In order to meet its increasingly difficult recruiting goals, the Army has resorted to giving new recruits more than a year's regular pay when they agree to ship out to basic training right away. The Washington Post reports that the bonus is very appealing to people who are in dead-end jobs, those in debt up to their necks, or those with small children they are struggling to provide for.
Those are just the kind of people who need to be here, furthering their education and taking care of their children, not shipping off to Iraq, where their troubles will most certainly increase. And yet another example of how the Army is competing with private industry for a smaller and smaller number of qualified applicants.
The United States should spend that money on education. We say we can't pay college tuition for everyone, yet, I get the feeling that we'd keep finding the money for any fresh meat that we could ship overseas to war. Or, give the money to any young person who wants to be a teacher or a nurse, or a biologist. The pathetic priorities of this administration are so depressing and short-sighted.
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I don't know if you are aware of this Claire but nearly half of the CA budget is set aside for education and about 20% of that for higher education. To me that indicates that the problem is not financial but institutional and the system needs some serious restructuring. A little off topic but worth noting. Throwing more money at education will not automatically solve the problems associated with it.
Posted by: Kimberlee Morrison | August 27, 2007 8:28 AM | Permalink to Comment