Trump wants to combine Department of Education with Department of Labor

Discussion in 'The Red Room' started by Fisherman's Worf, Jun 20, 2018.

  1. Fisherman's Worf

    Fisherman's Worf I am the Seaman, I am the Walrus, Qu-Qu-Qapla'!

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    White House to recommend combining Education, Labor Departments: report

    The White House will recommend merging the Departments of Education and Labor as part of an overall reorganization of the federal government, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

    The proposed merger, which is expected to be unveiled Thursday morning, would mark a significant step toward the Trump administration's goal of decreasing the federal workforce.

    The Education Department, which has already shrunk under the Trump administration, employs around 3,900 people, making it one of the smallest federal agencies. The Labor Department employs roughly 15,000 workers, according to the newspaper.

    http://thehill.com/regulation/pendi...mend-combining-departments-of-education-labor

    The Republican dismantling of education is almost complete. Keeping a generation of voters under-educated ensures more Republican votes for the long-term.
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  2. Soma

    Soma OMG WTF LOL STFU ROTFL!!!

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    Because smart people tend to vote left-wing?
  3. tafkats

    tafkats scream not working because space make deaf Moderator

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    Educated people certainly do. There's plenty of data that shows it.
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  4. Dayton Kitchens

    Dayton Kitchens Banned

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    It's a start but both departments should be eliminated as cabinet level. Education should go back to HHS and become HEW again. Are test scores any better in American schools since the Dept. of Education was created? No.
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  5. Ebeneezer Goode

    Ebeneezer Goode Gobshite

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    Maybe they need better teachers? :?:
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  6. oldfella1962

    oldfella1962 the only real finish line

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    Not saying I'm for it, but I'm not against it. It makes some sense, since education is a key factor in employment. It could reduce some red tape (trim some fat) and at the same time address and strengthen the link between education & labor. Time will tell if it helps, assuming the change ever occurs in the first place.
  7. Ebeneezer Goode

    Ebeneezer Goode Gobshite

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    Education is vital in getting a decent job, but the point of an education shouldn't be to get a job, but to get educated and to instil a spark of curiosity and love of knowledge.

    Think of it as like breathing, pretty useful when at work, but also useful when not working.

    It'd also save awkward future conversations like:

    "Maw! Maw! I got made a surgeon"
    "Aww, that's lovely, I'm sure all the surgical robots will be impressed when you walk past them cleaning floors because you're cheaper than a roomba"
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  8. Bailey

    Bailey It's always Christmas Eve Super Moderator

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    Education can definitely be improved when it knows what employers currently need, but education shouldn't just be about filling existing jobs. Some is learning for learnings sake, other parts are that a well educated population creates new jobs and opportunities. By just focusing on what employers currently need (or predict they will need) you restrict opportunities to those that already exist.
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  9. Amaris

    Amaris Guest

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    "They don’t want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that . . . that doesn’t help them. That’s against their interests. That’s right. They don’t want people who are smart enough to sit around a kitchen table and think about how badly they’re getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard thirty fuckin' years ago. They don’t want that.

    You know what they want? They want obedient workers. Obedient workers, people who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, and just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime and vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it."
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  10. Dayton Kitchens

    Dayton Kitchens Banned

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    No doubt. The current methods of training teachers was out of date a century ago.
  11. Tererune

    Tererune Troll princess and Magical Girl

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    Our current education system does not really give you much for preparing you for a job. Until you reach above bachelor level education, or trade schools education for doing a job is often done in training.

    Kids would be much better off learning things that would help them live and do things in society. Basic math and communications skills. Cooking and cleaning knowledge. How to open up a bank account and general technology use. Where and how to vote and get community licenses and services. Sex ed and preventative measures for diseases and pregnancy. General first aid and wound care and if we have health insurance what it is and where to get it. Toss a bit of science and history along with some advanced college placement for students who are going that way. Maybe some banking info and loan info. Basic tool use.

