Education Week 2/23/2011 Reflection

House GOP Presses for Deep Cuts in Education:  Ok these are the articles that have me extremely frustrated with our government and particularly with the Republican party.  Yes, at this point I am aware that the government avoided a shutdown for the first time in ten years (no we should not applaud them for agreeing to do their jobs when that should just be common sense...) but this is simply ridiculous!  Cutting almost 16% of the Department of Educations discretionary funding which would totally remove programs such as Pell Grants?!  Honestly what kind of a move is that?  We don't spend enough money on education in this country as it is and they want to cut their current budget by that much?  God forbid that we get out of the two or three wars that we have going on in the Middle East and devote some of those BILLIONS of dollars that we are investing in those wars to education and other focuses.  No I'm not advocating that we totally pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan immediately and do nothing to help stabilize the region.  I am advocating that we do a better job of pulling out of the area and redistributing a percentage of those funds that we would be using there on education.  The Republican Harold Rogers from Kentucky is kidding himself when he says that the cuts are shared commitment and sacrifice.  What a bunch of baloney!  A shared commitment to sacrifice would be reducing the tax loopholes for big business.  As a whole, our country, its general population and our government, do a really terrible job of living within its means.  What does that mean exactly?  Look at the credit card debt that so many Americans are in.  Look at the budget deficit that our government runs every single year, year after year, until we have a 9 trillion dollar debt.  Are we ever going to pay that money off?  I seriously doubt it.  All we are doing are selling the future generations short by making these cuts.  Back to wanting to get rid of Pell grants, why on earth would they want to get rid of those?  I thought they wanted more people with low incomes to be able to go to college?  If anything getting rid of them would make sure that few low income and minority students actually go to college.  Also wanting to get rid of 100 million dollars in technology grants seems stupid considering the goals of our country are focused around getting our education in technology and the sciences back on par with the other nations around the world that are currently kicking our butts in those areas.  All of the cuts proposed indicate one thing to me: our government is one that is penny-wise but dollar-foolish.  A commenter on the site, Cathy Winters, had this to say: "Do the leaders of this country have any semblance of reality?"  Good question Cathy, good question.