Healthcare

[wxntrafficfan]

In my opinion, (Don't start a flame war) I think Education is more important than healthcare. I mean look here, Americans are getting dumber  by the minute and the educational standards here need some toughening up.

Don't kill me for going off topic here, but I disagree with that notion. Michigan just tightened up standards for education as of the class of 2011 and beyond (my class, go figure), and apparently I'm now finding out that the class of 2014 and beyond is forced to take a language course. It's making life more miserable for a lot of students. I'm no different from a lot of other students in the notion that more work makes me less able to complete it... and it further piles up. What we need is not tougher education... but simply easier access to it. College tuition costs are going through the roof, and education is not very important to a lot of families who live in lower income areas. We need more funding for schools to be improved not only in the appearance (Lansing schools are horribly run down), but also how effective the methods of a lot of teachers are. Teachers who take input from their students, and stay before and after school to give assistance to students who have questions are in my opinion effective.

As for this healthcare issue, I do have somewhat of a stand. I am for it, because insurance should be available to all. It increases competition, which is healthy for the economy in the end.

But honestly, it all connects in the end. It's hard to not somehow involve education or the economy even in a discussion about healthcare.

[Localonthe8s]

In my opinion, (Don't start a flame war) I think Education is more important than healthcare. I mean look here, Americans are getting dumber  by the minute and the educational standards here need some toughening up.

Don't kill me for going off topic here, but I disagree with that notion. Michigan just tightened up standards for education as of the class of 2011 and beyond (my class, go figure), and apparently I'm now finding out that the class of 2014 and beyond is forced to take a language course. It's making life more miserable for a lot of students. I'm no different from a lot of other students in the notion that more work makes me less able to complete it... and it further piles up. What we need is not tougher education... but simply easier access to it. College tuition costs are going through the roof, and education is not very important to a lot of families who live in lower income areas. We need more funding for schools to be improved not only in the appearance (Lansing schools are horribly run down), but also how effective the methods of a lot of teachers are. Teachers who take input from their students, and stay before and after school to give assistance to students who have questions are in my opinion effective.

As for this healthcare issue, I do have somewhat of a stand. I am for it, because insurance should be available to all. It increases competition, which is healthy for the economy in the end.

But honestly, it all connects in the end. It's hard to not somehow involve education or the economy even in a discussion about healthcare.

What MI does is not the same for 49 other states. I do agree about college tuition though...I have second thoughts about going to college because even if I get a scholarship or two, it barely will be enough for us to pay

[Mike M]

Michigan still seems to have looser standards than NJ does. Here, everyone needs two years of a language (unless the individual's IEP says otherwise). Fortunately my school offers languages at many different levels that teach in different paces. Also Aaron, does your school have Health and PE courses? I never see you list these in your schedules.

[wxntrafficfan]

Michigan still seems to have looser standards than NJ does.

From what I'm hearing, it does. But still, tightening things up are not doing anyone any favors, really.

Also Aaron, does your school have Health and PE courses? I never see you list these in your schedules.

Yes, and they are surprisingly popular. Athletics seem to be rather popular in this state as a whole, so most students in my school go through PE and health at some point. What you can do in Michigan is test out of health and get that requirement out of the way. I did that before my sophomore year. Michigan requires students to take a year of physical education, in addition to a health class. As for PE, I'm getting that waived. You can't take more than one PE class at a time though. But, the school has volleyball, weight lifting, pool time, and a general PE class. But I'm more into the sports instead of in-school athletics.

[TWCToday]

In my opinion, (Don't start a flame war) I think Education is more important than healthcare. I mean look here, Americans are getting dumber  by the minute and the educational standards here need some toughening up.

Don't kill me for going off topic here, but I disagree with that notion. Michigan just tightened up standards for education as of the class of 2011 and beyond (my class, go figure), and apparently I'm now finding out that the class of 2014 and beyond is forced to take a language course. It's making life more miserable for a lot of students. I'm no different from a lot of other students in the notion that more work makes me less able to complete it... and it further piles up. What we need is not tougher education... but simply easier access to it. College tuition costs are going through the roof, and education is not very important to a lot of families who live in lower income areas. We need more funding for schools to be improved not only in the appearance (Lansing schools are horribly run down), but also how effective the methods of a lot of teachers are. Teachers who take input from their students, and stay before and after school to give assistance to students who have questions are in my opinion effective.

