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Edwin's avatar

i’m a retired engineer and havebeen laid off many time and replaced by a h1-b recipient . yes, it is a gift to the tech companies

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Gail's avatar

But Republicans make cuts to education 🤬they love the uneducated. They want a country of IDIOCRACY ‼️ BECAUSE THEY KNOW THAT THEY CAN SAY ANYTHING TO THEM AND THEY'LL BELIEVE IT.

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Brenda Mills's avatar

I wish I were more intelligent

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Operation North Star's avatar

This aged well.

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Porter Rockwell's avatar

All good thoughts, Dan. But to me, it still misses the target.

Let me introduce myself. I graduated with as an electrical engineer from a major university with a "cum laude" GPA. Actually, "Computer Science" but the University hadn't managed to create a department like that yet. It was during the Viet Nam war, so I was drafted (not long before the draft was eliminated) into the Army, shunted into the infantry, and two years of my life were wasted. (This part of my thumbnail bio is slightly off target, but I wanted to get it out there.)

With some difficulty, I was able to have a career in software development anyway. As I moved up the ladder, it has always bothered me that the big money, fast cars, and manor-sized houses went to people who sat around walnut tables and thought up jingles for TV commercials -- and other useless pursuits. In the later stages of my career. I started to rub elbows with corporate management directly. I confirmed my belief that almost all of them were good at just one thing: corporate politics. Other than that, they were a waste of oxygen.

My point is: Yah! Education is thoroughly broken in America, but a huge load of the blame for the disintegration of American leadership should be pinned on the stark fact that we simply reward all the wrong things. We reward the crooks and liars, not the engineers and scientists.

I think this trend really took off when America elected the star of Bedtime for Bonzo rather than a nuclear engineer who also happened to be a really great human being. Trump has now cast in titanium that anyone can be elected president ... IF they are corrupt, contemptible, and a power-crazed egomaniac.

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Stop the BS247's avatar

Maya Angelou said "You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them."

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Amy Ostrem Vandenhoek's avatar

Welcome Dan Rather!!!

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Lucy Conner's avatar

Too bad that the filthy rich don't appear to have a clue that possibly, the high cost of earning degrees in STEM may be why we have a lack of these professionals.

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Robert Cassidy's avatar

Andrew Jackson was not the president in 1867.

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Corwin Slack's avatar

No the GOP does not have the dogmatic rigidity of the Democrats. It's healthy.

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Porter Rockwell's avatar

So why has Trump sent even life long Republicans (Cheney, Pence, Mitt Romney) into the outer darkness?

Trump's lower sphincter has GOT to be getting sore from being kissed so much by now.

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andré's avatar

So why does so much of the population not have access to decent health care & quality education ?

How is that healthy ?

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Dotty's avatar

Techies are their agendas and picks of immigrants . Mire lazy people wAsting food sitting at desks doing nothing ....but AI shit (that's destroying our minds) but no don't let the hard workers Mexicans that contribute labor so we can eat . And Mexicans work for way less money than these techies . What happens when there's no one to grow ,water or pick our fields and the techies can't eat ...but they'll have money ? Doesn't anyone really see the cause and effect of all this ? Besides Mexico's a stones throw away but the UK is half way across the earth. Common sense says leave the techies over there working remotely in there country's and let the hard labor guys contributing to our food sources here . We need to strengthen our bonds with Mexico . They then can help their families in Mexico . And there's plenty of resources in Mexico , not in UK

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andré's avatar

With the "free trade" agreement, Canada & Mexico are part of the same economy as the US. It makes sense to strengthen our economy together, not counter-productive artificial barriers.

As far as the techies working remotely, there are enormous benefits of working together in technical fields.

So there has to be a comprimise, a balance between foreign workers in manual jobs and those in tech fields.

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Dotty's avatar

Exactly .. walls are never good they only cost money to build and eventually cost money to take down...but building a bridge says we can compromise ....and not tear it down but expand it for the good of productivity

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charlotte Pace's avatar

I spend a lot of time trying to not be depressed these days. With Biden and Harris leaving I see the last ounce of civility going with them and a replacement of utter chaos in our government....not to mention the possibility of the idiot Trump getting us into a war. How dare he threaten other countries...we sound like Hitler's Germany in the 30s. I hope the schools, medical fields, environment etc can weather the four years ahead. I am not sure I can.

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BG nurse's avatar

We also have a shortage of physicians

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Porter Rockwell's avatar

But not hospital administrators.

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charlotte Pace's avatar

yes we do. Before I retired from nursing we were already seeing a shortage in some specialties, but since the Pandemic is has gotten worse due to many leaving the profession at that time. Many new doctors coming in are also without the mentoring of the older and "wiser" doctors who have been around and experienced more. It is not uncommon to have to wait 4 months for appointments here in Chicago.

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Elaine's avatar

Well said. Public education seemed fine when I was a child and adolescent. An Air Force brat, I moved from state to state and system to system with no problem, learned a lot, and went on to higher education. I feel less positive about current education, but problems perceived or real have not kept my children and grandchildren from receiving an excellent education. There have always been naysayers and book banners but also ways to offer the education our children merit.

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Salz's avatar

Hasn't the jobs of local school boards across the country recently become ensuring that nothing in school libraries will help students learn to think? Hasn't most of the reporting on education over the past few years been about the hundreds of schools now banning books? Doesn't it seem that in places like Texas and Florida helping kids learn to be democratic citizens has fallen out of favor?

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andré's avatar

Unfortunately there are retrograd states, as well as county-based funding that results in many receiving underfunded education.

It seems to be hitting the areas most in need adequate education.

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Porter Rockwell's avatar

I grew up in a coal mining town where quality education wasn't the first priority. (Sports was. We seldom won the game but we always won the fight after.) I graduated from a major university with an engineering degree anyway.

Galileo was a major contributor to science in spite of the fact that the great power of that time (the church) discouraged science as much as they could.

With the right attitude, you can climb the mountain.

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Theresa N's avatar

Most Americans can’t afford a college education to gain the skills required for a well paying tech job. Instead of helping Americans with their education, the GOP wants to eliminate loan forgiveness to keep Americans poor and unemployed while encouraging foreigners who got educated for free to come take jobs here. That’s the sad truth.

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