Monday, January 22, 2007

A new national goal (after war)

Okay, let's say (with great optimism) that we are on the tail-end of the recent push to war in American politics. Let's assume that the end of our military involvement in Iraq is in sight. Let's believe that the obscenity of military expenditures we've seen over the past especially six years is winding down.

I spoke with my wife this evening. She says she's in a hotel suite big enough for ten. How odd I think that our government (her career is, in some round about but rather tangible way, supported by government agencies) and economy has so much money to lavish on engineers, yet there is unceasing lament over the cost of higher education, such that an announcement from Princeton that it will not raise tuition is hailed but briefly as momentous.

Remember 1999? President Bill Clinton was pushing for more cops on the streets, and pledging federal funds to do it. What would happen to this country, and the world, if a president with vision (work with me here) would propose a goal to increase the number of professors in the country by 100,000, or let's be bold... why not set a goal to double the number of college and university professors over the next 20 years? I mean, honestly, the $6 billion that Clinton pledged for increasing the police force is a drop in the bucket next to what Texas Yahoo has spent on ensuring that those who hated us before hate us even more. What are our priorities?

1 comment:

L said...

That's a great vision that I wish more people (in power) shared.