Robert Reich: Bernie Sanders Is Right—We Need Free College for All

[Playinghardball]

Senator Bernie Sanders is making waves with a big idea to reinvent education: Making public colleges and universities tuition-free.

I couldn’t agree more. Higher education isn’t just a personal investment. It’s a public good that pays off in a more competitive workforce and better-informed and engaged citizens. Every year, we spend nearly $100 billion on corporate welfare, and more than $500 billion on defense spending. Surely ensuring the next generation can compete in the global economy is at least as important as subsidies for big business and military adventures around the globe.

In fact, I think we can and must go further — not just making public higher education tuition-free, but reinventing education in America as we know it. (That’s the subject of this latest video in my partnership with MoveOn, “The Big Picture: Ten Ideas to Save the Economy.” Please take a moment to watch now.)

In the big picture, much of our education system — from the bells that ring to separate classes to memorization drills — was built to mirror the assembly lines that powered the American economy for the last century. As educators know, what we need today is a system of education that cultivates the critical thinking skills necessary for the economy of tomorrow.

We have to reinvent education because it’s not working for too many of our kids – who are either dropping out of high school because they aren’t engaged, or not getting the skills they need, or paying a fortune for college and ending up with crushing student debt.

How do we get there?

More here: http://www.alternet.org/economy/ten-ideas-save-economy-5-free-higher-education-all

[marym625]

1. K&R!

Thanks for posting!

[yeoman6987]

5. Room and board and different fees are really the problem

[marym625]

6. so is the tuition

And the interest on the loans

The amount of money a graduate owes in loans just for tuition is insane

[yeoman6987]

7. Well I don't doubt that but if we want to do this,

Let's go all in so that each graduate is debt free. Now the proposal would still have graduates having a 30K loan at the least.

[marym625]

10. absolutely agree

I didn't mean that room, board and fees shouldn't be included.

[Autumn]

2. Yes we do need it and "How do we get there?" We start by electing Bernie Sanders

as President.

[sabrina 1]

3. It should be a no-brainer, especially for Democrats. An uneducated population

cannot function in today's Global Economy.

Unless we are trying to create a Third World cheap labor force, which imo, is exactly the goal.

[Rolando]

4. This is not off the subject

Re: the cheap labor force and international trade. U.S. exports billions of chickens annually. They are processed by people here who make about $9.75 an hour, but officials have caught process plants using illegals. We get foreign money for these chickens, but we still run a trade deficit. We sell a lot of these chickens to countries like Germany, but what German engineering firm pays its workers $9.75 an hour? In other words, we are being taken advantage of the way we have taken advantage of other countries.

And who profits? American agribusiness, subsidized by price supports, which means our money. We pay our money and get a $9.75 an hour job.
Yes, we need to educate the young to rise above that.

[AtomicKitten]

8. I find Robert Reich vacillating between Hillary and Bernie rather dishonest.

He seems to agree with Bernie 100%, yet has made clear he supports Hillary.

I think he has tried too hard to be part of the conversation.

[Enthusiast]

9. Kicked and recommended a whole bunch!