[agzg]

Originally Posted by *winter*

Trade schools here are hurting for people to apply- while 4 year college population grows each year, to the point that new dorms and buildings are being constructed to handle the overflow.

Irony is...the trades are screaming for applicants. We have an electrical program here (the technical name escapes me.) It was started in this area specifically to address the unemployment and/or untrained issue, and it was tailored around the needs of the employers, who were begging for qualified applicants. Still...every year, they face low enrollment.

How much easier, how much clearer does it all have to be? In the articles I've read, they always mention students (HS seniors) "looking down" on trade schools, as if this represents settling, or taking the "dumb" path in life. Nothing could be further from the truth! "Dumb" is paying out the wazoo with LOANS to finance an education that is obsolete, just to prove to the world that you got a Bachelors' degree.

One of the "scarier" aspects of some of these programs (and the water/wastewater industry, which I am closely involved) is that it involves...dun dun dunnnnn...MATH and SCIENCE! And people run screaming in droves from that. The applicants I've worked with in water plants, who were dedicated to learning the profession and passing the certification exam, have generally had few issues. It's not such a steep learning curve that it's impossible, but it seems to be very intimidating to people who don't like math and science.

Just in general, this whole protest is starting to bug me.

As a veteran, it really p*sses me off to see people whose avitars are upside down flags (when we still have soldiers in active war zones ATM!) I know it's "freedom of speech" but have some freaking respect- people are currently fighting so you can sit and complain that millionaires don't pay enough taxes.

Then there is some video of people pushing through a police barracade, and the police being, well- police. All the cries of lawsuits and (this really set my teeth on edge) "it's as bad as it was in the 60s!" No...in the 60's people were shot. In the 60's people had fire hoses turned on them when they were simply peacefully protesting. Nice try, though.

So...now we have the cost of daily police of these areas, AND the lawsuits which will arise. How much is this costing?!?! When we did the G20 crowd control in Pittsburgh, for less than a week, the price tag was (if memory serves) around 5 million, maybe more. What else could a city do with 5 million dollars? Hm, maybe beef up its science and math education so people won't be afraid to enter technical programs which require these skills? As a government employee, I freaking wish someone would hand me a 5 million dollar grant- I could make a lot of things happen for a lot of people. Permanent things- water lines, permanent access to clean water, sewage, fire protection.

I just can't get past the idea that it's wasting precious resources. All the 99 percent who pay the taxes are going to have to pay even more. Genius!

Could you use the regular black for your longer posts? I'm having a hard time reading them.

I agree that technical schools are looked down upon when they shouldn't necessarily be. I, however, am extremely biased since I have an interest in folks enrolling in technical schools.

I disagree on the "wasteful" aspect of this. This is free speech in action. If everyone who exercised their free-speech rights were "respectful" (which, by the way, is subjective) nothing would get done. Women who protested for the right to vote were seen as disrespectful, btw, as were men and women who demonstrated during the civil rights movement.

Just because YOU see it as "wasteful" doesn't mean that folks using their voices to speak out against whatever of the 8 million things they're against right now doesn't mean that it necessarily is. I supported the bulk of the rioters in Pittsburgh (besides, Pittsburgh and specifically Pitt's campus riots almost once a year). I support the bulk of the views of the Occupy Whatever Street movement because I'm part of the 99%, too. I'm not unemployed, I'm not unhappy necessarily, but I'm also extremely privileged. My privilege does not mean, however, that there are not some serious systemic inequality problems in our society.

When we talk about "wasteful," let's talk about paying the salary of members of the House of Representatives who skip out on voting 88 times in a row while campaigning for the Republican nomination (I'm lookin' at you, Michele Bachmann). Or the millions of dollars we're throwing to defense contractors while our soldiers are struggling to make ends meet. There are a TON of wasteful things the government spends their money on every day. I happen to think keeping protests and movements secure via the police is a lot less wasteful than a number of things.

Also, since police officers are part of the 99%, at least they get an opportunity to earn some overtime.