    You want to take the rocket scientists out and get them ready for their college experience. You want to start the kids off who know a trade career to start in off to trade schools. The kids who don't have a direction can enter the workforce and they will learn about opportunities while doing the basic entry level work and let them figure themselves out.
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  12. oldfella1962

    oldfella1962 the only real finish line

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    Agree education as a "stand alone" pursuit is great! But education K-12 is really what the department of education should focus on. These days you might not even get a minimum wage job without a HS diploma. Even with a HS diploma but poor reading/math/verbal skills you will be severely handicapped throughout life in occupational opportunities. So education is critical for your economic survival. Isn't lack of a quality education at the lowest grade levels through HS one of the main reason disenfranchised minority groups struggle with economic equality? I agree with Tererun about common sense skills and yes, trade schools. :yes: I work with a few guys who were not in the military (basically paid trade school/apprenticeship in my world) but instead went to trade school for air conditioning and related skills. They make a shit-ton of money both at work and on "side jobs"" if they are go-getters. They aren't fucking dummies by a long shot.
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  13. TheBurgerKing

    TheBurgerKing The Monarch of Flavor

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    good, maybe we will get more of a focus on the trades in schools. Skilled tradesmen are getting harder and harder to find in this country. Hopefully this also gets more focus on STEM programs as well. I think our secondary education system needs a good, solid kick to the balls. A lot of its non STEM/medical/legal courses are at best idealistic pursuits of academia and at worst political propaganda, and i don't think student loans should be given to people pursuing degrees in thses fields.
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  14. Dayton Kitchens

    Dayton Kitchens Banned

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    Disagree. I think an education has an intrinsic value well above and beyond simply being a "training camp for employers". To me it is a societal problem that "education for its own sake" is not valued more.

    I struggled with Algebra, Calculus and related subjects in high school. Naturally I challenged my mom as to when I would ever use it if I didn't become an engineer or something related to engineering (I had considered aeronautical/aerospace engineering at several points). My mom who taught higher level math and English for 12 years pointed out that math helped you develop an orderly way of thinking and problem solving.

    She was right.
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  15. Diacanu

    Diacanu Comicmike. Writer

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    I'll put it more succinctly, stupid is bad, and you're supposed to be ashamed of it to the point of physical pain.
    Education is the antidote to this.
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  16. Tererune

    Tererune Troll princess and Magical Girl

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    Evidently reading comprehension wasn't your thing either. For a guy who seems to have a lot figured out you sure don't seem to be able to figure out a lot of stuff. try again after you read what I said. Understand it and make an argument. They have ai that is already more useful than you are.
  17. TheBurgerKing

    TheBurgerKing The Monarch of Flavor

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    I agree that an education has its own value outside of employment pursuits, but I, and most people I know went to college for the ability to get a better job. By all means, keep the arts and literature programs, i intend on taking film classes in my spare time,but i just dont think these pursuits should warrant student loan elegibility. Certain degrees are wonderful academic pursuits, but what kind of future can a young person build from them?
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  18. Sean the Puritan

    Sean the Puritan Endut! Hoch Hech!

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    Does this mean that schools are going to be turned into labor camps?

    Get an education AND earn some cash at the same time?

    Yeah, probably not.
  19. Amaris

    Amaris Guest

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    You mean in a world that consumes as many forms of media content as it can and at an ever increasing rate? You ask what an art or literature degree might offer? How can you not consider that? Not all of the technology you see started with an idea from an engineer.
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  20. matthunter

    matthunter Ice Bear

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    This is just formalizing the GOP's policy on women. It doesn't want them in education, it wants them in labor.
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  21. Rimjob Bob

    Rimjob Bob Sue Collini always gets the weenie

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    As with the Space Force, simply reorganizing things isn't necessarily meaningful.
  22. TheBurgerKing

    TheBurgerKing The Monarch of Flavor

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    Because so many artists are revolutionizing the microprocessor...Sarcasm aside, yes i see the value of art and literature degrees, gender studies not so much, I just dont think its appropriate for student loans. Im talking in terms of government interference as social engineering, such as marraige and children tax credits. And as the government tries to incentivise such things, typically in the name of the good of the country, im advocating for similar in the way of student loans. Let us not forget, as well, that the availability of student loans is what has shot the cost of tuition throufh the roof. In removing them from student loan elegibility, its a safe assumption that the cost of art and lit degrees will drop, drastically.
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  23. Amaris

    Amaris Guest

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    And that is something that limits you, in that something has to be appropriate to you for it to be pursued.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_for_invention_in_the_arts
  24. Dr. Krieg

    Dr. Krieg Stay at Home Astronaut. Administrator Overlord

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    Idiocracy. :brood:
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  25. Nova

    Nova livin on the edge of the ledge Writer

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    based on the track record of these motherfuckers, one is logically bound to assume nefarious motives.

    Let non-evil politicians introduce these ideas and we can talk
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  26. oldfella1962

    oldfella1962 the only real finish line

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    fair enough - if you can define "non-evil" politicians. I would say keep all politicians out of educational/occupational studies so we can see what works (no pun intended) for everyone under all circumstances. Also funding for these departments should always be the same (or increase if necessary) no matter who is in charge. Granted all studies subject to constant unbiased oversight.