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The destruction of America's public education system


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17 minutes ago, ChuckNorrisActionJeans said:

Data shows they don't perform any better than the public schools either. 

At the macro level, I'm sure that's true. But for the parent with limited financial resources districted into poor schools, their child has an extremely finite window to get an adequate education. They don't have time to wait for a long term state or federal solution to come along. If they can get out of a failing school and into a better school, why deprive them of that opportunity? The bottom line need is to increase educational funding across the board so parents don't have to make this choice, right? But until that happens?

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I get it but you're presupposing the charter school is better in some way than the "failing" public school ... and there seems to be no evidence of that if macro data comes from aggregating micro data. Unless you're talking about "school safety" which tends to be code for the level of minority enrollment. (and I don't mean you, I mean public perception generally).

Edited by ChuckNorrisActionJeans
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We already "subsidize" religious schools with Pell Grants and preschool aid and that doesn't seem to be turning everyone into uber Christians.

Not sure that K-12 is this magical place that has to receive every tax dollar especially when those public K-12 districts are increasingly bloating their administration costs at the expense of teachers.

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I can see vouchers and private schools becoming more of a thing in urban and suburban parts of Texas. But will that happen in the rest of state, which is pretty much the Republican base? If we’re diverting education funding to private schools, at least a fair amount of people–say in the DFW area–have some choice to go private if their public schools get even worse with less money.
But what about people in East Texas? Won’t their public schools get even shittier, but without an option of using a voucher toward a private school?
Maybe I’m underestimating how much resources religious denominations will put toward new private schools in the more rural parts of Texas. 
Never underestimate an idiot's desire to have his child be just a stupid as he is.

Seriously, they'll gladly send their kid to a shitty private school if it means owning the libs or getting God into the curriculum.
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1 hour ago, Zepol87 said:

Good thing they had all that money for random bullshit district football stadiums. Morons

For most districts, I believe that is under a different revenue stream than say funding teacher positions. Most buildings are built through bonds.

24 minutes ago, smoky said:

Not sure that K-12 is this magical place that has to receive every tax dollar especially when those public K-12 districts are increasingly bloating their administration costs at the expense of teachers.

I'm not in education, but I am an involved parent, and with respect to administrative costs, there are certainly issues there BUT there are also a lot of unfunded mandates that come from the state. The various demands related to the performance metrics and testing, etc require someone to keep up with all of that. The additional burden of the school safety and compliance again necessitates yet more tasks that can only be spread among so many people. My children are not in elementary any longer, but they had already cut the librarian position into one librarian per multiple campuses and then rely on volunteers to shelve the books. Yeah, I volunteered for five plus years and the number of parents that could do that competently was low. Anyway, they cut the library positions because there were other critical needs that also must be met, such as special services--something that parents have to fight for funding and resources. Extracurricular activities was a battle between the principal and the athletic director/football coach. One was championing the academics while the other was chafing at not being allowed to have football coaches either just coach (they had to be subject certified in the academic vacancy) or hire football coaches and plug them where-ever because you know, it's football. I get it, it's Texas, but that is a lot of staffing.

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13 hours ago, B00M said:

Forgive my undoubtedly ignorant perspective here. I thought a key point of charter schools or school choice was to give minorities a chance to escape specific public schools that have failed their neighborhoods for generations. Obviously this is not the systemic solution anyone would like, but I can't help but consider the individual parent just trying to get their kid out of a bad situation. 

 

Charter schools will be the white flight alternatives to public schools.    Maybe a few charters will remain loyal to the minorities, but most of it's a way to get white kids out of public systems...give them a "safe" place to go.

14 hours ago, South Austin said:

I can see vouchers and private schools becoming more of a thing in urban and suburban parts of Texas. But will that happen in the rest of state, which is pretty much the Republican base? If we’re diverting education funding to private schools, at least a fair amount of people–say in the DFW area–have some choice to go private if their public schools get even worse with less money.

But what about people in East Texas? Won’t their public schools get even shittier, but without an option of using a voucher toward a private school?

Maybe I’m underestimating how much resources religious denominations will put toward new private schools in the more rural parts of Texas. 

East Texas is so overrun by republican bullshit it's an uphill battle.  Why our educators continually vote against their best interest and the best interest of the students is unfathomable.  But it happens, and they are loading the school boards with lots of Karens and Bubbas.    They use athletics to keep kids engaged, athletics and agriculture (FFA).  The students of color that the school relies on for athletics need to stand up and say enough is enough.  But that's hard to do when you've been groomed to be the next Hooterville "Big Star."  NIL gets you a free membership at the local gym where all the old has beens gather to relive glory days.     

