Originally posted by: Xavier434
Originally posted by: palehorse
Originally posted by: eskimospy
Originally posted by: palehorse
My proposal of 200 hours of service is too high!? Oh. I get it... some of you would like to just hand them my money.
got it. :roll:
*sigh* The service exists to weed out those who are not committed to it, it doesn't exist so that our highways will be garbage free and our elderly will have someone to play checkers with. If the service part is what is important to you, then we should just contract out some professional old person checker players for minimum wage and get the same benefit.
I view both sides of the equation as equally important. Give and take.
Doing so at three times the minimum wage rate is certainly a proposal that still works very much in the students' favors. After all, I earned my $4500/yr in tuition assistance by placing my life on the line and serving my country for
several years... yet you feel that 200 hours is still too much to ask of students!?
I thought that Obama's proposals for college tuition assistance would become the civilian equivalent to the military's GI Bill. I guess I was very very wrong... 100 hours of "community service" is a fucking insult to every soldier who has ever served and received the GI Bill. Increasing that number to 200 hours is still quite generous...
The GI Bill is still available as an option. Plus, that option is ridiculously different and you know it. You are comparing apples and oranges. You just don't want to see it that way because it kills your argument.
Plus, you are comparing soldiers to civilians now. Soldiers get a hell of a lot more than $4000 per year for their service after factoring in all available benefits not to mention the job experience to put on your resume. What do you want to do? Make the students only have the option of putting in that kind of commitment? Fine, but you sure as hell better be ready to pay for and offer them the same benefits that soldiers in the military get.
Look, the point is that the military is not for everyone. This country need LOTS of different kinds of opportunities that work. Obama recognized that we are missing needed opportunities and he has developed a plan that will branch out and help in multiple ways across multiple problems in this country while still keeping college education as the center focal point.
Besides, had he been around earlier, you too would have had the opportunity to take advantage of such an excellent program. Same can be said about me. I am very happy that my son will be able to do it if it passes.