what it enumerates the things the government is forbidden to do when it comes to imposing limits on people.
You are using the public phone network, tell me again about your expectation of privacy...
In what sense is the privately owned phone network a public phone network? Especially since you doubly-emphasized that point.
Exactly. We are obviously entitled to privacy (via anti-tapping laws) when conducting a conversation over a public phone network, so I fail to see why we shouldn't expect privacy in other contexts.
This is why I sometimes wish I lived in the EU. For all its structural failings, at least the EU got its shit right when it comes to privacy laws.
it's not just retirement. There's tons of fortunes tied up in those assets and it's not easy to divest. Ideally we should be doing something to help people move on, but there's a lot of laissez faire economics going around.
It's hard to see this since most retirement and personal fortunes are tied to index and mutual funds. The richest people in the world diversify the shit out of their funds, across industries and countries (and even time with bonds with laddered maturities.)
As a NYer I hate paper bags because roaches love them.
But it depends on the environment around them. Roaches just don't sprout on paper unless there's edible stuff (home trash, food particles, etc) around them.
And I love plastic bags from the store because I put my garbage in them and each time I leave the apartment I throw out my trash.
That's what I do.
This is far superior to reusable bags in which I must then BUY plastic garbage bags. Now that's retarded.
It is only far superior from a point of convenience, not environmental sustainability. Yeah, maintaining the environment carries costs.
With that said, a lot of these problems with plastic bags is the lack of a proper recycling policy.
In Japan, people are meticulous how they pack their garbage. Pet litter, diapers, chemicals, and toxic stuff on one bin. Kitchen garbage on another bin. Recyclable paper on another bin. Plastics, aluminum cans and glass on another bin. All other in yet another bin.
People do it and stick to it. Then government facilities sort all that shit out in whatever way is best.
When we go about banning plastic bags is because our garbage disposal systems suck and we have no way to contain the flood of plastics, be it in Chile or in the US. It's really that simple.
Banning plastics bags is an abdication that we cannot - technically and culturally - dispose of our garbage properly.
That's great and all, but where am I supposed to put pet waste? I can't flush litter box bombs down the toilet, because the litter will clog it. (I've tried) Damned if I'm going to use a reuseable bag for that...
Double paper bag. It would be a problem if the poop is watery.
A better, more resilient solution are paper bags with a film of paraffin, petroleum jelly or mineral oil at worst (which are biodegradable) or beeswax or emulsified vegetable oils (which biodegrade more easily.)
I typically keep old newspaper to make small containers for organic trash when I do not have garbage bags.
With that said, plastic bags have their place, specially for heavy duty disposal.
More damage where they hit, but doesn't that also mean you have more time to evacuate people to get out of the path. In theory a slower moving hurricane may mean more damage but should it not mean less human fatalities? At least in places that have the financial ability to move people out the path.
More damage where they hit, but doesn't that also mean you have more time to evacuate people to get out of the path. In theory a slower moving hurricane may mean more damage but should it not mean less human fatalities? At least in places that have the financial ability to move people out the path.
The ability to move out of harm's way is a function of which economic bracket you belong to. Additionally, the slower the path, the longer you need to stay out, holed out in a motel, probably a state or two away. That costs money.
Last hurricane season I weathered hurricane Irma holed up with my wife and kids in South Florida. My sister who lives by the coast in Melbourne, she and her husband had to get out, and it took them almost 30 hours just to get out of the state, with Irma right behind them. She went all the way to Georgia where she had to get evacuated again to another location.
That costs money. Many people simply cannot afford it. We learned this the hard way with Katrina.
Well no, as a parent it's pretty much your responsibility to make sure your kids get an appropriate education
This is absolutely true, however...
the state offers it for free
It's not for free. We pay significant amount of moolah as taxes that are supposed to go to our schools. The system is broken, though.
but if you think that's ever been a high bar you should look at what past generations weren't taught (and what not being able to read or do math cost them).
