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Young voters will have plenty on the line

Terri Takahashi, Denver

Published November 27, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Speakout author Sandra Havens ("Young voters have little vested in outcome," Nov. 23) apparently forgot that many in the 18-to-20-year-old demographic attend college or want to attend college. Had it not slipped her mind, then she would have discovered the sharp contrast between the two candidates and their proposals for funding those who want to attend college.

Havens should also know that those with a college degree are more likely to go on and work for companies who offer the assets she spoke of, like 401(k) plans, owning a home and paying those pesky capital gains taxes.

Eighteen-year-olds will have plenty of years ahead of them to worry about the issues Havens noted, but for now the most important thing any 18-year-old should consider after high school is getting a college education. An educated America is crucial to the future of America. Barack Obama knows this and offered those under 18 a better plan for their future and the future of our country.

Haven's commentary reeked of classism and I suspect, if she could, she would have gone even further to limit those who are allowed to vote in this country.

Comments

  • November 27, 2008

    5:48 a.m.

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    Shadow writes:

    Winston Churchill said "If you are not liberal by the time you are 24 , you have no heart, if you are not conservative by your thirties you have nio brain." (paraphrasing)

    This election was not decided by educated voters. It was decided on feel good policies and what can I get for nothing ideas. Gimm me, gimme me gimme me.

    Not being allowed to ask any questions in to actual policy stances, and background of Obama, or of his vice presidential pick demonstrated this.

    Yes the 18 to 24 yesr crowd had a lot at stake in this election. They have even more now with the fact they are the ones who will be footing the bill along with their grandchildren that their elected officials are talling up now.

  • November 27, 2008

    6:07 a.m.

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    LetsThink writes:

    Lets all focus on what we can 'get' from the government.

    That will certainly make America stronger.

    Right????

  • November 27, 2008

    7:42 a.m.

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    dragonfly writes:

    Terri wrote:
    "An educated (college) America is crucial to the future of America."

    I know too many college educated people selling phones, working in restaurants, or working in fields that require no degrees or they are working in fields other than what they majored in. A solid high school education is all you need for most jobs. I'd say we need more improvement there. It seems a waste to get more than that if you aren't going to use it. If you want to get educated, there are plenty of resources to choose from without going to college. Try reading something other than US magazine for a change. Tell, me again how "crucial" an education is to the future of America? Where's the proof for that?

  • November 27, 2008

    9:03 a.m.

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    sschow writes:

    Another letter from a liberal urging us all to ask "What's in it for me?!?" It occurs frequently in life that what is best for yourself may not be the best for others. Funny how Democrats somehow sloughed off the labels of "selfish" and "greedy".

    And dragonfly is right. This notion that any collegiate schooling is the recipe for success leads a lot of people into their mid to late-20's without any real skills or experiences or knowledge applicable in the real world. I don't think America would suddenly perish if we didn't have millions of art, history, and art-history majors inundating our workforce.

  • November 27, 2008

    9:36 a.m.

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    grandpaw writes:

    Thanks, Terri Takahashi, for reminding us of the importance of education. People like Bill Gates echo your sentiments. People like the posters above aspire for Americans to become household servants to the rest of the world. Good God, people downplaying the importance of education in this day and age!!! Unfortunately, it takes all kinds, including the squeaky voices of people whose vocation is ignorance.

  • November 27, 2008

    10:03 a.m.

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    denverrose writes:

    Because young voters don't know what they did I will inform them. They have voted themselves a huge tax burden probably that will last them until age 30. Happy tax-paying!

  • November 27, 2008

    10:27 a.m.

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    dragonfly writes:

    grandpaw writes:
    "Good God, people downplaying the importance of education in this day and age!!!"

    Bill Gates didn't earn a college degree. Most of his learning happened while in high school. He was smart, continued to learn outside of college and he was motivated. His college days had little to do with his success. Where's your evidence that a college education is that important to most of the young?

  • November 27, 2008

    11:50 a.m.

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    diggtbks writes:

    Young voters wanted only one thing from Obama, free college education of their college debts forgiven.

    Wait until he drafts those "refreshing young voters" to go fight in Afghanistan. I'll be laughing my butt off...lol

  • November 27, 2008

    12:15 p.m.

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    grandpaw writes:

    dragonfly: "Where's your evidence that a college education is that important to most of the young?"

    It's all over the place. It's not up to me to bring your own education into modern times.

    I get really tired of ignorant people asking questions like that. Too damn lazy to do your own research, so you want someone to do it for you. The hell with that. The intelligent way for you to deal with this is to present evidence that a college degree doesn't enable a person to get a better job. Good luck.

    "The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation plans to spend several hundred million dollars over the next five years to double the number of low-income young people who complete a college degree or a certificate program by age 26, foundation officials told an exclusive group of education leaders who gathered here on Tuesday to provide feedback on the ambitious plan.

    "If successful, the new postsecondary program would result in an additional 250,000 people per year with some type of higher-education credential. And it broadens the foundation’s already-generous spending on education, which previously has focused on secondary schools and college scholarships. Over all, the foundation plans to spend $3-billion on education during the next five years."

  • November 27, 2008

    4:44 p.m.

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    dragonfly writes:

    grandpaw writes:
    "The intelligent way for you to deal with this is to present evidence that a college degree doesn't enable a person to get a better job."

    Enable? Possibly. But, if you don't use it, what good is it if the job you get you could have gotten it without a degree. A college education is being oversold.

  • November 27, 2008

    4:47 p.m.

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    grandpaw writes:

    Jimminy, I expect it's been a while since you've looked at a globe. Take a look. You'll find that there are several other countries in the world besides the United States. And we're competing with them, in education as well as commerce.

