rick santorum’s Anti-College Rant

[spanone]

Hey, I get it: Republicans have to reject and condemn virtually everything President Obama proposes, no matter how noble, to satisfy their base. This is our political predicament.

Rick Santorum, however, has followed that logic out the window. In New Hampshire last week Santorum accused President Obama of “elitist snobbery” and “hubris” for suggesting that “under my administration, every child should go to college.”

Who are you? Who are you to say that every child in America go … I mean the hubris of this president to think that he knows what’s best for you. I … you know there is … I have seven kids. Maybe they’ll all go to college. But, if one of my kids wants to go and be an auto mechanic, good for him. That’s a good-paying job – using your hands and using your mind. This is the kind of, the kind of snobbery that we see from those who think they know how to run our lives. Rise up America. Defend your own freedoms.

First, the facts: I can’t find a single instance where the president has actually said that. The president has consistently framed the discussion as one of making high school graduates both college- and career-ready. And even when speaking about learning after high school, he has often included both higher education and vocational training.

http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/rick-santorums-anti-college-rant/?ref=opinion

[JoePhilly]

1. Little Ricky and the GOP need more peope to skip college.

That's their base.

[jberryhill]

3. Non-college graduates a/k/a a majority of US adults

'Splain me how people "skip" college.

[JoePhilly]

6. They could go, but they decide not to ... thus "skipping" it.

For example ... I have a friend that started to go, his family had the money. But he decided to drop out of college after the first semester. He was smart enough to go. Just decided he did not want to.

My point is that the GOP hates colleges and Universities ... which is why they are constantly screaming about how "liberal" those institutions are. They are intentionally trying to dissuade people from attending college.

This is also why, just the other day, Santorum screamed about how Obama wanted every kid to have a chance to go to college, and how terrible that would be. Its why Limbaugh is always screaming about liberal universities. Its why the GOP wants to do away with Pell grants.

The rich want their kids to go to college, but they definitely don't want your kids to go because they know that a college education provides one with the best potential to move up economically.

Its also part of the GOP's war on science. Much easier to convience people that evolution doesn't happen or that climate change isn't happening when many of those people don't have sufficient education in science to be able to spot the deceptions ... this is also how they got away with claiming that cigarettes didn't cause cancer for so long.

[liberal N proud]

2. I am still trying to figure out how the desire to have every kid go to college is snobbery

[zipplewrath]

4. Every child "should"

Remembering of course that 18 year olds aren't "children", even auto mechanics should go to "college". It may be a post secondary vocational school, but everyone should gain additional training and education past high school. And yes, it wouldn't hurt if that included some course work on the finer points of composition and a touch of history in the subject they are studying.

[deutsey]

5. During a political discussion, a conservative I know once said accusingly to a friend:

"I bet you want your daughter to go to college, too."

He said it as if that were something to be ashamed of.

My friend just looked at me with an expression of: "Did he just say what I think he said?" and responded: "Well, yeah, I do."