A Modest Proposal

So i've beeen thinking lately about how we live our lives. Its easier for me to examine the ways in which people run around in their daily lives because i am capable of comparing people from not noly different walks of life, but different cultures, different countries, and quite litterally a world away from our lives in America. Traveling is awesome, because it allows you to see the faults in yourself, the cultural biases that you personally have build up living in one place for too long. Your thoughts, beliefes, views and opinions need to be challenged and the most radical way to do so, is through personal experience and first hand accounts of other people and cultures. You cant meet a Mexican in the states and assume that they are all the same and act the same in Mexico, no its completely different. There is something about geograhy that really affects the views and actions of people, and i think it mainly comes down to cultures.

When looking at the world, I too often hear about everyones problems. May of these problems we feel just come with the busy pace of life we live in America, others think they need to do extra things to achieve a certain measure of grace, acceptance, or credibility in their lives, yet the thing is most of our "problems" i feel are created by the society we live in.

If we look at education for instance, the purpose of education is to educate people to be able to be cometent and competitive in this world, while preparing them for their own sustainability and future. I feel like everyone should have a right to be educated and that education is the means to freedom. However, so sadly in America i dont feel like the education system works, and i feel like we all agree to some sense with that statement. First off, i feel that there are clear inequalities within the way to achieve education. In order to go to college, you first have to get accepted and that would show that the univeristy thinks youre capable and competent to be in that Univeristy and you can succeed. However, the costs for college these days are rediculous. If youre not fortunate enough to have parents who have a disposible income to pay for your college expenses you need to apply for Finacial Aid and scholarships. While this might not be true for most people i have found when i go through scholarship listings there are many that have specific ethnic requirements or income requirements that a normal white middle class male simply cannot meet. There is a move in the Univeristy to produce diveristy and equal oppurtunity but this isnt the case, especially for me because when i look at scholarships i find maybe on that could atucally apply to me. So then i turn to finacial aid right. Well if your parents make a certain amount of income they are then "able" to give you the money you need to go to school. Thats not true however, i doubt most Americans could drop $18,000 on tuition for a single school year. So then you have to turn to the student loans to get help. You need to take out $24,000 to make ends meet with college expenses while you still are going to need to get a job to simply survive while in school.

So now youre in debt up to your ears and youre freashly graduated from the University. what to do now right? You need to either start paying off those loans if you havent already started while in school and get a good paying job, or you need to continue your education so that your loans can be further delayed until you can obtain a degree that will get you a high paying job.

Well i say that this way of doing "education" is not preparing individuals for their future or success. Its preparing young adults to be in debt to large companies for the rest of their lives and start consuming and living in the US while you pay those debts off because its an obligation you have when you take them out, you know, you need to pay them off. This is a problem. Americans are now in debt, the economy is doing bad, and as you can see with the housing market mad investments and risky loans get people, and countries, into trouble.

In Europe, their education system is set up differently. I met a girl from Germany who only needs to pay 97 Euro a year for school! I met two French people who are paying only 2,000 euros for the tuition here at Erasmus university. Not only are the tuition costs low, the government actually gives you a stipend here in Holland of about 800 Euros a semester to help with the costs of living so that students don't need to get jobs while working and they can study and focus on that. What i novel idea! Keep tuition costs low and give the students money while in school so that they are capable of living an easier life, debt free, and not have to work while in school so they can achieve higher marks and get educated. I personally know the effects of working while in school and not working while in school. My GPA dropped because my focus was split between school and work. They say over here that the government is investing in its own future by preparing its citizens the opportunity to educate themselves. It's such a logical way of doing things. Giving a young adult the freedom and ability to educate themselves without giving them debt that's going to negatively effect their future. They say if you work hard enough you can do anything in the States, but that's not true. People work incredibly hard and try to achieve so much and once they graduate they are hit with the debt and student loans so they need to get a job, they are placed back down into the working class society. Here, people are FREE to do what they want after school, they can take the time to look for a job that they will want, travel maybe and see the world. I find people to have much more of a degree of freedom over here than in the states.

I'm shocked to see that in our country where every man is born equal and freedom is one of the essential foundations of society, that only a tiny degree of people actually can achieve such freedom and "equality". Social classes divide the country and prevent the equality to truly show. There is an ideological issue within the States i feel that prevents people for truly caring for one another, and treating each other humanely and with dignity. Everyone is trying to achieve their own means to happiness and simply live, so why prevent anyone from doing that? Its not the intent with high costs to prevent and hinder the country but it is doing just that.

Its evident in our health care system too. You re only able to get the help and assistance you need if you are capable of paying for it, someone once told me. However, injuries and sickness are a fact of life. People age, they get sick, and they die. But only in a society where money has replaced the importance of caring for one another, can someone say that "I'm sorry you re sick and need to see a doctor, but you cant because you're not covered." The health care and insurance agencies in the States are absolutely ridiculous. I don't understand it. Why don't we take all the money we pay monthly for insurance and make that payment directly into our savings account and not touch it. Then when we needed to see the doctor we could pay for things that come up. Like things that normally come up such as wisdom teeth needing to be removed, pregnancies and vaccines. Here there is a compulsory and universal system where if you need any assistance what so ever, you can get it. Regardless of if you can pay or not. Ive been told time and time again by people over here that if i get sick that i should have a right to go to the doctor and get treatment. There is more of a communal care for your neighbor mentality over here and its remarkable.

People ask how are they capable of doing this? They say that they must have really high taxes over here, and yes on average their taxes are higher, but look at what they receive in return for it! Almost free education through the University, low cost, almost free health care. But here is this thing in the states that is different from over here. The rich get taxed more. Theoretically that works out great! The rich who can afford to get taxed, are taxed a little more than those who are poor and depend on every cent they make. They feel like its a moral obligation to give back to society because society has allowed them to get so well off. Look at it this way. You earn and spend your money from society and in society respectively. Your job is provided to you because there is some service that society needs, but you need services too. So you spend the money you make from your job and you give it back to society. You cannot have your wealth without society, therefore you have an obligation to provide for your society and ensure that its not going to fail, via taxes and if you want charity organizations, non-profits, and community service. You cannot remove yourself even a little from society, or else society won't work.

Can someone tell me the difference between a woman working 2 jobs trying to make ends meet while in school, or a family where both parent have to work full time in order to ensure their children will be able to grow up and live a comfortable lives, or a cashier at Wal-Mart working full time? Someone told me that a person working at Wal-Mart shouldn't get help because they aren't working as hard as they could, because they worked at Wal-Mart! Someone who works for minimum wage doesn't deserve help. The lower income people, those who don't have money to make ends meet, don't deserve to get help from someone? Why is that? They need the most help!

How can we as a society look at an individual and say that they don't have the same rights that we do because the color of their skin or the language they speak? How elitist are Americans to make people who are unfortunate second class citizens? There is no equality to the degree Americans think they have it. There is not equal opportunity within society, there are attempts at it, and noble are they, but there are still many barriers for every day citizens. If you're black, Latino, white, elderly, young, upper, middle, or lower class, gay, straight, male, female, religious, non-religious, Republican, Democrat, or Idependent, we're all citizens with the same rights. Lets recognize this.