A debate on a plan

1. The reason I argue that education is essential is because looking at the education of people not below the poverty line, you see a vast number with a college education. Also, the amount of jobs available to college-educated people are certainly more numerous than those offered to high school graduates. 2. Here's some US data: "The Institute of Education Sciences (IES)study reported that nearly 90 percent of all students showed academic gains in reading. The IES also reported last year that there was an increase in math scores among the students. This program has helped the students gain the equivalent of two to four extra months of learning. " That's in reference to the Washington DC voucher program, " And, Milwaukee, the country's oldest voucher system has led to success stories like this: "Messmer Catholic High School in Milwaukee is a voucher success story. Messmer is funded at the 80% level by voucher students. What are the statistics? The daily attendance rate is 95% and 90% of the students go on to a four-year college. This data is holding true every year. This does not include the students that go on to 2-year colleges. " 3. That's not always true. Immigrants tend not to settle in the "bad areas" of cities, and the areas they end up in tend to have slightly better schools. And, if they do end up in a bad school, they are no more likely to escape poverty than someone whose family has been here since 1608. 4. We are not forcing them, we are simply moving where we build Section 8 housing. As of now, we build "projects" in the inner city. If we built Section 8 only in the suburbs, and in spread out areas, we wouldn't get ghettos. 5. Section 8 housing does not let people live wherever they choose to live, it lets them live in areas that are specially designated for Section 8 housing, and that creates ghettos. 6. It's a goal, but so is eliminating the ghetto, and improving education. 7. There will always be those unmotivated people. It is impossible to eliminate them. By poverty I meant widespread poverty, certainly some people will be lazy, unlucky, or stupid. I CANNOT treat them in any way. 8. "Evelyn Blumenberg, a professor of urban planning at UCLA, found that car-driving residents of the Watts section of Los Angeles have access to an astounding 59 times as many jobs as their neighbors dependent on public transit. Even more isolated are the car-less low-income families that now live in the suburbs—nearly half of all metropolitan poor. " -Brookings Insitution Also "The lack of a car limits opportunities for America's poor in other ways too. It's never easy to be a working single parent, but it's infinitely harder without a car. When you spend three hours a day commuting to work by bus and train, then have to buy groceries and pick up your kids, there isn't much time for anything else—like helping with homework or after-school activities, taking yourself or your family to the doctor when necessary, or even finding a partner to help share the load. And lack of access to a car limits your housing options, making it even harder to move into safer neighborhoods, or ones with better schools. " -Brookings Institution And. .. "But even for low- and middle-income workers who do own cars, purchase and operating costs take a significant bite out of their income—more than 20 percent of all household expenditures go for transportation, second only to housing. For the vast majority of households, those costs aren't optional—cars represent a fixed and non-negotiable expense. And every time the price of gas increases, it is in effect a tax on work. " -Brookings Institution 9. Sure, there is some mobility, but not when you have a POS education, and everyone around you is miserable, on drugs, and will probably get killed by an angry gang member. Also, people will become impoverished, of course, that is unpreventable. I simply mean that one has to be able to easily escape poverty, and that is certainly not the case now, especially in inner city areas. 10. Again, no plan can address every problem, every situation. I just need to ensure mobility for all persons. 11. And a quality education helps people succeed. And again, I cannot force everyone to be motivated, no one can. I am creating as much mobility as possible.