Like Anglachel, I worry when people start talking about “disadvantaged youths”. I worry especially when they talk about disadvantaged youths in the context of higher education. It often ends up being code for “shove them into programs that will continue to give them not enough to get a real education.

And even one of my favorite presidents was guilty of screwing the poor when it comes to education. Under Bill Clinton’s welfare reform, poor mothers could no longer receive welfare if they were in school to get an academic degree. If they wanted to get a certificate to be a home healthcare aid (about $8 an hour) they could stay on welfare while they did it. If they wanted to get a nursing degree ($21 an hour to start) then no welfare for them. Also no food stamps or medicaid. Vocational and certificate programs almost never provide the same kind of salary that an actual degree does. And vocational educations become outdated long before a BA or BS ever does.

So Obama has a plan to get disadvantaged kids college money in exchange for community service work. (I won’t even get into how we are facing high unemployment and that work might be better left to market rate pay scales for people who need to feed their families). What I wonder is why can’t we just do as all other civilized countries do and pay for people to go to college? Why is higher education not a universal like primary education is? Why do we send so many people into massive debt for something that is so vital for our country?

And I have to wonder, when we are desperate for engineers and doctors and nurses, how many of those positions could be filled if those disadvantaged youths were given the ability to go to college without also needing to juggle 3 part time jobs to pay for tuition and living expenses? Adding community service requirements doesn’t get them enough money to pay for school and living expenses. It just means that one of their jobs will be through the school. They will still have to supplement with waiting tables and lots of loans. And when they lose a job or the money comes up short, the first thing to go is college. When it’s a choice between taking a midterm or not getting fired from the job that keeps you from being homeless, you skip the midterm. And after a week of working 40 plus hours and taking 3 full time classes, there are simply not enough hours in the week for showering or sleep, let alone homework.