    You might also look at some old photos of life in your great-grandparents time. You'll be surprised at how things have changed. See if you can a tv in those old photos, or an jet plane, or an internet, or a modern hospital. You'd be surprised how much more education a person needs to build a car than to take care of a horse.

  • November 27, 2008

    7:18 p.m.

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    dragonfly writes:

    grandpaw,
    FYI, neither Ford, Farnsworth, Marconi nor the Wright Bros. had a college education. But, they all had curiosity, motivation and the willingness to educate themselves. So again, where's your evidence that a college education is that important to most of the young?

  • November 27, 2008

    7:59 p.m.

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    Heidi writes:

    Quality education is going to have to start at the elementary level. I can't believe how many ignorant children are allowed to graduate from high school. We've got too big of a gap between the college educated youth and the ones who barely made it through high school.

  • November 28, 2008

    7:16 a.m.

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    grandpaw writes:

    I hardly "attacked" you, Jimminy, when I pointed out that we're in a different world now than we were those many years ago. Pretending you are a victim is not a good debate tactic.

    So what is it you propose? Do you think that the United States would be better off getting rid of college education? What is it that you would like to see happen?

    If yours is simply "the good old days" argument, I certainly preferred the simplicity of that. But if you are arguing that we should go back to the good old days, then you are asking the impossible. We have to cope with the world we live in, not with one that does not exist.

  • November 28, 2008

    7:20 a.m.

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    Sixtysixdeuce writes:

    "grandpaw writes:

    The intelligent way for you to deal with this is to present evidence that a college degree doesn't enable a person to get a better job."

    I see it constantly when I take a break from my $70,000/year blue collar job to get coffee and I'm greeted at the Starbucks register by someone my age with a bachelors degree.

    I might add that whenever I have decided to change my place of employment, it has never taken longer than 48 hours and the new job paid at least as well as the one I was leaving.

    For what it's worth, I left high school in the 9th grade with a 1.67 GPA.

    Education is nowhere near as important as motivation. The problem in the workforce today is laziness. People feel that they should be paid a certain amount because of their education rather than productivity.

  • November 28, 2008

    8:42 a.m.

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    diggtbks writes:

    Sixtysixdeuce writes:

    "Education is nowhere near as important as motivation. The problem in the workforce today is laziness. People feel that they should be paid a certain amount because of their education rather than productivity."

    Sure, look at teachers.

  • November 28, 2008

    11:06 a.m.

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    grandpaw writes:

    It is really kind of amazing that there are people in this day and age who argue that a college education does not enhance a person's chances for success in the business world.

  • November 28, 2008

    8:54 p.m.

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    Sweetpickle writes:

    Look at it this way grandpaw, if it weren't for the "willingly ignorant" there would be a lot more competetion.
    I wonder if these guys choose doctors, lawyers and accountants with no college education.

  • November 28, 2008

    10:43 p.m.

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    jgd writes:

    Sweetpickle,

    Of course no one would be ignore enough to go to a doctor without a degree and some practical experience, and why would anyone go to a lawyer with no degree or court experience. That would be as ignorant as voting for a politician with a degree but no experience... Oops never mind!

  • November 29, 2008

    2:52 a.m.

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    clyde writes:

    I can't wait for all these college degrees to get jobs and try to raise families, and then find out how much they are going to have to "contribute" to make sure the next wave gets the same coddling. It's a bit different when you are the "contributor" rather than the "recipient". Free is good when you're young, but welfare, in its entitlement state, is not so good when you get older, get a more balanced perspective and see how it gets manipulated.

  • November 29, 2008

    2:55 a.m.

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    clyde writes:

    "LetsThink writes:

    Lets all focus on what we can 'get' from the government.

    That will certainly make America stronger.

    Right????"

    The Government is the People, so maybe it should be rephrased as "what we can 'steal' from everyone else".

  • November 29, 2008

    2:58 a.m.

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    clyde writes:

    And for the Trifecta, what was an eighth-grade education 50 years ago, is barely equalled by a college degree today. From Dog Day Afternoon; "I always wanted to go to Wyoming".

  • November 29, 2008

    6:40 a.m.

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    dragonfly writes:

    grandpaw writes:
    "It is really kind of amazing that there are people in this day and age who argue that a college education does not enhance a person's chances for success in the business world."

    Ask a college graduate working behind the cashier of a Starbucks, selling cell phones in a mall or bartending at Old Chicago's how their education is "enhancing" their chances for "success in the business world". BTW, I know these people and they have been working at these jobs for years. What's "kind of amazing", grandpaw, is besides having their college degrees, the other thing they all have in common is a lack of motivation.

  • November 29, 2008

    8:13 a.m.

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    grandpaw writes:

    Right. It takes two things to succeed in most areas these days, whether it be medicine, law, chemistry, physics, economics, etc. It takes a college education and it takes motivation. What dragonfly can't seem to understand, is that it takes a college education.
    dragonfly, do me the favor of not mistaking the word "enhance" for "guarantee". No matter how motivated a person might be to become a doctor, he can't get there without a college education.

  • November 29, 2008

    9:20 a.m.

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    dragonfly writes:

    It doesn't take a college degree to be a cashier, salesman or a bartender. I'll agree that it take a degree to be a lawyer or a doctor. What's missing with the former is motivation to use their choosen college carrer path. Therefore, a college education to them "enhances" or "guarantees" nothing. For the most part, college degrees are being oversold. Do you get my point, grandpaw?

  • November 30, 2008

    6:26 p.m.

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    grandpaw writes:

    Hey, watch it, bub!! Some of my best friends are cashiers, salesmen and especially bartenders, some with PhDs. One wrote his thesis on how to make a better martini. What I think you are overlooking is that you have to go to college if you want to participate in those panty raids. The fact is that a college education is even more essential today now that they have coed dorms.