Yeah, Charters won't get into East Texas.  Our public schools will just act like charters until someone stands up. 

11 hours ago, B00M said:

At the macro level, I'm sure that's true. But for the parent with limited financial resources districted into poor schools, their child has an extremely finite window to get an adequate education. They don't have time to wait for a long term state or federal solution to come along. If they can get out of a failing school and into a better school, why deprive them of that opportunity? The bottom line need is to increase educational funding across the board so parents don't have to make this choice, right? But until that happens?

This right here.  Now, not later.

10 hours ago, Zepol87 said:

Good thing they had all that money for random bullshit district football stadiums. Morons

Go see how many little 2A schools out there now have turf and 2 or 3 uniforms for both  home and away.  And their band has one beat up 20 year old sousaphone.   Our school annually sends kids to state and national competition in FCCLA and they don't compete against the other little schools.  They beat out 5A and 6A schools.   But you don't even see that shit in the paper, because it's not athletics.  My son was told after his first year of college majoring in psychology that he was wasting his time and the two measly scholarships they awarded him.  Morons indeed.   

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Austin is set to give away $846 million in recapture this next go-round. And can't remotely meet the needs of its own students, at least half of whom qualify for reduced or free lunch. Once that recapture is distributed to the state level of piss-poor per-student funding of other districts, they take the money leftover for their general budget and do whatever they want with it... including operation Lone Star border grandstanding. In direct contradiction of the state constitutional duty to use those funds to support a free and safe education. Which is codified in the Education Code. Not sure why there aren't lots of lawsuits over that....what they're doing directly contravenes the state constitution. But.... Dems? I don't know but it's infuriating. 

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On 7/1/2022 at 1:13 PM, C-Man said:

Remember this: 

 

I made it about a minute.  God, what a self-serving smartass.  "62% of taxes are paid by businesses."  In other words, black lady, we pay the most so we make the rules. 

Fuck that guy.  You gotta be pretty lame to get beat out by Greg Abbott.  You beat the odds.

 

In other news, I'm kinda drunk and would like some tacos.

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12 hours ago, ChuckNorrisActionJeans said:

Charter schools don't have the same accountability/performance standards as regular public schools, and they can reject students they don't want. Data shows they don't perform any better than the public schools either. As Mrs. Wiggins said, it's just a grift with the added benefit of taking badly needed funds away from public education. 

Yeah, I think that whole notion of providing a better alternative to "'hood schools" was just a smokescreen for the religious/indoctrination and profit motives.

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13 hours ago, Tuco said:

I’d bet homeschooling with purchased curriculum.

My wife and I homeschool our kid. Our curriculum is reading the state and national standards, a high tolerance for library fines, and buying occasional books and supplies that genuinely seem helpful. The idea of farming out the education of your child to some company that makes sloppy workbooks seems to defeat the point of homeschooling.

Homeschooling families love to talk about their curriculum. One family we know shared their curriculum with us one night, and it made me sick to my stomach. The thought of my kid being “educated” with that trash is too much. I saw a science workbook that was entirely Bible verses (beautiful and challenging verses on important questions, but not science). I saw a math workbook that was pure trash. It was heartbreaking. Their kids are wonderful though, so maybe they don’t really use that garbage very much.

We chose to homeschool due to philosophical and institutional reasons (I disagree with some details, but largely agree with the gist of Gatto’s assessment of the hidden curriculum of public schools) and a distrust that our community will treat our child’s education with the seriousness it deserves. The idea of subjecting my kid to the culture war garbage or active shooter drills instead of a real education seems insane.

If our state suddenly decided to give us some cash for homeschooling, we’d probably spend it on banned books and tacos for our beleaguered public school teacher friends. I’d rather that money just go to the schools though.

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6 hours ago, Mole said:

My wife and I homeschool our kid. Our curriculum is reading the state and national standards, a high tolerance for library fines, and buying occasional books and supplies that genuinely seem helpful. The idea of farming out the education of your child to some company that makes sloppy workbooks seems to defeat the point of homeschooling.

Homeschooling families love to talk about their curriculum. One family we know shared their curriculum with us one night, and it made me sick to my stomach. The thought of my kid being “educated” with that trash is too much. I saw a science workbook that was entirely Bible verses (beautiful and challenging verses on important questions, but not science). I saw a math workbook that was pure trash. It was heartbreaking. Their kids are wonderful though, so maybe they don’t really use that garbage very much.

