I’m Not On Welfare You Entitled Asshole
The big controversy at Arizona State right now is the planned increase of tuition by about ten percent and a $1000 dollar “economic recovery surcharge” for students. Of course everybody is playing the blame game about the tuition hikes. As a result, some pretty ridiculous claims and demands are being made about the whole issue of tuition hikes and funding for colleges. In this post, I want to discuss how many students feel entitled to a free higher education.
More below the fold…
Let me tell you all about an encounter I had with one of these students. Walking across campus is like driving down an MSR in Iraq but instead of dodging IEDs you are dodging hippies trying to get you to sign some pointless petition. My standard IA drill (or battle drill for you Army pukes) for this situation is to either starting speaking in Arabic or simply to say “Fuck off Hippie.” However today my superior Infantry training failed me and I was sucked into a complex ambush by several attractive female members of the ASU student government. But they were just a deception and out of nowhere appeared some pimply-faced kid who asked me how I felt about the proposed tuition hikes. I told him I honestly didn’t care too much since I was on the GI Bill and that I thought the student government’s solution would inevitably lead to higher taxes. He then told me that a college education was a “human right” and that everyone should be entitled to something like the GI Bill. He then stated that with only veterans receiving the GI Bill that it was just a form of welfare for veterans. After this, our conversation was over.
Lets me be crystal fucking clear: I am not receiving GI Bill benefits simply because I was born or because I am lucky. I am not receiving GI Bill benefits because the government feels sorry for veterans or because we are “victims” of the military or an “unjust war”. It was a benefit that was promised to veterans as part of a contract that required us to give up many of our rights and freedoms and in some cases go into combat where our lives were in danger. Up until last year, veterans even paid up to 1800 dollars (with a kicker) of their own money towards the GI Bill. In some ways, the GI Bill is no different than a benefit a corporation gives to its employees as part of a contract. I don’t see how anybody with a working brain can make any serious comparison of the GI Bill to welfare. The only thing they have in common is that they are paid out by the government. But unfortunately they are a few non-working brains at ASU…
In my view this is the problem: A powerful minority of students, staff, and faculty at ASU have a suffocating sense of entitlement. They feel that a state that is for all intensive purposes broke should increase taxes on millions of Arizonians or increase tuition on thousands of financially stressed students in order to fund the education and employment of a few, who in many cases aren’t contributing anything of value to Arizona or society in general. For example, there are grad students that are being paid and given resources by the school to study the social dynamics of World of Warcraft and XBOX live. Also,while pleading poverty, ASU wants to build a fifth campus in Payson, renovate Sun Devil stadium, and continue to expand non-essential services.
Nobody is entitled to a free college education or even guaranteed admission to college. It is something that has to be earned and worked for. Its also something that shouldn’t be funded at the expense of others. My service is how I earned that education and that is how I am paying for it. Jonn and others who post here did the same thing, in many cases serving a lot longer than I did. I’m not going to listen to some punk tell me and my fellow vets our earned benefits are welfare.
Category: General Whackos, Pointless blather
“He then told me that a college education was a “human right””
What’s hilarious is that this attitude is also the reason that a BS/BA degree is so devalued today. And why you’ve now got college graduates doing jobs that 20 years ago were done by HS grads.
Also, the “everybody needs to go to college!” attitude is why my time as a TA was so horrific and why I decided not to be a college prof. Nothing more annoying then dealing with a college freshman who cannot write a coherent sentence. I guess those kids had a ‘right’ to be useless and take up time commenting on crap they should’ve learned in middle school.
Great post, Dan! I have little sympathy for the students facing a tuition hike who think that they are “entitled” to an education largely subsidized by the citizens of Arizona. I worked while I went to college, didn’t own a car for 4 years (because I couldn’t afford one)and I am still paying off student loans 15 years after I graduated (the last one is paid off this year). If they want an education, they will sacrifice something for it……kind of like the people like yourself who made a sacrifice of their time and put their lives on the line in order to, when they returned home, have the opportunity to further their education. In my opinion, higher education has become too accessible. Young people no longer appreciate the opportunity and it’s seems largely wasted on many of them (given the deplorable language, logic and math skills I have seen in recent graduates).
