Respect Your Elders

One of the Ten Commandments is to honor your father and your mother. We are told to respect our elders, but that seems to be more true in Asian nations where the elders are respected, even venerated in contrast to our country which is youth oriented. “Don’t trust anyone over 30 was the mantra of the 60’s. But those saying that are now in their 60’s. Interesting.

Then I found a blog, Young Americans for Liberty, who  said, “Giving respect to somebody merely on the basis of their age is rather arbitrary and, well, idiotic.” The writer’s proof of all this was to look at congress which is comprised entirely of adults. He further says that it is from adults that young people learn all their bad habits. Oooh, victim mentality.

What is really interesting is what I hear on NPR on the way back from the golf course this morning. Whoever was speaking said that Americans over the age of 60 are the best educated people in the world. Those in their 30’s are just in the middle of the pack as far as developed countries go. Very interesting! In a competitive world we are less competitive due our education or that lack of or the lack of emphasis of it.

It was also true in the 60’s and before that education cost far far less comparatively than it does today. And again, it was the government that made that possible. Government subsidized higher education at a much higher level that it does now and education just plain cost less. When you hear to conservatives speak part the mantra includes cuts in education. Our governor here is Wisconsin was bent on breaking the teacher unions and succeeded. Under the Ryan budget Pell grants will take it on the nose.

How can we expect to be more competitive in the world financial scene when we don’t make the necessary investments in education to make that possible? It is absurd.

Plus, I believe, the quality of education is waning. Liberal arts education which used to be the cornerstone of higher education is becoming a lost entity. Even four year colleges seem more and more like technical schools than institutions of higher education. And with the advent of online degrees classroom and out of classroom interaction was often key in a for a well rounded student and how can communicate ideas well is lost. More recently we have heard about the private schools becoming money mills for their investors, putting higher education further out of the reach of more students. We seem to be headed towards a class society again where only the rich and privileged will be able to have higher educational opportunities.

The numbers can be numbing with average tuition at a public university rising 15% between 2008 and 2010 giving state budget cuts resulting increases in tuition. It is as high as 40% increases in Georgia, Arizona and California according to U.S.A. Today. And they reported they went up another over 8% again in 2011. That is double the inflation rate. About 1/3^rd of students receive no grant aid.

President Obama proposed a plan in October of 2011 so students can consolidate their debt to reduce interest rates and allow borrowers to cap the student loan payments at 10% of discretionary income. From what I can figure out Romney and other conservatives approve of this idea but it has bogged down in wrangling over how to pay for it.

So, you young whippersnappers, we old folk have screwed up with some regularity, but at least our frontal lobes (mind governors) work and we are well educated. Ignore us at your own peril.

Must go cut down a tree now.