I have never put faith in our education system to teach my kids what they need to know - sure, they'll pick up *some* of the fundamentals, but if you're not willing to spend some time filling in the gaps you're a YUGE part of the problem.
The problem here is one of selective thinking. Consider this:
My wife and I are college educated, suffiently well off so that my wife only works part time and can stay with my daughters to make sure all homework is done. Additionally, they are exposed to extra curricular activities, private tutoring and a multi-lingual education. When summer break comes, they go to summer boot camp... and more tutoring.
Learning never stops... because I have the money to afford it.
What happens to the average American family who are likely w/o a college education, do not know the material beyond simple math and reading, and who cannot afford tutoring? Who cannot come home until after 5 because they work (thus kid remain unattended, which is very critical for behavioral development)?
And what happens when summer break come? No summer camp for you. Almost 3 months of idle time without practicing what they learned through the school year. Right there they are at a learning/social disadvantage compared to, say, my kids.
Do that for 12 years, and that translates to a 4-year educational gap in the worst (and sadly) common case scenario.
Our system is built to perpetuate a disparity in terms of educational gains and accrual of social capital. Kids who are no less brighter than mine are, simply as a function of numbers, condemned to enter the work force with a 4-year educational gap at best!.
Yes, parents are key to ensure education takes hold. But society short changes people at the 2 lower quintiles.
As MLK said, "It’s all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps."
Slashdot Mirror
the whole thing makes it seem like they did something horrible, when all they did was game the system to get some more games and music to pass the time with. I'm not opposed to that either. Prison shouldn't be about punishment, it should either be about containment (e.g. folks so dangerous we can't have them running the streets) or reform. Anything else is just sadism.
I agree with the sentiment. Our prison systems are more about crushing the person rather than containment or reform.
I would actually think that this incident should provide an opportunity to gauge these inmates' skills and see if we can use that energy towards giving them additional skills (and help them reform and reintegrate into society with a chance to get a job.)
I'll have more stuff to avoid at the grocery store. Thanks Science!
Screw that. I can't wait to eat an apple-flavored, mint-smelling apple-onion hybrid. All the good nutritional shit without the wince-inducing smell and taste.
Mutant fruit-veggies FTW!
I treat them as capable adults. You should try it some time.
No. You do not. Your previous post betrays bitterness and teenarish sarcasm disguised as intellectual wit. Get help.
Agreed, there are more free rides in college than ever before, especially if you are not American.
Oh really? Mention a few if you can.
Still waiting. Don't let the crickets chirp.
I'm not sure you have your facts completely correct, or know some weird edge cases.
https://www.us-immigration.com/us-immigration-news/us-citizenship/how-long-does-the-us-citizenship-process-take/
This is much more what I've heard from my friends who have emigrated here. This is not that much crazier than the rest of the world, generally. Yes, our government could be more efficient, I would support that in a heartbeat.
But you should immigrate the right way - I've done it to two countries. If you're not even willing to respect that amount of the law of the land you're moving to, I for one think you're a disrespectful cunt that shouldn't be allowed to move anywhere.
Oh shut the fuck up. I came here easily and legally and I had no problem becoming a resident and later a US citizen. My case is not the norm, however.
I'm referring to the millions others who also come legally and the right way and still, as a matter of being a numbers' game, they end up in decades-long limbo waiting for an answer or worse.
Go project your sanctimonious bullshit somewhere else.
Given men are more likely to be assaulted than women, your entire point is fucking idiocy.
Anyway, aren't women meant to be strong and empowered? Sorry but if you can't take criticism then you're not very strong.
You must be quite the charmer with the ladies.
Dude that article is from 1956. America in 2018 just isn't comparable to 1956. It's lost the will to build. Consider there are 550 million europeans with access to education easily as good as American, at a fraction the cost. There are 2 billion Indian and Chinese, of those a small % but high number are rich enough to send kids overseas to get a great education, previosuly the prime target for that was the USA (until Trump, now they go to Europe/Canada/Australia).
