When I returned from Houston to Iowa in my 20s, settling in Madison County, where my father graduated from Winterset High School in 1940, I was surprised, thrilled, and proud to learn of my birth-state's superior status in literacy. No pride in my heart now.
We need to pay it forward. My first semester at U of I in 1966 my tuition was $340 per year. 250 hours at minimum wage would cover it. With annual tuition nearly $10,500 now, it would 1,448 hours at minimum wage to cover it--almost six times as many hours.
As a student looking to make $50,000/year upon graduation, running up a $40,000 debt doesn't sound like a big deal. It wouldn't be except rent is $2,000/month in a big city, health insurance is $1,000/month and if you have a car, payments and insurance can easily be another $1,000/month. The leaves less than zero to pay off student loans. Life's expensive in the adult world and most students don't have the experience they need to understand this.
Why should baby boomers get educated so cheaply? It wasn't cheap for our parents who built all new schools and supported them. And now baby boomers are continuing on the cheap by not paying enough taxes to support first class schools. It's embarrassing.
Absolutely CORRECT, Art! Lack of respect, low salaries, diminishing insurance coverage, banning books, controlled curriculum not based on facts, ignoring climate change, and lack of respect for individual differences has caused a steady exodus from this state of out best and brightest younger demographics. It can be reversed, and it takes will, enlightenment, and vision to make it happen. "Where there is no vision, the people perish."
Unfortunately Iowa is well on the way to becoming Missouri. That's what republican leadership for years on end gets you. If you don't already, I suggest following Jess Piper and A View From Rural Missouri. You will see where Iowa is headed. I'm thankful I only lived in Missouri for 2 years. It was like going back to the 1970s.
I'm glad to see you on Substack. I always enjoyed your pieces in the WaPo before I canceled my subscription due to Baldy becoming a Trumptard.
I moved to Iowa to attend the University of Iowa in 1981. The only answer I had to people in Upstate New York who said, "Iowa, why Iowa?" with a sneer, was the quality of education for the price. Now, 60% of our 4th graders at reading at grade level is acceptable. But don't worry - publicly-funded private schools will solve that problem - mostly by cherry picking their students out of the public system.
I have read that the Iowa drinking water supply has roundup and other bad things for growing brains. Could be the adults running the Iowa show are a reflection of their youth in a multi-generational sickening? Might look at getting the spray rigs off the land.
Everything you said, Art, and perhaps we could also stop taking money away from public schools and giving it to private schools. That is a travesty. Separation of church and state? Republican leadership in this state is destroying our schools.
When I returned from Houston to Iowa in my 20s, settling in Madison County, where my father graduated from Winterset High School in 1940, I was surprised, thrilled, and proud to learn of my birth-state's superior status in literacy. No pride in my heart now.
We need to pay it forward. My first semester at U of I in 1966 my tuition was $340 per year. 250 hours at minimum wage would cover it. With annual tuition nearly $10,500 now, it would 1,448 hours at minimum wage to cover it--almost six times as many hours.
As a student looking to make $50,000/year upon graduation, running up a $40,000 debt doesn't sound like a big deal. It wouldn't be except rent is $2,000/month in a big city, health insurance is $1,000/month and if you have a car, payments and insurance can easily be another $1,000/month. The leaves less than zero to pay off student loans. Life's expensive in the adult world and most students don't have the experience they need to understand this.
Why should baby boomers get educated so cheaply? It wasn't cheap for our parents who built all new schools and supported them. And now baby boomers are continuing on the cheap by not paying enough taxes to support first class schools. It's embarrassing.
Absolutely CORRECT, Art! Lack of respect, low salaries, diminishing insurance coverage, banning books, controlled curriculum not based on facts, ignoring climate change, and lack of respect for individual differences has caused a steady exodus from this state of out best and brightest younger demographics. It can be reversed, and it takes will, enlightenment, and vision to make it happen. "Where there is no vision, the people perish."
Amen, Art! I'll always miss Iowa, but coming to Minnesota to live, teach, and raise my children 55 years ago has turned out well…
Unfortunately Iowa is well on the way to becoming Missouri. That's what republican leadership for years on end gets you. If you don't already, I suggest following Jess Piper and A View From Rural Missouri. You will see where Iowa is headed. I'm thankful I only lived in Missouri for 2 years. It was like going back to the 1970s.
I'm glad to see you on Substack. I always enjoyed your pieces in the WaPo before I canceled my subscription due to Baldy becoming a Trumptard.
I moved to Iowa to attend the University of Iowa in 1981. The only answer I had to people in Upstate New York who said, "Iowa, why Iowa?" with a sneer, was the quality of education for the price. Now, 60% of our 4th graders at reading at grade level is acceptable. But don't worry - publicly-funded private schools will solve that problem - mostly by cherry picking their students out of the public system.
Education is no longer seen as a community good. More's the pity.
I have read that the Iowa drinking water supply has roundup and other bad things for growing brains. Could be the adults running the Iowa show are a reflection of their youth in a multi-generational sickening? Might look at getting the spray rigs off the land.
Everything you said, Art, and perhaps we could also stop taking money away from public schools and giving it to private schools. That is a travesty. Separation of church and state? Republican leadership in this state is destroying our schools.