Framing the Dialogue

Posts Tagged ‘college’

Parse-imony – Sin Tax

In “Parse-imony” I break down current news stories with my pithy, running commentary…

First the headline: 

Racing, alcohol tax on tap for General Assembly’s final day

ANNAPOLIS — Maryland lawmakers will debate today an increase in the sales tax on alcoholic beverages and how to subsidize troubled horse racing tracks as the General Assembly pushes toward midnight adjournment. [It is extremely interesting that the Maryland elected officials are looking to tax citizen who prefer to imbibe while at the same time give money to (although “subsidize” sounds much better) folks who run another “sin tax” operation leaving little doubt who has better lobbyists.]

For-Proifit College

Start with a headline to catch your attention.

For-profit college debt brings burdens

Follow up with a subhead that nails it and creates the mood.

Summer’s Out Of Reach

Nobody on the road,
Nobody on the beach.
I feel it in the air,
The summer’s out of reach.
Empty lake, empty streets,
The sun goes down alone.

 

While summer doesn’t officially end until September 22 this year for all intents and purposes summer is pretty much over for us.  We have recently been blessed with some needed rain, cooler temperatures, and a great deal of sun.  I can go outside before 7:00 PM without breaking out in a sweat and our windows are open to the fresh air since the humidity level is now bearable.  I think I can count on one hand the number of times left to cut the grass.  That may be wishful thinking, but there cannot be too many more than that. 

Higher Education

As my two eldest children prepare to go back to college life our house we again begin looking at ways to pay for our portion of the bill.  We have been fortunate because the schools that they chose (both are private schools) have been very generous with scholarships, grants, and work-study jobs.  There still is, however, a significant portion of the bill that we have to pay in some way.

The Chinese Are Stealing Our Jobs

CalvinEconomicsAbout a year ago I was asked to participate on a committee (I know yikes a committee) from our local school district.  The idea was to pull together the community to work with district personnel to better prepare students for college and working life.  Our district has an outstanding track record in academics and that is one of the main reasons that we moved here long before we had children of school age.  At one of the first meetings we brainstormed about topics where more emphasis was needed to better prepare our children.