Robert Reich: “Why Public Education is More Important Than Wall Street, and What We Must Do”

[tonysam]

Run time: 02:16 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXybvm0BKvY   Posted on YouTube: April 29, 2010 By YouTube Member: jacobkornbluthdotcom Views on YouTube: 355   Posted on DU: May 03, 2010 By DU Member: tonysam Views on DU: 296

 

All over America right now, public education is in crisis. Teachers are being fired as next year’s school budgets shrink. Next fall’s classrooms will be far more crowded. Some districts are going to four-day weeks. And the nation’s public universities are in deep trouble.

The answer is for the federal government to bail out public education until state and local revenues return as the economy strengthens.

--Robert Reich

[RufusTFirefly]

1. K and R. n/t

[Althaia]

2. yes yes yes!

(disclaimer: I work in a public school system. I've been substitute teaching for 9 years.)

We are pissing away any hope for a better future with the cuts to public education.

Time and again, it has been shown that education gives the best return on investment when it comes to rebuilding a damaged economy. General Robert E. Lee understood that, when he became president of Washington College after the Civil War.
http://americanhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/robert_e_lee_president_of_washington_college
If I recall his biography correctly, he chose to do that as a conscious attempt to rebuild the country after the devastation of the war. The creators of the G.I. Bill also understood the importance of education, in the wake of WWII.
http://www.gibill.va.gov/GI_Bill_Info/history.htm
That legislation was a huge factor in creating the most prosperous period in our history.

What is happening now is a disaster in the making.