I have a co-worker that was discussing healthcare with me a while back. She is of the leftist slant of entitlements and she knew that I had gone to the VA for my annual check-up and asked me why I got to go there when others didn’t, like an elitist. She then asked how it was that I could do that and if I received disability. I said yes. She said that if I felt that the government shouldn’t be paying for everyone’s healthcare, then I should just give my disability check back. I looked her square in the eye and said the difference is that she feels that everyone is “entitled” because they were born, whereas I earned my trips to the VA and disability check by serving my country and the promise made when I signed the contract.
They have no clue anymore, because they haven’t had to earn anything, they were just “given” everything from their parents and now think that they should just get it “because” they exist.
Personally, I didn’t got to college- I was too busy learning things.
(Shamelessly stolen from Ted Nugent, but applicable in my case.)
Nuf Sed
Dan,
First, take a deep breath. Having gone to school, taught more than a few law school classes, and been in a relationship with a law professor, I can tell you that this is always a good first step. Second, remember most of these little pukes are children who have never “earned” anything. They wents to schools that valued self esteem over actual education and earning grades. They are currently being taught by (mostly) leftist moron too lazy to get a job in the “real world,” and they simply do not know any better. Hopefully, when they get out into the cold, cruel world, they will wisen up. You can generally help them out by patting them on the head and telling them when they have actually accomplished something to give you a call, but until then they should stfu.
Nobody with even a basic understanding of the world “earn” thinks you are on wellfare; you did a job and now you are collecting a portion of your pay.
Tyr not to let them get to you. It will be difficult, but this will be a skill you will need when working with the same pukes in the civilian world.
In this day and age everyone thinks they (or their children) have to go to college in order to be successful. I deal everyday with kids and their parents who insist their child will be going to college despite all odds. In Louisiana, those who meet certain requirements can apply for TOPS and get a free ride through college. Of course, a certain GPA has to be maintained, there are different levels of tuition assistance and very few qualify for the maximum amount and are able to maintain it. Some high school seniors I contact barely know what the ACT is, have not even looked into colleges, are struggling to graduate, and come from families that can barely make ends meet, yet their parents are still pushing college. I’ve been out here long enough now to see some of those same kids ask about joining the Army, only to realize they are no longer qualified.
I don’t hide the fact that I dropped out of high school to start working full time. I’ve always been more hands-on and plan to use my education benefits for trade courses such as locksmithing. That said, despite my lack of interest in getting a formal education” so I can flaunt a piece of paper, I try to continue learning, whether it be reading a book or magazine about history or working on my grammar and writing skills with every post I make online. (bear with me :)) That said, every benefit I have earned as a Soldier has been a part of my four (so far) contracts. Whether we take full advantage of them or not, those benefits are part of the agreement made between our respective services, the VA and ourselves. There is no such thing as a free lunch and a Baccalaureate degree is almost nothing to many employers nowadays due to the abundance of college grads with no applicable experience.
I’ll stick to my trades once I retire. Sure, I might get dirty but the world will always need mechanics, handymen and other lowly blue collar types. 🙂
Susan,
Don’t worry, this stuff isn’t keeping me awake at night. I just can’t help but be bothered sometimes by how disconnected from reality a lot of the students and even faculty are about how the state pays for public education. Whatever.
Spade,
You bring up an excellent point. The “everybody needs to go to college” mentality isn’t helping anything. It is stuffing the universities full of people who shouldn’t be there or who don’t want to be there.
About six months ago there was this story on the news about this poor girl who couldn’t afford to go to KU. Wah…here is a straw suck it up. Not everybody gets to go to the college they want to. Sometimes you have to go to a community college untill you can afford to go to the college of their choice.
OD…
I am with you. The Declaration of Independence states that we have …”certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…”
Nowhere in any other document be it the Constitution, Bill of Rights,what have you, does it say you have a right to attend school, you have a right to health care, etc…
I earned mine, just like you, because I served. Had I heard that, my p-38 would have been opening a can o whoopass. I would not be able to be diplomatic about it because of what soldiers today sacrifice. Nosiree, Bob. Calling it welfare, them’s fightin’words for sure.
OD,
Another thing that I read about earlier this week was that there are grad level students that have such poor basic skills, like writing, spelling, and math, that they are having to be tutored in order to get up to high school level. It’s a sad snap shot of what you and Susan were talking about with the self esteem trumping the basics.
I have always told my daughters that there is a big difference between learning and attending in school and that not everyone gets to be the smartest in class, no matter how wide the grading curve becomes.
