The Conservative War on Education Part II: College Students vote "Foolishly"

There is a battle being waged right now by republicans in 32 states to restrict and in essence eliminate the ability of college students to vote. Many republicans have gone on the offensive against the large block of democrat voters which is the college students of America. In Texas they have passed legislation blocking students from using their college ID cards to prove their identification with two exceptions: the elderly and those with concealed carry permits. In New Hampshire republicans are taking it even further. One piece of legislation there would only allow students to vote in their college town if their parents have registered to vote in that same town. This should be illegal to do, why because once a student reaches the age of 18 their life choices should not be defined by their parents residency status. Another piece of legislation that they are considering is to eliminate same-day voting. This will be extremely damaging to the college students of New Hampshire since many of them do not register until election day. These republicans are doing this for one purpose purpose, they want to win, no matter how many votes are sacrificed along the way. College students tend to vote democrat, the Speaker of the House for the NH Senate says it is because we “lack life experience” and we “vote our feelings”, which is another way to say that he couldn't find any other reason for this bill to be passed so lets say that they aren't old enough to make the correct decision. If these republicans are so worried about students not voting for them then maybe the republican party should start representing the views of the people instead of the small extremely religious portion of our country. But don’t think that you’re safe, this legislation could land on your very own doorstep. As college students we should be contacting our elected officials often and in large numbers demanding that any such measures should be immediately thrown out, and threaten a recall if they aren't.

Written and Posted by: Peter Jenkins

The Conservative War on Education Part I: Educational Homicide

While no one is going to come outright and announce their disdain for people being educated, the ultra-conservative wing of the Republican party has taken its foolish view of education to the floors of both their states and our nations capital. In the past few years we have seen a tsunami of anti-intellectual measures from these individuals. From Texas revising its educational standards to remove Thomas Jefferson from its curriculum due to his views on religion to the newest members of our congress calling for the end to the Department of Education, our nation is on the edge of educational homicide. Looking at the most recent studies on the education of this country compared to others, we are failing. We are failing our children and thus we are failing ourselves. Yes, we are in an economic downturn, but we must devote more money to education. We must move to a system that has our students in school year round. We must also challenge our students more. Students must have homework every single day, we must promote critical thinking, and longer writing assignments. When we challenge our students and expect more of them everyone wins, plus it will help keep our children off of the streets and out of the gangs. These solutions that I have just offered are the exact opposite of what the ultra-conservatives in our country are pushing. They have not shown that they are willing to step up and help educate our youth and thus do not deserve our support in the next election. Check back for the next part in this series.

Written and Posted by: Peter Jenkins