This high tech advanced tech stuff is common now and has gone global. Hence, there are more foreigners than Americans with the skills. Hence, it's hard to find Americans.
The choice is this: Import the foreigner, or export the job. Which would you prefer? We can move the jobs to Vancouver/Sydney/Dublin/Berlin/London easily enough.
Well, a lot of this folks still think the World operates as if we were in the 50's. It explains a lot.
Agreed, there are more free rides in college than ever before, especially if you are not American.
Oh really? Mention a few if you can.
Utter fucking bullshit.
^^^ This. I don't think a person fitting the economic profile I had 30 years ago could go to college. No way no how.
I made it by sheer luck, a lot of people helping me, pell grants, a scholarship and a non-trivial amount of student loans (which I'm still paying.)
Now, and due to the exorbitant cost of living, all of that is almost gone, except student loans. You either fail to graduate (because you have fucking eat sometimes) or take so much loans you end up in financial indenture for life.
This is not the same for all, though. If you live within driving distance of a 4-year university, you *still* get a chance to make it through college while poor.
But if you do not live within commuting distance from a college or university, forget about it.
I could see the changes coming when I was in college, and boy I'm glad I could graduate. No way I could do it again. And I see how much I need to save in college funds for my kids, it might be cheaper to send them to study overseas (or move my entire family).
I. AM. NOT. FUCKING. KIDDING.
The game is rigged against you unless your parents are within the 13% upper income bracket. Believe it. Believe it now more than ever.
It is the wrong kind of immigration policies in US that allow for this "cheapest labor exploitation". Speaking as a Canadian, the work permit here, which is equivalent to H1-B in US is bound to the employer, but the permanent resident status, equivalent to green card is not. So you get here on work permit, apply for permanent resident status couple years later and your employer effectively has no leverage except a just pay and a healthy work environment. Sure it costs 2 years before you can apply, however its not like a decade or so in US at the mercy of your employer.
You've pretty much perfectly described the system in the US as well. I have no idea what you think is different, except maybe the green card process is a bit longer here.
No. It's not a bit longer. It's damned atrocious. I know cases of engineers and doctors waiting for 8-10 years for a decision.
I'm like, why are we doing this? If we have a professional working here for 8-10 years, just give the papers to him/her automatically. That person has obviously shown value.
And why wait 8-10 years of more? Put a cap, and tell them yes/no within 2-3 years. That way people can plan accordingly instead of living in a damned limbo.
Our incompetence is turning into cruelty, honestly. This is why I get so pissed at people saying "huurr durr come here the right way" without knowing we are making that all but impossible in the most idiotic, dysfunctional and capricious ways possible.
Reserved for the states.
FTFY
None of those powers can implement restrictions on people that the Federal government is forbidden to do. That is, the "shall not pass any laws, etc, etc" is transitive from the federal all the way to the local.
Yes, go back home. the majority of illegals in America are here not because their nation is at war (i.e. refugee), but are here to make more money than they would in their own nation. Some of the illegals that I know continue to send money to Mexico and Brazil, to their wives, where they are buying up land for retirement. Now, I do not report them because sending them home will solve NOTHING. Instead, I continue to write CONgress critters and push for e-verify on all jobs and to cut off all funding to any state that is giving money to illegals (other than emergency medical, nothing should be given to them). And BTW, those illegals are here because they got shot down for immigration. Wny? Because they have no real skil. So they come here, work jobs that simply do not pay their taxes, so that they undercut the legal workers, including other immigrants.
Many of your ideas have merit, but you are way off on that one. I've personally known engineers who have been shot down because of immigration red tape eve though there were highly qualified people, the type of desirable immigrants we claim to want to have.
And with the current climate we are now denying legal entry to refugees who do have a reason to ask for asylum (thus forcing them to come illegally.)
Not all of this is black and white.
You can't have privacy when you drive around in plain view with a clearly readable personal ID number. The only way to get your privacy back would be to end the requirement to display a license plate number.
You have an expectation of privacy of where you are going or who is using your car (because the plate identifies the car and the owner, not who is driving it.).
