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From: orb@whuxl.UUCP (SEVENER)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: the Opportunity Society
Message-ID: <317@whuxl.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 31-Oct-84 13:22:29 EST
Article-I.D.: whuxl.317
Posted: Wed Oct 31 13:22:29 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 1-Nov-84 04:59:36 EST
References: <52@mit-athena.ARPA> <577@loral.UUCP>, <370@fisher.UUCP> <1050@pyuxa.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Labs
Lines: 41

Ronald Reagan has been tossing out lots of rhetoric about the
"Opportunity Society".  I think Mario Cuomo's splendid speech at the
Democratic convention pointed out quite properly that it is the
Democratic party that has promoted opportunities to millions of
Americans of all ethnic groups, races and sexes.
     ** THE OPPORTUNITY SOCIETY OF REAGANITES **
> I don't think we should be shelling out money to support abuses to
> the system such as some students who could well afford to pay
> their own way instead of letting everyone else foot the bill.
> T. C. Wheeler
           *******************************
For example, immigrants were aided immensely in adapting and
succeeding in our society by the public school system.  My grandfather
came to this country from Ireland, my mother and her brothers and sister
went to public school and I have gone to college.  The only way I could
afford to go to college, despite taking two years off to work fulltime
and working parttime every year in college was because the government
provided lowcost student loans.  I am grateful for that opportunity
and I wholeheartedly support extending such opportunities to future
generations of students from working-class families.
Unfortunately Ronald Reagan does not. Ronald Reagan wants to cut
college student loans by $4 billion. Does this mean he wants to
save money? Not in the least.  Because he has also supported a plan
for tuition tax credits to private schools that would cost $6 billion.
I do not think it is fair that taxpayers should pay for Fundamentalists,
Catholics or other groups to provide their own private schools imbueing
students with their own philosophies at our expense.
I went to Catholic school for eight years but that was a decision my parents
made because my mother wanted to insure I had a Catholic education.
If parents wish to send their children to their own religious schools,
or (often this is the real motive) to schools that are white-only then
they should pay the price.  If we begin funneling funds away from public
education then pretty soon there will be a rigid class hierarchy of school
systems--well-endowed private schools for the rich and well-off and
impoverished public schools for those who are less well-off.
And education is the key to opportunity in our society, now and in the future.
If the poor are not well-educated then they will never be able to rise
above their poverty or enjoy the opportunities provided for past
generations of immigrants by the Democratic party's support for education.
vote for the true "Opportunity Society", vote for Mondale
Tim Sevener whuxl!orb