We chose to homeschool due to philosophical and institutional reasons (I disagree with some details, but largely agree with the gist of Gatto’s assessment of the hidden curriculum of public schools) and a distrust that our community will treat our child’s education with the seriousness it deserves. The idea of subjecting my kid to the culture war garbage or active shooter drills instead of a real education seems insane.

If our state suddenly decided to give us some cash for homeschooling, we’d probably spend it on banned books and tacos for our beleaguered public school teacher friends. I’d rather that money just go to the schools though.

Wasn't familiar with Gatto.  Interdasting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumbing_Us_Down  See also https://www.naturalchild.org/articles/guest/john_gatto.html

There are a number of legitimate things about which to criticize public schools.  The righties focus on none of them.

Edited by TwiceHorn
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On 7/2/2022 at 5:58 AM, slorch said:

My response to these people, including some in my extended family:

1. If God left the schools, it was by personal choice of the individuals attending.  I never left my faith at home.  Why do you?  You require a prayer be read to you every morning and call that "God in the schools?"  WTH ever....

2. A well rounded education MUST include different POVs and perspectives than what the individual experiences at home.

3. If your child is such a delicate flower( or you are such a negligent parent as to be unable to be an example of your beliefs or follow-up on a regular basis on the materials your child learns at school) well the child is going to have their beliefs/ ideals crushed in short order anyhoo.  Stop blaming public schools for your failure/ fear.

 

I disagree with the approach by Arizona.   I have long felt that private schools should be  above and beyond what the citizen still pays for public schools. Public schools are  a base level expectation for our whole society that we made years ago.  It still is the right commitment.  Education, along with employment are two of the biggest factors in social mobility.  Some folks seem hellbent on knocking out one of those planks.  The deceit and deliberate assault on equality makes me angry.

I agree with all of this. If you have to make a public display of your faith a central point of your child’s public school existence you are doing so at the expense of others that may not share that same faith. I did not grow up with any real belief system in a higher being, but I do remember citing the Pledge of Allegiance and the Texas Pledge as well as the Star Spangled Banner on Fridays in elementary school. Looking back it’s a bit odd to have done all that, but that’s  thankfully a bygone era.

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9 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Wasn't familiar with Gatto.  Interdasting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumbing_Us_Down  See also https://www.naturalchild.org/articles/guest/john_gatto.html

There are a number of legitimate things about which to criticize public schools.  The righties focus on none of them.

Spot on. Like everything else with them, it's about control. Just like their views on government, they don't value a functional public education system. They want to destroy it, while enabling GQP oligarchs to profit handsomely off the destruction. 

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7 hours ago, kibbles said:

The dnc, in general, is an indictment of our public school system.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
 

Negged.

Negged for bad grammar.

Negged for a comment so vague it makes no point.

Negged for having your signature on.

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On 7/2/2022 at 8:36 AM, B00M said:

Forgive my undoubtedly ignorant perspective here. I thought a key point of charter schools or school choice was to give minorities a chance to escape specific public schools that have failed their neighborhoods for generations. Obviously this is not the systemic solution anyone would like, but I can't help but consider the individual parent just trying to get their kid out of a bad situation. 

 

LOL...that's the talking point.  The point is to give tax dollars back to the rich white people who contribute to Republicans and already have their children in religious private schools. That is the origin of "school choice." 

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1 hour ago, Bama Chick said:


Yeah @clapclapclap - why are you not discussing this topic any longer?

Any comment?

 

 

There is one word during the several minutes of messages that the male callers keep using quite quite frequently. Really makes me wonder about the whole idea of how much they like saying that word, how that makes them feel as they think about saying that word, and perhaps they just doth protest a little too much about who might be described by that word.

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If everyone stopped treating public school teachers like shit from the kids to the parents to the administrators to the state legislators that yearly pile on more and more additional requirements without ever taking any away we might have a chance.  With everyone just pointing fingers it doesn't really matter where the money goes as they will suffer the same fate and the kids will continue to pay the price.

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Forgive my undoubtedly ignorant perspective here. I thought a key point of charter schools or school choice was to give minorities a chance to escape specific public schools that have failed their neighborhoods for generations. Obviously this is not the systemic solution anyone would like, but I can't help but consider the individual parent just trying to get their kid out of a bad situation. 
 

Charter schools are a different discussion, school choice is about establishing a Louisiana-style educational caste system.
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1 hour ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

There is one word during the several minutes of messages that the male callers keep using quite quite frequently. Really makes me wonder about the whole idea of how much they like saying that word, how that makes them feel as they think about saying that word, and perhaps they just doth protest a little too much about who might be described by that word.

