Gov. Brad Henry adamantly refused to allow cuts in education spending Monday during his State of the State address. He is looking out for us, but not enough. He needs to allocate more funds to education rather than keep things where they are — too low.
Now is a time when it’s easy to forget college students. We aren’t reliable voters, we are only mildly interested in health care and we’re still in our bubble outside the job market.
We aren’t highly salient, thus we aren’t making headlines. Politicians could easily ignore us without consequences.
Despite this, Henry remembered us yesterday. He has the best interest of the state and its college students at heart.
Education is a long-term investment. Spending on college students won’t benefit the state in the next quarter or year, but in 10 or 12 years it will be a worthy investment.
Henry is trying to protect our funding just days after the OU Board of Regents decided to increase our fees. A remarkable juxtaposition.
But it’s nice knowing someone’s got our back.
Gov. Henry is pulling from Oklahoma’s Rainy Day Fund, not just for higher education, but for the entire state budget, so he doesn’t have to raise taxes or cut too much spending.
But we would like to see him pull more from the fund for education. It’s really going to be raining on us once we get out of college and feel the weight of our college loans on our backs.
Pulling from the fund would be like buying us some rain boots, and we would greatly appreciate it.
We’re in a recession; now is the time to spend money to boost the economy. And what could be better than spending it on a long-term investment like higher education?
The great economist John Maynard Keynes would be proud of this investment. Hopefully Henry will decide we need to spend more on this good thing rather than remain content to leave it underfunded
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Cambrian 2 years, 3 months ago
Although I agree with the sentiments of this editorial, I think there are some misstatements being made that need to be corrected. First of all, I think this vastly underestimates the power of the college student vote. College students were the force that made President Obama's election possible, though perhaps this same force isn't as apparent in state elections. However, to say students are apathetic is simply not true.
Secondly, I think a lot of college students are interested in health care, because they have pre-existing conditions or know someone like a parent or grandparent with health problems that may not be covered by insurance.
Finally, we are officially out of the recession with a 6 percent growth in our GDP last quarter, though I agree that increased spending would help to ensure we stay out of a recession.
How about some fact checking next time?
buzzsaw99 2 years, 3 months ago
This piece was so poorly written and edited I could barely get through it. Painful is the best way to describe it. While your sentiment was adequately conveyed a sense of style was sorely lacking. Disorganized thoughts, misused words, atrocious paragraph breaks...
Education as a whole has suffered over the years but I doubt it has much to do with funding. Thirty years ago that editorial would have received an "F" in the ninth grade for the grammar alone. Clamoring for more money in a time of fiscal uncertainty is a poor excuse for lazy, sloppy, half baked work. The student paper routinely produces sub-standard fare, poor or nonexistent research, untrue allegations…
I understand the pressure of deadlines and staffing shortages, but I read the paper from time to time anyway, hoping for a glimmer. Listening to you whine, complain, and dress down your intellectual superiors in shabby manner is enough to make one wince. Please work on self-improvement before you go to work on the world's future. A #2 pencil and a paper bag is a good place to start.