Besides, the spirit of the law is that we are not to be under a surveillance system. We are not meant to be under constant mass surveillance unless there is an actual legal reason to do so (say, you are under investigation or something.)
Sadly we have been sliding down that rabbit hole without waking the fuck up. We are deep in it now.
The car license plate does not identify the person driving the car, only the registered owner.
People are not being tracked, the cars are.
Which has already been found legally problematic with automatic speeding ticket issuing systems.
Really? You have a State Issued ID that MUST be affixed to your car, and you are willfully driving it and PARKING IT in public view, on private property. And that is invading privacy?
Driving in public view with a government issue plate does not imply giving consent for tracking. A LEO can trail you legally only if he/she has legitimate cause to suspect something. For having someone tailgate you 24/7, a specific investigation must go on. IANAL, but I'm sure a judge would have a problem with people being tracked without reasonable cause (and if he does not, then it is confirmed the country has taken a definite turn to the worse.)
Well in New Zealand I have access to 26 different ISPs, Fibre goes in next week and I can have 900/400 unlimited, no traffic shaping, no port blocking, ie true net neutrality for US$68 / month. This is what happens when you keep big business out of government and you have a government by the people for the people. You guys should try democracy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
you left out the fact that NZ has a tiny population consolidated mainly in a few centres making this sort of option very viable and cheap whereas the same is incredibly expensive to provide in Australia or the US or many countries with exponentially more people are area to cover.
You left out the fact that 80% of Americans live in densely packed metropolitan areas with densities comparable with metropolitan areas in NZ. The argument about lacking the same variety of internet options only apply to rural America.
For 80% of the US population, the lack of alternatives have little to do with absolute population numbers (and more with big bizness/gubment red tape orgies.)
What do you think the constitution is? It is the supreme regulation of your personal freedoms.
The Constitution is a document that defines the structure and operation of the core elements of the government and the attached Bill of Rights is a RESTRICTION on what the government is allowed to do. The Constitution/Bill of Rights does not grant rights to anyone.
Ugh, it grants rights by virtue of what it enumerates the things the government is forbidden to do when it comes to imposing limits on people.
The last thing you want is every idiot with box of cat-5 or spool of single mode fiber running amok nailing wires to anything that will hold a nail.
Telecom is a critical infrastructure and is managed by the gov't for the public good.
Bezos, Gates, Zuckerberg and Musk could run gigabit to every house and shanty in the country if they wanted to, like google tried to do.
Appeal to extremes.
You are using the public phone network, tell me again about your expectation of privacy...
In what sense is the privately owned phone network a public phone network? Especially since you doubly-emphasized that point.
Exactly. We are obviously entitled to privacy (via anti-tapping laws) when conducting a conversation over a public phone network, so I fail to see why we shouldn't expect privacy in other contexts.
This is why I sometimes wish I lived in the EU. For all its structural failings, at least the EU got its shit right when it comes to privacy laws.
it's not just retirement. There's tons of fortunes tied up in those assets and it's not easy to divest. Ideally we should be doing something to help people move on, but there's a lot of laissez faire economics going around.
It's hard to see this since most retirement and personal fortunes are tied to index and mutual funds. The richest people in the world diversify the shit out of their funds, across industries and countries (and even time with bonds with laddered maturities.)
As a NYer I hate paper bags because roaches love them.
But it depends on the environment around them. Roaches just don't sprout on paper unless there's edible stuff (home trash, food particles, etc) around them.
And I love plastic bags from the store because I put my garbage in them and each time I leave the apartment I throw out my trash.
That's what I do.
This is far superior to reusable bags in which I must then BUY plastic garbage bags. Now that's retarded.
It is only far superior from a point of convenience, not environmental sustainability. Yeah, maintaining the environment carries costs.
With that said, a lot of these problems with plastic bags is the lack of a proper recycling policy.
In Japan, people are meticulous how they pack their garbage. Pet litter, diapers, chemicals, and toxic stuff on one bin. Kitchen garbage on another bin. Recyclable paper on another bin. Plastics, aluminum cans and glass on another bin. All other in yet another bin.
