| Everyone deserves the right to access information in this country, even if they don't have money in their pockets. As a citizen of the U. S., I don't mind contributing part of my income to help my fellow citizens pursue higher education, higher truth if you will, regardless of what they do privately in their own home and who they do it with. It's also quite easy to look at the demographics of drug arrests. The current trends of heroin overdose deaths consist of mostly 24-40 year old white males, toppling the rate of all minority groups. This is because the parents of the minority groups of today are serving mandatory minimun sentences for non-violent drug offenses stemming from the Regan/Bush era Drug War. In turn, the youth have turned away from less hardcore drugs, like heroin and crack, and turned to marijuana. A primary reason for this is because it is impossible to overdose on marijuana. This particular trend and shift in drug of choice now highlights the white population's use of hardcore drugs, which are far more associated with violent crime than marijuana. Also, the HEA provision DOESN'T deny financial aid to students convicted of rape, DUI, or arson. So some college campuses, like those who tour NCAA bluechip players, hypothetically may have students who are sober from what you would consider 'drugs' but still have a couple drinks,(or not,) encounter a female and lose self control and land with a rape charge. Sure they may find themselves on grounds for dismissal, but they can still dig some pocket change out of your wallet to find another school that will accept him. In closing, denying students the opportunity to benefits from education to better their life assumes that we, as a nation, advocate ignorance in our society. For a first world nation, we still have so many people in our country who are illiterate. But guess which one of our neighboring nations has the lowest illiterate rate. Cuba! Castro must have been influenced from his Jesuit education. |