Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney said that the amount of aid students receive should be based on their career choices, according to the Boston Herald.
Romney gave no specifics on which degrees were worth more than others. One of Romney's proposed plans is to end tax breaks on families who earn more than $200,000, allowing them to save more for their children's education. If parents are wealthy and have more savings, their children can study any program they desire.
Schools favor math and science programs, and high standardized test scores in those subjects can net schools more funding than they would receive from slashing art programs' budgets.
Restricting financial aid to certain programs of study limits the choices underprivileged students can afford to pursue. College is about self-discovery and the pursuit of degrees in careers that students are passionate about. Society needs specialized workers otherwise there will be too many businesses, too much competition and not enough consumers.
Studying math and science is encouraged, since high standardized test scores in those subjects will get schools funding, while arts and music funding has been slashed repeatedly. Math and science are important, but so are English, art and history. Graduates will find jobs, no matter what they studied. Students shouldn't be forced to limit themselves due to one politician's values.
Stayton Middle School in Oregon has instituted a fingerprint scanning system to facilitate school lunches. This Orwellian system has gotten the American Civil Liberties Union and some parents concerned.
Advocates for the system argue that the thumb is only partially scanned and then discarded, but those against it say it's an inkless way of gathering fingerprints.
Instead of paying with money or lunch passes, students simply press their thumbs against a scanner. The scanner is the same size as a deck of cards with a red O-shaped indent in the center. The thumbprint is converted into a number and matched to the student's account, according to the Statesman Journal.
Thumbprints can now be added to the long list of personal information schools have on their students - social security numbers, addresses, contact information...what information will they need next? Provide blood samples just to get a hall pass?
If long lunch lines are really that big a problem, there are many different ways to remedy it. Students could be given a four digit account number and enter it into a keypad to access their account. If students forget their numbers, it can hold up the line, but if their account number was their birth date, they'd be hard-pressed to forget it.
Whether these $450 scanners improve or impede process of getting lunch for the 612 students at the school remains to be seen. Despite the potential breach of privacy, only seven students have opted out of the new program. If students were that worried about long lunch lines, they could just bring their lunch from home - chances are the food would be better.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