People do it and stick to it. Then government facilities sort all that shit out in whatever way is best.
When we go about banning plastic bags is because our garbage disposal systems suck and we have no way to contain the flood of plastics, be it in Chile or in the US. It's really that simple.
Banning plastics bags is an abdication that we cannot - technically and culturally - dispose of our garbage properly.
Better than nothing I guess, so hooray?
That's great and all, but where am I supposed to put pet waste? I can't flush litter box bombs down the toilet, because the litter will clog it. (I've tried) Damned if I'm going to use a reuseable bag for that...
Double paper bag. It would be a problem if the poop is watery.
A better, more resilient solution are paper bags with a film of paraffin, petroleum jelly or mineral oil at worst (which are biodegradable) or beeswax or emulsified vegetable oils (which biodegrade more easily.)
I typically keep old newspaper to make small containers for organic trash when I do not have garbage bags.
With that said, plastic bags have their place, specially for heavy duty disposal.
Do grocery stores still offer Paper Bags anymore?
Plastic bags work great for cleaning up after the dog on a walk....
Many do (typically the upscale ones that trend on the eco-hippie side of things).
Another option is to buy your own bags. That's what we do at home.
More damage where they hit, but doesn't that also mean you have more time to evacuate people to get out of the path. In theory a slower moving hurricane may mean more damage but should it not mean less human fatalities? At least in places that have the financial ability to move people out the path.
More damage where they hit, but doesn't that also mean you have more time to evacuate people to get out of the path. In theory a slower moving hurricane may mean more damage but should it not mean less human fatalities? At least in places that have the financial ability to move people out the path.
The ability to move out of harm's way is a function of which economic bracket you belong to. Additionally, the slower the path, the longer you need to stay out, holed out in a motel, probably a state or two away. That costs money.
Last hurricane season I weathered hurricane Irma holed up with my wife and kids in South Florida. My sister who lives by the coast in Melbourne, she and her husband had to get out, and it took them almost 30 hours just to get out of the state, with Irma right behind them. She went all the way to Georgia where she had to get evacuated again to another location.
That costs money. Many people simply cannot afford it. We learned this the hard way with Katrina.
Well no, as a parent it's pretty much your responsibility to make sure your kids get an appropriate education
This is absolutely true, however...
the state offers it for free It's not for free. We pay significant amount of moolah as taxes that are supposed to go to our schools. The system is broken, though.
but if you think that's ever been a high bar you should look at what past generations weren't taught (and what not being able to read or do math cost them).
I have never put faith in our education system to teach my kids what they need to know - sure, they'll pick up *some* of the fundamentals, but if you're not willing to spend some time filling in the gaps you're a YUGE part of the problem.
The problem here is one of selective thinking. Consider this:
My wife and I are college educated, suffiently well off so that my wife only works part time and can stay with my daughters to make sure all homework is done. Additionally, they are exposed to extra curricular activities, private tutoring and a multi-lingual education. When summer break comes, they go to summer boot camp... and more tutoring.
Learning never stops... because I have the money to afford it.
What happens to the average American family who are likely w/o a college education, do not know the material beyond simple math and reading, and who cannot afford tutoring? Who cannot come home until after 5 because they work (thus kid remain unattended, which is very critical for behavioral development)?
And what happens when summer break come? No summer camp for you. Almost 3 months of idle time without practicing what they learned through the school year. Right there they are at a learning/social disadvantage compared to, say, my kids.
Do that for 12 years, and that translates to a 4-year educational gap in the worst (and sadly) common case scenario.
Our system is built to perpetuate a disparity in terms of educational gains and accrual of social capital. Kids who are no less brighter than mine are, simply as a function of numbers, condemned to enter the work force with a 4-year educational gap at best!. Yes, parents are key to ensure education takes hold. But society short changes people at the 2 lower quintiles.
As MLK said, "It’s all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps."