Santorum on education

[takoma]

Rick Santorum (who has an MBA and a law degree) wants all our blue collar moms and dads to be able to raise blue collar kids, not college educated snobs like Obama:

How can he live with being such an insult to his grandfather, who no doubt would have wanted him to follow his footsteps into the Pennsylvania coalmines?

[Anonymous]

I have never understood the conservative bias against higher education.

[Anonymous]

It's just flat out pandering. His father was a psychologist and he has an MBA. The last five republican presidents had eight degrees between them.

[takoma]

Anonymous wrote:It's just flat out pandering. His father was a psychologist and he has an MBA. The last five republican presidents had eight degrees between them.

And furthermore, he promised to make it possible for all PA students to attend college when he ran for Senate. Does he think there is no record of the past?

[Anonymous]

I was deeply offended by his comments. My parents grew up poor, with hardworking parents who did everything they could to help them get a college education. My parents both went to city schools and worked all through college to get by. They never got rich off their educations but managed to get good jobs that offered them the security they both wanted for their own family. Without a college education, they would have not been able to do that.

I think Santorum is a duplicitous, pandering, loathsome human being. I don't like to get personal about politics, but he has gotten so deeply personal on so many issues--attacking people's motives, faith, and morality--that I find him totally repugnant. The Republican Party used to be the party of individual liberty, not theocracy. What has happened? An embarrassment to the Party and to all rational people.

[Anonymous]

There are some people who should not go to college and I've been hearing that manufacturers are having a hard time finding sufficiently educated workers because anyone with an education doesn't want to work in a factory. I'm a bit concerned that there is so much emphasis on going to college that schools are not preparing kids for non-college jobs and that these kids are being set up for failure.

That said, I think Santorum's comment is total bullshit! He's a hypocrite. I'm sure he wants all his kids to go to college and law school/grad school! He doesn't care about those kids who need a viable alternative to college.

[takoma]

Anonymous wrote:There are some people who should not go to college and I've been hearing that manufacturers are having a hard time finding sufficiently educated workers because anyone with an education doesn't want to work in a factory. I'm a bit concerned that there is so much emphasis on going to college that schools are not preparing kids for non-college jobs and that these kids are being set up for failure.

That said, I think Santorum's comment is total bullshit! He's a hypocrite. I'm sure he wants all his kids to go to college and law school/grad school! He doesn't care about those kids who need a viable alternative to college.

I don't think anyone who wants all kids to have the opportunity to go to college disagrees, any more than those who support a woman's right to decide what happens to her body want to see everyone get an abortion. I don't know whether it's a warped sense of logic or intentional deceit (there are examples of both, I'm sure) when people act as though liberals want to force everyone to go to college and get abortions.

[Anonymous]

this is truth and not some dem talking point.

the majority of republican voters these days are not highly educated. the highly educated of the party are a minority and this data was very telling after the 2008 election.

this doesnt mean so-called highly educated people went for obama. the data shows that the majority of republican voters are more white and less educated than dems. i guess knowing this, the nominees cater to their senses and folks like santorum say nonsense like this.

college isnt for everyone but the opportunities for everyone to get to college is something this country should strive for. that and any technical/specialized vocational training for those blue collar jobs santorum is talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are some people who should not go to college and I've been hearing that manufacturers are having a hard time finding sufficiently educated workers because anyone with an education doesn't want to work in a factory. I'm a bit concerned that there is so much emphasis on going to college that schools are not preparing kids for non-college jobs and that these kids are being set up for failure.

That said, I think Santorum's comment is total bullshit! He's a hypocrite. I'm sure he wants all his kids to go to college and law school/grad school! He doesn't care about those kids who need a viable alternative to college.

The reality is a little bit more nuanced than that. Manufacturers currently need people with the skills to work in highly specialized fields that have traditionally been considered vocational, such as welding or programming specific state-of the art machines. These are jobs that typically require a couple of years of training, so no average college graduate, no matter how motivated to earn some kind of living, is going to be able to fill these jobs on the spot. In addition, many people who are trained for similar jobs but on older technology are unemployed because their training is obsolete. Some companies are resorting to desperate measures and starting to train people, but only as a last resort.

There was an article in the WSJ a few months ago describing a job fair for applicants in these fields. They were being asked to take qualification tests, drug tests etc. at their own cost before qualifying for interviews. Understandably, unless you're desperate, why would you pay $50 to pass some tests to see if you even qualify for an interview for a job that's going to pay $15-20/hr? I don't know how prevalent this practice is but I've always worked in white collar jobs where you are wooed and everything is reimbursed during the interview process, so that detail really stuck out in my mind.

But yes, Santorum really is scum.

[Anonymous]

I think Santorum is a duplicitous, pandering, loathsome human being. I don't like to get personal about politics, but he has gotten so deeply personal on so many issues--attacking people's motives, faith, and morality--that I find him totally repugnant. The Republican Party used to be the party of individual liberty, not theocracy. What has happened? An embarrassment to the Party and to all rational people.

Preach!

Perhaps we should start calling them Repuglicans?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I think Santorum is a duplicitous, pandering, loathsome human being. I don't like to get personal about politics, but he has gotten so deeply personal on so many issues--attacking people's motives, faith, and morality--that I find him totally repugnant. The Republican Party used to be the party of individual liberty, not theocracy. What has happened? An embarrassment to the Party and to all rational people.

Preach!

Perhaps we should start calling them Repuglicans?

That would help separate them from the Republicants. Those are the ones in the House that say "no" to everything.

[Anonymous]

Majoring in liberal arts is an example of the have to get a college degree with no jobs

[Anonymous]

PP, did you actually go to college? People go to "liberal arts" colleges and major in all sorts of things - economics, Chinese, art history, mathematics, computer science, biology, etc. etc. I've never heard of anyone majoring in liberal arts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Majoring in liberal arts is an example of the have to get a college degree with no jobs

I studied physics. Science and math are considered liberal arts.