Funny, how while my degree helped get my foot in the door, it didn’t prepare me a whit for the job I now have. My military experience, OTOH, came in REAL handy.
I’m back in school at 50 after losing my job here outside Detroit in Dec 08. My GI Bill runs out at the end of July though and I won’t finish my bachelor’s until November. I’m still trying to decide whether to stay here in Michigan or leave for greeneer pastures. I’ve had a couple people say very much the same thing to me and I told them straight out that this is Uncle Sam keeping his end of the contract, that I’ve earned everything I’m taking and that they have the same opportunity as I did.(Many do not as they wouldn’t be able to qualify for military service.) I should have gone back to school before I did, then I would have gotten the full benefit.
Back in the 80’s I had to pay $1200 for the “Army College Fund” and it was worth every penny that I PAID FOR Because of that, when I lost my job (right close to you Bill) I was able to get a new one after about 9 months….for 2 reasons, my degree and because this place hires lots of veterans….mostly Navy (I’m the only Army guy) but lots of edumacated vets….
just remember, jarhead, hippy chicks are easy.
Always wrap that weasel and never use your own name.
Make Chesty proud!
The “everybody should be able to go to college” mentality started during Vietnam. College = deferment, VoTech deferment. Thus, every liberal do-gooder emphasized college then and the trend was started. Now kids that would thrive at VoTech and have marketable skills are being pushed to college where they are bound to fail after running up student loans that are not dischargable in bankruptcy. It is a real shame.
Even though the leftard “educationist” flakes want K-12 (Kindergarten through 12th Grade) to be P-16 (Pre-K through 4th Year College), it ain’t gonna happen. Everybody can’t go to college unless they make in another four years of stupid drivel that’s pointless (high school, Part II) then why bother? (Oh, more Marxist indoctrination– America sucks, men are bad, Social Justice uber Alles!)
Here in Michigan, our gov. the inestimable, or is it incompetent, Jennifer Granmole, says that every child should go to college, or a vocational school. Now, the first thing wrong with this is, there isn’t room, the second, there isn’t any money. Oh, that’s ok, we’ll just raise tuition, and room and board, and charge $100 for a book.
Meanwhile, she wants to release 7,500 felons from prison, just so’s the state doesn’t have to keep them. Bar the doors and load up on ammo folks. It’s going to be an interesting year. Hmmm, maybe the kids who want to go to college can get convicted of a felony, go to prison and get their degree there. It’s free if you’re in prison.
So, Bill, still undecided on whether to stick around or not?
I was one of the kids that took the MEAP in 4th, 8th? and 12th grade in Michigan but never got the scholarship money because Governor Granholm removed it.
Susan,
Spot on. Another ‘everybody must go to college!’ story. Had a kid in a history class I was TAing. Failing, but sought out help. Kid was utterly unprepared for college, which probably had a lot to do with his HS. Had a work ethich, just couldn’t cut it. Asked him what his major was. “Mechanical engineering.”
Okay, I started out college as a ME major and bailed for History. And there was no way on god’s green earth this kid was getting a ME degree. There was practically no way this kid was getting a degree period. I asked him what he wanted to do. Well, he wanted to work on cars. He liked cars and tinkered with them in his free time.
The kid wanted to be a MECHANIC. But I found out his parents were insisting he HAD to go to college and since ME = cars that’s where he was. Running up a huge amount of debt for a degree he wasn’t going to get that wouldn’t have made him happy since most ME majors in the auto industry aren’t really working on cars. You work on bits of cars. Or bits of bits of bits. It was sad really. He could’ve been already in the work force doing something he already loved and was good at. Instead he felt forced into spending money in an area that was just making him feel like a failure.
The other point related to all this ‘you must go to college’ is all the shipbuilding related unions keep pointing out that they’re having a hell of a time finding replacements for the huge number of guys who are going to be retiring because nobody wants to be a welder anymore. Despite the fact a good welder can make a hell of a lot of money.
Good for you Dan.
An education is something you take. Nobody gives it to you. There is no entitlement to being smart.
Sounds like the entitlement generation is getting poised for a little red ass demonstration about the unfair world,… they have ‘rights’ you know. It is interesting to know what is going on at the campuses out there.
Be invisible as best you can about your earned bennies. Offer the hippie chick a happy meal.
