In the absurdist world that is the D.C. metro government, the college bubble has taken a fascist turn.
Council Chairman Kwame Brown introduced legislation Wednesday that would require all D.C.-area high school seniors to apply to at least one college or post-secondary institution. Brown’s plan would also mandate that students take the ACT or SAT, and apply for financial aid.
This is a logical turn in a country where people want to force private citizens to buy health insurance. I have to ask: Will there be prison time for those who refuse to apply to college? How about the death penalty for those who skip the SATs?
How far is too far in forcing young people to do what the government says is best for them?
Look on the bright side: It's theoretically possible that in D.C., the average SAT or ACT scores will go UP, due to kids smart enough to skip college being forced to take the test.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThat this happened in a city that elected Marion Berry twice is surprising...how?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBrilliant!
Speaking of foolish local pols, a city councilman in Birmingham a few years ago proposed that every public high school in our city require every student to take calculus. His theory was that, because students in college who took calculus in high school generally get better college grades than those who did not, making everybody take calculus would result in everybody's getting better college grades. Apparently it completely escaped this moron that correlation is not the same as causation.
Sure enough, though, if you don't apply for college during your senior year, you may not be able to go to the school of your choice the next fall -- although you can probably go somewhere. Maybe DC can make every high school student apply to a college. That might even cause a few to go, who wouldn't have done so otherwise. But if we really want to guard all high school students against having to -- gasp -- work for a year before going to college, there's a better way. Why not just force every college in DC to admit every high school grad even if they don't bother to apply? While we're at it, force all those colleges to offer their programs tuition-free. Hey, it's for the children . . .
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThat's Step One. It establishes a case and a trail.
Step Two comes when the feds investigate the colleges who didn't accept the applicants for racial discrimation.
Step Three is the shakedown, when Kwame Brown and his buddies get paid off for helping the colleges "solve" the newly-discovered discrimination "problem".
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseJoseph Yeager: According to Wikipedia, D.C. has elected Marion Barry to four terms as mayor, not two, and not counting lower offices, either.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe justification for this was that the kids needed to be forced to consider the wider world and its options.
In that spirit, I suggest that every student should also be required to take the ASVAB and have a conversation with a military recruiter as well as working a summer job in anything that has been featured on "Dirty Jobs".
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSomehow, I am reminded of Pol Pot sending the intellectuals out to the fields.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYes, there will be the death penalty for students who don't take the SAT. That is exactly what will happen. We have to watch out for Big Government or it will try to make us learn and stuff!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI don't have a problem with making high school students take the ASVAB, SAT and/or ACT. Students take tests in school and it won't hurt them to take a few more. I do have a problem with making them apply to colleges/military institutions if they decide to do something different with their lives. That would be going too far in my book. Otherwise, tell them to be there with their No. 2s sharpened.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"We have to watch out for Big Government or it will try to make us learn and stuff!"
"Make us". Boy you libs love that phrase, don't cha? Mao and Pol Pot would just love you guys. Next thing you know you'll want to send kids out to the country-side to "re-educate" farmers.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"How about the death penalty for those who skip the SATs?"
A school FORCING students to take a test?! Unthinkable!
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