As for this healthcare issue, I do have somewhat of a stand. I am for it, because insurance should be available to all. It increases competition, which is healthy for the economy in the end.

But honestly, it all connects in the end. It's hard to not somehow involve education or the economy even in a discussion about healthcare.

My school systems and nearly all of VAs schools require at least 3 years of a single foreign language to get an adv diploma and regular diplomas require at least 1. We need to STRENGTHEN education and make things tougher. Yea its going to be hard but school isn't supposed to be easy and we as a nation need to build our population to help save our position as the leading country in this world. All schools now do is slack the curriculum to get kids to pass (insert name here) standard test so they can get more money. Thats it. We are way behind in education compared to most of the European countries. Most learn multiple language from a very early start.  Take for example at my school. We got a grant to try "small learning communities" in the 9th grade. Part of this plan was to require everyone to take Honors World History. Now when you make something that everyone takes honors, its not honors anymore. Its a regular class. However that looks quite fantastic on paper. The number of students taking advanced courses shot up XX%. Makes the school system look really good and gets more money.

For PE classes they are required for a certain amount of years at my school though I think it could be a good idea to make it mandatory for all classes. The US is suffering from an epidemic of obesity. Rather than actually getting exercise, people look for someone to blame. Schools put up nice little posters and remove soft drinks and unhealthy foods from the school. Doing so does little to solve the problem.

College. Lets get something straight here. College is NOT a right. The government stops providing education at high school. Thats it. Encouraging more scholarships for strong grades and reducing the taxes and fees imposed on colleges would be the best case. Aaron you seem to want the government to take over all colleges or start their own. That way everybody gets a college education. That lowers the chance of everyone getting jobs. Lets face it. Some people are going to graduate from high school and work at McDonalds. Some people are going to go to college and become rocket scientists. Life ins't perfect. You said yourself your current schools are run down. How can the government fix them up if they are busy spending billions on college education, etc. I go to a high school built in 1911. It was renovated once decades ago. Its horrible. My school system is extremely inefficient and the budget crunch of my state is affecting it. We are loosing nearly 15% of the budget.

If the US had a strong economy and billions of extra dollars in the bank, then sure! Worry about healthcare and education. We don't. My family pays a ton of taxes on our income. We aren't wealthy by any means but we are just over the bracket to get hit hard. Raising taxes although temporarily helpful will just cause more problems. The US needs a lot of government reform and cuts.

WHEW! That was fun I love debating this stuff. Just remember folks keep it civil please

[Mike M]

Yes, and they are surprisingly popular. Athletics seem to be rather popular in this state as a whole, so most students in my school go through PE and health at some point. What you can do in Michigan is test out of health and get that requirement out of the way. I did that before my sophomore year. Michigan requires students to take a year of physical education, in addition to a health class. As for PE, I'm getting that waived. You can't take more than one PE class at a time though. But, the school has volleyball, weight lifting, pool time, and a general PE class. But I'm more into the sports instead of in-school athletics.

Wow, your school actually has a weight lifting class and pool time? Wish my school was like that. All we have here is PE (four years) or adaptive PE.

[wxntrafficfan]

Yes, and they are surprisingly popular. Athletics seem to be rather popular in this state as a whole, so most students in my school go through PE and health at some point. What you can do in Michigan is test out of health and get that requirement out of the way. I did that before my sophomore year. Michigan requires students to take a year of physical education, in addition to a health class. As for PE, I'm getting that waived. You can't take more than one PE class at a time though. But, the school has volleyball, weight lifting, pool time, and a general PE class. But I'm more into the sports instead of in-school athletics.

Wow, your school actually has a weight lifting class and pool time? Wish my school was like that. All we have here is PE (four years) or adaptive PE.

Yeah, Haslett is a very athletic school. Geesh, PE in NJ sounds boring

[twcclassics]

I saw a report this evening about a Minnesota Doctor who doesn't require his patients to have health insurance, they just pay cash as they visit ... Do any of you think that would that make the bill any better or just worse or no effect at all?

That's one of the great ideas that this batch of Dems will never consider. If people had to pay medical expenses themselves, they'd be more careful about price. And when consumers care about price, competition increases and costs go down.

[Mike M]

Yeah, Haslett is a very athletic school. Geesh, PE in NJ sounds boring

Actually athletics are pretty popular here, although most people I'm friends with aren't that much into sports.