C
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1 hour ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

There is one word during the several minutes of messages that the male callers keep using quite quite frequently. Really makes me wonder about the whole idea of how much they like saying that word, how that makes them feel as they think about saying that word, and perhaps they just doth protest a little too much about who might be described by that word.

I too noted the uncanny number of "cocksucking bastard" call-outs in those messages.  I would not at all be surprised if a good chunk of those guys were raised in a 1-parent household and, in fact, love the cock, notwithstanding their constant "family values" refrains. 

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Personally I don’t even see it as a “thou dost protest too much” situation. I see it, rather, as “we’re from a small circle that reads and hears each other’s shit and have very few original ideas of our own.” Seriously I listened to it and started wondering in certain spots “didn’t that guy already call?”

If someone has it in them to leave a fucking hate-filled voice message on, if all people, Adam Kinzinger’s voicemail box, someone is a special kind of dumber-than-a-second-coat-of-paint.

Edited by hpslugga
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In Canada’s K-12 public education, from what I know from family members, they have a secular, public schools and Catholic schools. Both are free and funded by the government and you can choose to send your kids to either. Doesn’t seem to be controversial at all. That would seem to be the best solution here in the states. Would that be illegal if tried. Would the Catholic schools currently in operation as private schools object? 

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3 hours ago, Macklemore said:

In Canada’s K-12 public education, from what I know from family members, they have a secular, public schools and Catholic schools. Both are free and funded by the government and you can choose to send your kids to either. Doesn’t seem to be controversial at all. That would seem to be the best solution here in the states. Would that be illegal if tried. Would the Catholic schools currently in operation as private schools object? 

Currently religious schools are exempt from ADA compliance...that's a major($$$) change that would need to happen

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  • 3 weeks later...

It bears mentioning again that our education system in the public sector is absolutely designed to fail. While the machine was put in motion long before Betsy DeVos was destroying it in the storefront window, seeing her killing public schools should’ve been a wake up call for all of us to do something. I include myself in the group that has not and did not do enough to stop the spread of charter/money grab clownshow that these schools are.
 

We are underfunding and undereducating millions of our youth and it is on purpose. The tool that should be the most important thing every child has is a stellar education. We should collectively be ashamed that we are giving them something that resembles a 3rd World education.

Edited by UpperWestside
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On 7/2/2022 at 8:36 AM, B00M said:

Forgive my undoubtedly ignorant perspective here. I thought a key point of charter schools or school choice was to give minorities a chance to escape specific public schools that have failed their neighborhoods for generations. Obviously this is not the systemic solution anyone would like, but I can't help but consider the individual parent just trying to get their kid out of a bad situation. 

 

Valid point if vouchers would only be for students in failing schools. These students may be referenced by politicians pushing for vouchers and charter schools but it's not the focus of the politicians.

As an aside, I can't imagine what would happen to these failing public schools if their top 10-20% of students all left for charter schools.

On 7/5/2022 at 11:38 AM, wreckatx said:

LOL...that's the talking point.  The point is to give tax dollars back to the rich white people who contribute to Republicans and already have their children in religious private schools. That is the origin of "school choice." 

I have several friends who send their kids to private Catholic high schools that from my understanding isn't cheap. I imagine they would love financial assistance from their local public school district.

 

Finally another problem I see with the voucher/charter system would be the financial loss for many teachers who are majority women. Not all, but I believe that many private schools pay less than public especially when you take retirement benefits into account. I assume there are 100s of thousands of retirees in Texas that are kept out of poverty due to their teacher retirement pension. Flip to more private/charter schools and we will see more senior poverty 25 years later.

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You all get it, and I'll add some further opinion on the above posts in random fashion. in addition to undereducate charter schools  also function as an investment opportunity wherein one can get one's hands on monies that used to be sacrosanct. The money is gained through the buildings and subsequent lease agreements. Two birds with one stone.

@Nice Guy Eddie--your point about the pay grade makes sense in a historical fashion as well. Prior to many colleges being open to female enrollment, one of the few fields available was obviously teaching (not higher ed, which was reserved primarily for males except at female colleges and teacher schools). Once the job market opened, women left teaching for more pay as well as followed the career that struck their interest and abilities. In other words, a more 'free' market.

 

 

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16 hours ago, UpperWestside said:

This right here. This is what “charter schools” are all about. They are taking our tax dollars while completely undereducating children on purpose.

