Invest in higher ed
In 1974, General Electric was headquartered in New York City and was looking for a new home. Many of GE’s executives already had moved to Fairfield, Conn., drawn by the good schools, small town atmosphere and suburban lifestyle. GE decided that these amenities were important enough to relocate there, and, for 40 years, hosted its employees in a leafy, suburban campus far removed from city life.
This January, however, GE announced that it was leaving Fairfield and moving to Boston, a city that is second only to San Francisco as a wellspring of research and development and home to some of the wealthiest tech investment firms in the world. Announcing the move, GE said, “Greater Boston is home to 55 colleges and universities. Massachusetts spends more on research and development than any other region in the world, and Boston attracts a diverse, technologically-fluent workforce focused on solving challenges for the world.”
GE realized that it had to compete in a global economy increasingly dominated by businesses that embrace new technologies. The firm realized that the best way to change its corporate culture was to locate where a supply of highly educated graduates and access to new and exciting technology was guaranteed.
Meanwhile, here in Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker just informed the University of Wisconsin System that it will receive no new funding in his next budget.
Walker will seek to freeze tuition, which may be helpful in the short term, but, combined with a zero-growth budget and inflation, our colleges and universities essentially will face another budget cut. This is in addition to the $795 million in state funding our colleges and universities have lost since Republicans took control of state government. Only eight states invest less in their higher education system than Wisconsin. This has led to larger class sizes, fewer class offerings and the loss of excellent faculty and staff to termination, early retirement and employment opportunities elsewhere. UW-Eau Claire Chancellor Jim Schmidt has pointed out that staying for a fifth year of college will cost that unfortunate student $50,000 in tuition and lost wages.
The independent, non-profit, nonpartisan Wisconsin Technology Council recently issued a report that said, “Further cuts in public support for higher education in Wisconsin will harm the state’s economy, which relies on colleges and universities for talent, technology transfer and business development in the communities those institutions serve.” The council found that when a kindergartener today eventually enters the workforce, 62% of Wisconsin’s jobs will require a post-secondary degree. Despite that, the council reports, Wisconsin ranks 30th among states for adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher, and 27th in per capita student aid. We should be investing in our colleges and universities, and adopting student debt relief programs such as the Wisconsin Democrats’ “Higher Ed, Lower Debt,” to help new graduates entering the workforce. Walker and the Republicans’ inexplicable, continuous attacks on our colleges and universities, among the best in the world, are sowing the seeds of economic disaster for our children and our state’s future.
I’m afraid that if we continue with Walker’s policies, Wisconsin won’t be the first, second or third choice for talented graduates to stay and start businesses, or for businesses to locate. Does anyone really think GE would have relocated here given the assault on our higher education system? Our trajectory should be toward becoming another high tech haven like Massachusetts, but right now it’s hard not to feel like we’re heading toward becoming a Mississippi.
Immigrants benefit America
Again, the conservative politicians are stirring up the “fear” of new immigrants. I say again because this dates back to the 1880s when the Irish and Italians were blamed for taking “American jobs.” In the early 1900s, the anger was directed against Eastern Europeans to the point that Congress in the 1920s passed severe quotas against immigration. In the 1940s the Roosevelt administration turned away Western Europeans fleeing the Nazi persecution. Now the pretext is the same about “jobs.”
A rational look will reveal that past immigrants and their descendants have made many more jobs for all in the fields of science, medicine and technology. Where would we be without their gifts to society? And who is to say the new residents won’t also be a benefit? Already they are “taking” jobs that Americans don’t want — in agriculture, dish washing, house cleaning, etc., to ensure their children will be better off.
America is not a melting pot, but more of a stew, with every ingredient improving things. Maybe this new stew isn’t like Grandma’s, but it is different, and probably better. Let’s consider every immigrant wave as making that stew even better.
Melvin M. Askot
Not a career criminal
In the interest of fairness, I must take issue with the assertion that the late Sylville Smith was a career criminal (“Tales of two men,” Letters, Aug. 29). One misdemeanor conviction and arrests that were for traffic offenses (which are not criminal offenses) and charges that were dropped, does not make him a career criminal.
Under the letter writer’s definition, I know many career criminals, as we all do. If, in fact, the unreleased footage shows that he pointed a weapon at an officer, he sealed his own fate. But there is nothing to be gained by painting him as a lifelong criminal, throwing in his parents’ drug addiction and prison record. Whatever the video eventually shows, justice was meted out to him in an instant, and his family and friends grieve his loss.
It should not make anyone feel good that the officer who shot him came from a strong household and the dead man did not. Until constructive dialogue results in constructive action, addiction and incarceration will continue unabated, and no amount of demonizing children and young adults born into the dysfunction will change it.
Debra Duncan
Will U.S. survive Trump?
Our nation has survived for nearly three centuries because, in the aftermath of each election, the losers went home with their only intention being to plan strategy for the next election. The election in November will, I fear, be different.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is already complaining that the electoral process is “rigged.” He is revving up his base to believe that, in the event that he loses, it will be because the election was stolen, not because he actually received fewer votes.
Many of those in Trump’s base have exhibited racism, bigotry and misogyny, to name a few examples of their contempt for democracy and our history as a great melting pot where everyone is welcome. I really fear that the group that has come out of the shadows with Trump’s blessing will not go away quietly. I worry that they will feel they have a right to overturn the results of the election, with violence if that is seen as their only recourse.
Our democracy could be at stake in the next election, and any unrest may continue for years to come. I hope we can continue to keep America “great,” not to strive to return to some mythical past time that is erroneously seen by some as having been better than today.
Karen Wagner