[Localonthe8s]

Almost EVERYONE and all the popular/outgoing kids are athletes and jocks. Very few kids in the schools around southern jersey don't care for sports and that's how making friends can be an issue.

Speaking of insurance, why are doctors these days so money-hungry? Do they not care about the health and well-being of patients, just the cash?

[Mike M]

Speaking of insurance, why are doctors these days so money-hungry? Do they not care about the health and well-being of patients, just the cash?

I think teachers are the same way sometimes. I can tell whether or not teachers enjoy working with students. It's ridiculous.

[curtjr4]

Personaly, I think that the american people should be voting on this bill, not the senate and the house. Just another load of shit the government is pushing out on the people who are not in favor of this bill =\ (Excuse the language please, just trying to make a statement here )

[kpetree10]

I don't agree with health care reform. I have a hard time putting any faith in anything the government does. Take Medicare for example, they deny twice as many claims as private insurance and most people on Medicare have to have some kind of supplemental insurance to cover what Medicare doesn't. If the government can't run Medicare how can we trust them to run the entire nations health care? Besides that, with a multi trillion dollar deficit right now I think spending another trillion plus dollars is not the right thing to do. We need to focus on bringing down the nations debt.

[phw115wvwx]

The real problem that has sparked this huge debate with health care is a deeper issue that I've been seeing over the past 20 years:  No one wants to compromise right now.  Both parties have become too polarized and will not cooperate with the other.  It seems that they feel only one side is right and that the other is wrong no matter what.  Where's the sense of community these days?  Can't we all work out our differences and come together towards accomplishing a greater goal?  As a result, nothing gets done to improve anything no matter who is in charge or whoever has the majority of the votes.

Health care, education, and the economy are all important and need to be improved.  Can't the government come up with a compromised bill that will help people and be supported from both parties?  If the federal government feels they cannot come up with a solution, why not give the control to the individual states or businesses so that they can each figure out what's best for the people?  Furthermore, what does the overall majority of American citizens want?  I would really like to see all the arguing and the lack of problem-solving come to an end.  It doesn't matter whether you're a Republican, Democrat, or any other party, we're all Americans sharing the same soil, trying to live a good and decent life, working to provide better futures for ourselves and our next generations, and abiding by the same Constitution that gives us all the freedoms that we enjoy everyday.  There's a reason we call our country the United States of America.

Sorry for my soapbox rant, and I hope that I didn't offend anyone.  I'm no expert in terms of how health care should be run, but I do wish we could actually come together to work out everything.  After all, we live with a "government of the people, by the people, for the people" as spoken so well by Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address.

[toxictwister00]

The real problem that has sparked this huge debate with health care is a deeper issue that I've been seeing over the past 20 years:  No one wants to compromise right now.  Both parties have become too polarized and will not cooperate with the other.  It seems that they feel only one side is right and that the other is wrong no matter what.  Where's the sense of community these days?  Can't we all work out our differences and come together towards accomplishing a greater goal?  As a result, nothing gets done to improve anything no matter who is in charge or whoever has the majority of the votes.

Health care, education, and the economy are all important and need to be improved.  Can't the government come up with a compromised bill that will help people and be supported from both parties?  If the federal government feels they cannot come up with a solution, why not give the control to the individual states or businesses so that they can each figure out what's best for the people?  Furthermore, what does the overall majority of American citizens want?  I would really like to see all the arguing and the lack of problem-solving come to an end.  It doesn't matter whether you're a Republican, Democrat, or any other party, we're all Americans sharing the same soil, trying to live a good and decent life, working to provide better futures for ourselves and our next generations, and abiding by the same Constitution that gives us all the freedoms that we enjoy everyday.  There's a reason we call our country the United States of America.

Sorry for my soapbox rant, and I hope that I didn't offend anyone.  I'm no expert in terms of how health care should be run, but I do wish we could actually come together to work out everything.  After all, we live with a "government of the people, by the people, for the people" as spoken so well by Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address.

Agree 1000%. The protesters that oppose this bill are taking this to the extreme by going as far as shouting racial slurs and even spitting on one of black state senators I think it was the rep. for MN. These people are not making the situation any better, only worse and it's so sad that you have to sink so low as to degrade someone for doing their job just because you strongly disagree with their opinion. Noone is going to listen and pay attention to people who use taunting to get their point across it's childless and ignorant.