 

I am going to give a specific example. This past year I did Teach for America. I imagine that many here are familiar with this organization and others like it. I was placed in a 4th grade charter school classroom as the special education teacher. FIFTEEN of the TWENTY-FIVE kids in that class in Washington Heights read at a first grade level. There was exactly one that read above grade level. Most of them could not legibly write or do simple math equations. The social studies curriculum was made up on the fly by one of the teachers because there was none. To say I was incensed at what I walked into and witnessed is an understatement. Instead of focusing on better ways to reach the kids socially and emotionally to help bridge this massive education divide we had pointless meeting after pointless meeting that was an apropos of nothing. I lack the ability to hide what I think and I asked the principal a question I knew the answer to. I knew it would lead to me leaving. I asked her “Who was responsible for passing these kids each year when they clearly were learning nothing? She said “I make the final decision to pass them” I told her “Exactly. You failed these students educationally and it is on you that they are so far behind. You cannot blame COVID for something from 2018 and 2019.”

I left and have since decided that the best way I ca help these children is through finishing a degree in Clinical and Mental Health. I discovered I could connect with them through SEL learning sessions. The school bully went from walking in and ignoring me and doing whatever he wanted to within three months he came in everyday and gave me a hug and wanted to sit and do math with me as much as he could. 
 

I say all of that to say that these children are capable of learning and one day overhauling a system designed to fail them. We all have to do what we can to aid them in whatever way we can. The priority should be pushing back on charters and getting more funding back to public schools as a starting point.

While several of the current issues affect my day-to-day more (marriage equality/ abortion healthcare rights, etc.), I think I find this one to be the most depressing.

I suppose I understand why the mouth-breathing morons would support this (although if you don’t think schools will raise their tuition once the gov is writing voucher checks, I have a bridge to sell you), but it’s the upper-middle class people I just don’t get. If you look at Austin, there are only a handful of private schools worth a damn and those are already very competitive. If you removed public schools (Anderson, west lake etc) from the equation, they’re only going to get exponentially more competitive. After that, you are left with a handful of anti-vax schools and charters/non-elite religious schools that don’t have to adhere to any sort of minimum standards and are often advancing a very particular agenda of their founders.

They’re unwittingly killing their own children’s futures, not to mention the greater societal implications of having generations of undereducated or uneducated children across all strata of society (except the most wealthy and/or connected).

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4 minutes ago, bonnieblue said:

They’re unwittingly killing their own children’s futures, not to mention the greater societal implications of having generations of undereducated or uneducated children across all strata of society (except the most wealthy and/or connected).

donald trump GIF

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On 7/2/2022 at 2:11 PM, Mrs Whiggins said:

For most districts, I believe that is under a different revenue stream than say funding teacher positions. Most buildings are built through bonds.

Bond elections decide most of these stadiums. The implication and appearance of having these absolutely worthless monoliths to go and worship teenagers is that states like Texas put a high premium on sports and not education. Try and tell someone a school district in Texas spent 60 million on a football stadium and wait for the incredulous look you’ll get.

We are dumbing down an entire generation across the country with the lack of funding for public school education. Charter schools are only exacerbating this crisis. If you are associated with a charter or send your child to one shame on you for being part of the greatest monetary scam in the history of education in our country. You are putting money in the pockets of people who want to completely destroy public schools beyond repair.

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On 7/2/2022 at 8:41 AM, South Austin said:

One left education altogether. Not sure about the other.

My girlfriend's department lost 10 out of 21 teachers (at a "destination" suburban district) after last year. 9 of those 10 left education altogether while the 10th moved out of the area to another school due a spouse's job change.

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18 minutes ago, UpperWestside said:

The implication and appearance of having these absolutely worthless monoliths to go and worship teenagers is that states like Texas put a high premium on sports and not education. Try and tell someone a school district in Texas spent 60 million on a football stadium and wait for the incredulous look you’ll get.

Pro Wrestling Sport GIF by ALL ELITE WRESTLING

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15 minutes ago, DanRydell said:

My girlfriend's department lost 10 out of 21 teachers (at a "destination" suburban district) after last year. 9 of those 10 left education altogether while the 10th moved out of the area to another school due a spouse's job change.

This is all by design. The students are the ones paying the price for the greed of the Boomer generation who cannot keep their hand out of the financial cookie jar.

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2 hours ago, UpperWestside said:

This is all by design. The students are the ones paying the price for the greed of the Boomer generation who cannot keep their hand out of the financial cookie jar.

The money is certainly a factor but the parents are perhaps an even bigger one.

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