What's wrong with America

[[TeVs]Tommo]

Germany have a slightly different system and works quite well, it is called BAföG. It does require some form filling, however, poor students receive state funding to help them through their course. They borrow the money and at the end, once they start earning, they have to pay half back with no interest. This is fair, the taxpayer should not have to foot the bill for everything and the student receives some help, but is expected to contribute to their improvement in their working status.
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Australia works like this too.

[[GnJA]Good_Apollo]

Stopped reading right there.

People seem to misunderstand or are ignorant of the fact that the terribly paraphrased yet oft-quoted line "Freedom from religion" was actually put in place to be interpreted as 'wall between religion and government'. That is to say the constitution (Thomas Jefferson provided the foundations for seperation of church and state) explicitly wanted to get across that neither could religion interfere with politics than could politics interfere with religion. Unfortunately back in the day we had a pretty uniform national religion aside from a few slightly differing sects and very homogenized general religious traditions. What we're faced with now is how we square the circle of issues like abortion and homosexuality without either side infringing on the other in a modern multicultural nation currently in turmoil over a crashing economy, breakthrough scientific discoveries, changing political and social opinions, and trying to hold onto an identity that was forged and thrived in conflict but is now stagnating in an era of relative global peace.

These problems aren't new, they've been slowly developing since the 50s. This was inevitable for a country trying to build itself on 'unalienable rights' while maintaining what is essentially majority rule. Such a system will always fall victim to the majority using their power to maintain conformity to their ideals which in turn steps on the freedoms of the minority. That's an issue with democracy and capitalism and whereas socialism and communism attempt to rectify one issue, those systems in turn create their own problems (individual freedom). What political system can we create to make everyone happy? Can such a concept even be realized within the nature of mankind? I don't think so and so the struggle will continue with no end in sight.

The issues of an entire country are far more complex than a lot of people comprehend and it doesn't help when they're fed witty comics that attempt to summarize the whole thing in a few panels. Debating is good exercise but posting like you're big enough to solve the world's problems and have all the 'right' answers is nothing short of intelligence suicide if you ask me.

[Lethe]

Our generation thinks that they are smarter than they really are tbh. Talk is cheap.

[Beanybag]

It's Lockean philosophy, separation of powers. Religion is separate from government and the government powers are separated into branches.

[[EEND]KingSaber]

With all the money that we owe I don't ever foresee us "investing" in our youth.

[AdventureMan]

I guesss this movie fits quite nice into this thread:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A75KERKwEQM

Also, I'm Norwegian, and I can identify with the comic OP posted.. America is probably one of the strangest countries on earth to me.

[[RTH]scoutTier]

Wow. With all of this unhappiness regarding colleges, I feel very happy to be in Wisconsin. Our system of universities is very affordable and excellent at teaching. A college degree is definitely worth it, but it has to be in a useful field. A degree in computer science is much more practical than an English degree.

[[KaF]Baarak]

Frankly the only thing that isn't vastly oversimplified in the comic is the for profit schools. They should all be shut down and their founders should be jailed. I feel like vomiting when I see their commercials.

[[GnJA]Good_Apollo]

Frankly the only thing that isn't vastly oversimplified in the comic is the for profit schools. They should all be shut down and their founders should be jailed. I feel like vomiting when I see their commercials.

Agreed. They've popped up like maggots on a corpse and nobody seems too bothered by them. Hell, when I was struggling in CC my parents suggested I try University of Phoenix.

I see people complain that legitimate colleges have been secretly taking advantage of youth and yet these things sprang up with for-profit on a big open label and apparently we're okay with it.

In 2008, the University of Phoenix was the top recipient of student financial aid funds, receiving nearly $2.48 billion.

Taxpayer money fueling a corporation. That's nice, it's nothing new but I don't think I've seen it so transparent with nobody giving a ****. Then again, the financial situation is such a mess that it's like a drop in a bucket.