Exchange of ideas

I was watching C-Span this afternoon when a meeting this past Wednesday was aired on their "Road To The White House" series. The Black History Month Student Forum was televised from George Town University and Howard Dean, Democratic National Committee Chairman was the moderator.

I am on the opposite side of the political coin from Mr. Dean and find little to agree with him on government policy. He did surprise me though when asked about increasing funds for student volunteer activities and he proposed an alternate plan. He said that he would like to see young people receive a paid collage education in exchange for two years of work for some type of government program like the Peace Corp. I didn't agree completely with this idea but I like the principle of it. I would like to see a program that paid a substantial portion of a persons higher education in exchange for two years of work in their dedicated field. I would give preference to those that teach science and math or have other skills that would further the needs of our country. At one time we had a military draft which created a common bond among many of the male citizens of this country because it was a shared experience. As Newt Gingrich points out "You can't go to France and become a Parisian. You are either born there or you are not. But you can come to America and become an "American" because it is a learned culture." That is one of the things that makes our country unique.

I have mixed feeling on the elimination of the draft and lean more toward the side that it was a good thing that the government no longer presses it citizens into indentured servitude. I would not have a problem with asking young people to do public service in exchange for a helping hand with their education though. I feel that things given away for "free" hold less value for the receiver than things that are earned.


Another idea that he brought up that I thought was excellent was that young people should defer that collage education until they have had some life experience. I don't think it would hurt for high school graduates to spend some time working in the real world, perhaps doing some of that earned volunteer time, which would allow them to mature a little and get a better idea of the field of higher education that they would like to pursue. This of course assumes that we are going to do what is necessary to education system to ensure that graduating students have the skills needed to go on to collage. That is a topic for another discussion though.

My main thought here is that it would be to our great advantage if citizens once again got involved and demanded some results from the elected officials of our country. And that would include listening to ideas from both sides of the political spectrum. The only advantage to the current grid lock is that more bad policies and programs are not being fostered on us.