Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

All foster kids in California can now attend any state college for free

themessenger.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 585 posts

Re: All foster kids in California can now attend any state college for free

#71

Post by spamizbad »

torstenvl wrote: post #24
megaman821 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All school lunches and breakfasts should be free. It is abhorrent that any child in a country as rich as the United States should go hungry at school.

As a taxpayer who funds public schools, I find it acceptable to subsidize the food of those who are struggling, but I do not have any desire to subsidize the ruling elite (who, in many cases, intentionally keep working class pay low). They can pay for their own children's food.

The solution to this problem (Wealthy elites getting free stuff) is to just ensure they're taxed appropriately. I do not care if the children of the wealthy are receiving free lunches as long as they're paying their fair share of taxes. Chances are, even with California's weird tax system, they are paying more than your typical middle class family.

Re: All foster kids in California can now attend any state college for free

#72

Post by giantg2 »

bushbaba wrote: post #46
hotpotamus wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how many non-foster kids graduate high school?

In California it’s ~85% of high school students graduate on average across all demographics https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/ad/datasummary.asp

Every time I see these numbers I'm shocked at how it's not >98%.

Re: All foster kids in California can now attend any state college for free

#73

Post by Rebelgecko »

torstenvl wrote: post #24
megaman821 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All school lunches and breakfasts should be free. It is abhorrent that any child in a country as rich as the United States should go hungry at school.

As a taxpayer who funds public schools, I find it acceptable to subsidize the food of those who are struggling, but I do not have any desire to subsidize the ruling elite (who, in many cases, intentionally keep working class pay low). They can pay for their own children's food.

In theory I agree with you, but in practice I think means testing does more harm than good. Some parents aren't gonna fill out the paperwork and we shouldn't punish kids for that. It also adds overhead to the programs.

And I don't think the ruling elite's kids are eating free lunch at public schools :)

Re: All foster kids in California can now attend any state college for free

#74

Post by j45 »

bagacrap wrote: post #47
pessimizer wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Affirmative action shouldn't ever have been a contest with prizes for the most unfortunate. It was sold as a way to fix the wrongs of slavery. Having been enslaved legally in the US is not a race, it's an atrocity. The reason we should be paying for foster kids' college is because the state is their parent, so it's our responsibility. In a country that wasn't shit, regular people would be jealous of how kids who were…

> regular people would be jealous of how kids who were wards of the state lived In this utopia you describe, I'd think all kids lived like kings.

Learn like kings

Grow like kings

Dream like kings

Give back like kings

Re: All foster kids in California can now attend any state college for free

#75

Post by PierceJoy »

lockhouse wrote: post #51
mmanfrin wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Affirmative action was to address systemic inequalities, not individual ones. Bringing it up in an article about foster kids and then further including the bit about gender feels like flamebait.

Ironically affirmative action is systemic racism itself, no matter how well intentioned.

True, but many forms of discrimination are legal and good. Minimum age to drive is ageism, but I think we would all agree that it’s a good form of discrimination. You say “no matter how well intentioned” as if the intention isn’t important. But intention and outcome are both very important and determine whether a given form of discrimination is good or bad.

Re: All foster kids in California can now attend any state college for free

#76

Post by ochoseis »

torstenvl wrote: post #24
megaman821 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All school lunches and breakfasts should be free. It is abhorrent that any child in a country as rich as the United States should go hungry at school.

As a taxpayer who funds public schools, I find it acceptable to subsidize the food of those who are struggling, but I do not have any desire to subsidize the ruling elite (who, in many cases, intentionally keep working class pay low). They can pay for their own children's food.

What if you thought of it as: perhaps at your income level your taxes fund one kid's meals, and at the elite's income level their taxes fund ten kids' meals? IDK how the actual numbers work, but that would be the gist in a progressive tax system.

Re: All foster kids in California can now attend any state college for free

#77

Post by pessimizer »

bagacrap wrote: post #47
pessimizer wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Affirmative action shouldn't ever have been a contest with prizes for the most unfortunate. It was sold as a way to fix the wrongs of slavery. Having been enslaved legally in the US is not a race, it's an atrocity. The reason we should be paying for foster kids' college is because the state is their parent, so it's our responsibility. In a country that wasn't shit, regular people would be jealous of how kids who were…

> regular people would be jealous of how kids who were wards of the state lived In this utopia you describe, I'd think all kids lived like kings.

Utopia has a really low bar if we get it from treating foster kids like middle-class kids.

Re: All foster kids in California can now attend any state college for free

#78

Post by duskwuff »

MikeTheGreat wrote: post #50
torstenvl wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a taxpayer who funds public schools, I find it acceptable to subsidize the food of those who are struggling, but I do not have any desire to subsidize the ruling elite (who, in many cases, intentionally keep working class pay low). They can pay for their own children's food.

On the one hand I 100% agree On the other hand we've got the phrase "Programs for the poor become poor" for a reason. Having a program that benefits everyone means that we all can support it out of enlightened self-interest. We can reduce overhead by providing food for everyone and not putting in place a complex government bureaucracy to carefully approve some people but not others, to give lobbyists a chance to advo…

Moreover, if free food is only available to low-income students, having to eat that food can become a symbol of poverty, and some students may feel ashamed to receive it. Making it available to all students, without reservation, avoids that.

Re: All foster kids in California can now attend any state college for free

#79

Post by j45 »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #23
getmeinrn wrote: post #13

This is what affirmative action should be... helping people out based on their individual situation, not because their skin color or gender.

> what affirmative action should be... helping people out based on their individual situation Also, just helping them out. Nobody gets hurt. This isn't creating an allotment of seats for foster kids. The selection process, and thus odds, are the same for them and everyone else.

Maybe the new affirmative action is visible minorities or other groups just get free education?

But then you’d need a K-12 system that doesn’t fail them or set them up for not succeeding by getting them into lower stream courses.

Re: All foster kids in California can now attend any state college for free

#80

Post by WalterBright »

happytiger wrote: post #17

About time. These kids needs all the love and support we can give them. Now let’s invest in a free state education for every citizen!

We already do. There's probably a free public school in your neighborhood.
Post reply on HN