For one of my other classes, we were talking about how much money the big company CEO's get, and how unfair it is compared to other people.
Somebody mentioned that the President of State Farm a few years back ended up earning something like an 80% raise.
At the same time State Farm also tried to weasel its way out of paying off claims for Hurricane Katrina victims (until a class action lawsuit demaned they do so).
Out teacher told us the read the following column to discuss in class, and I found it to be somewhat infuriating. I was just wondering what other people thought, since it has some times to idea of poverty and education.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/op-ed/navarrette/20070221-9999-lz1e21navar.html
1 comment:
WOW. That article is REALLY infuriating. I especially hate this part:
"The president acknowledged that many Americans are worried that the economy is leaving behind working-class folks and suggested that the fear might be somewhat justified. Bush said the reason was “an economy that increasingly rewards education, and skills because of that education.” And that, Bush insisted, makes education reform all the more important."
Yes, I agree, our economy does reward education, as evidenced by the statistic provided in the article. But the working (and middle) class is being "left behind" because they find it increasingly difficult to obtain higher education. They simply cannot pay for it. And if they cannot pay for it, they are stuck in jobs that pay less. Then, when they have children, they haven not been able to save money, and their children are stuck without high education and low-paying jobs. It's a terrible cycle and it takes a lot to break that cycle. I hate that the article later said that most of the problems were self-imposed because of decisions people had made. I think that quote of the day about passing on wealth or poverty generation after generation gives a better explanation of what the problem actually is; people cannot break the cycle themselves.
I can't help but think that so many of the problems that exist in today's society relate back to the inability to afford higher education. :-(
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