One good thing down here is the fact that many of the high schools have welding programs. Some even have agricultural and woodworking classes as well. Two kids that graduated from one of the schools last year are making $26/hr and $28/hr straight out of high school. Automotive mechanics can make pretty decent money, though when I got started it was as an Apprentice Technician making $7/hr. Tools are an investment that last a lifetime and mine have followed me around the Army, waiting for those rare occasions when they see some use.
I went to a school that was considered one of the top public schools in the US. They prided themselves on the number of graduates that went on to college. I haven’t kept up with many, but the few I’ve contacted through Myspace and other social networks either didn’t finish college or earned their degree and are struggling in the workforce.
I was one of the kids that took the MEAP in 4th, 8th? and 12th grade in Michigan but never got the scholarship money because Governor Granholm removed it.
Joe, I was a teacher during the Engler years when he instituted those scholarships and the MEA HATED him, said he was bad for education, didn’t like kids, yada, yada….I wonder where the MEA is on Granmole? ssshhh….
OT, you don’t need to ask, you know where the MEA is on Granmole. Standing right next to her as she gives away more money, with their hands out.
VEAP kept me in beer and pretzels. I paid into that sum’bitch. last I checked, I put myself through college.
As one wise friend’s father once told me- “it’s not the degree you get, it’s what you DO with it once you are out..”
Of course he was right. His example- “you can be a VERY successful English major, or a horrible engineer. Either course is possible- your drive, your ambition, will set your course no matter what degree you get..”
This, from a guy who barely had a HS diploma, yet ran the entire engineering department for a VERY large telecom firm. And most of the people working for him were engineers.
[…] Click here to read about how Operator Dan @ This Ain’t Hell was told that his G.I. Bill money is welfare for veterans and about how Dan didn’t end up using the guy as a pooper-scooper. […]
Another excellent point.
nice
“Meanwhile, she wants to release 7,500 felons from prison, just so’s the state doesn’t have to keep them.”
UpNorth, look at the bright side, a new varmint to pop, legal in urban environments, no need to purchase tags from the DNR! You are CCW-ing, right?
UpNorth and Old Tanker, I think you guys are a letter off on the MEA, it’s the MMEA, Michigan Marxist Education Association…
Talking about trade school and the such. My twin nephews took vo-tech for electricians when they were in High School. They were making $18/hour when they graduated three years ago. I’ve joked with my wife that if this whole nursing thing doesn’t work out I am going to become a welder.
AG
Thanks for the correction!! BTW, the DNR consolidated with the DEQ and is now the DNRE….no joke….
JAG, I sure am. Everyday, whenever I leave home. Yeah, Jennifer is creating a target-rich environment, but a lot of people will end up suffering. The reason that a burglary is a non-violent crime is that no one came home during the burglary. Yet, lots and lots of the ones she wants to release are burglars.
I thought you guys knew, everybody bets an award these days. There are no losers, just winners of different degree……….but seriously thank you for your service and remember hippies want to change the world but all they ever do is smoke pot and smell bad.
There’re are no winners ’cause they’re all losers!
So this student who told you the GI Bill was a current form of wellfare was an idiot. You put your life on the line for years to fight for our country, it’s the government’s job to make sure your education is funded. Although, I do believe recieving an education is a “human right”; meaning, if someone has the drive to learn and better their livelihood they deserve the chance. We have different forms of FASFA, scholarships, grants, and loans to help the “struggling” college student; It’s up to the student to fill out the paper work and maintain their gpa to get it. There is no such thing as a career entry level job anymore (that pays well enough to support a family anyway). Plus with the economy the way it is, people have no choice, but to go back to school. Even then after graduating there is no promise of getting a career, your odds are just better then the guy who doesn’t. The guy who brought about the petition for the tuition hikes did it in a complete moronic way. I believe the tuition hikes are bullshit because they expect the people who lack a career at the moment to pay these expensive prices. People who call them freeloaders for wanting lower prices or grants/ scholarships are idiots. These students (the ones who are working hard) are our future, benefiting them helps build a better future for society as a whole. Reading your entry i got the vibe that you are completly against welfare. I admit that the welfare system is flawed in that they do not regulate enough on the people who abuse the system. However, there are the people on it that do not abuse it and use the money correctly and better their lifestyles by educating themselves and gettting careers because of it. One has to ask themselves, would you be okay with finding more homeless people (including children) in your front yards starving and possibly even dying. If we did not have welfare poverty stricken people would be more prevalent. Welfare generally consists… Read more »