Las ganas

“…If … it should … achieve nothing, and there should remain only the Good Will…, then, like a jewel, it would still shine by its own light as a thing which has its whole value in itself.”

..........—Kant

Even in our grim new world of collapsing economies, path-breaking right-wing demagoguery, and portentous other-shoe droppage, Good Things (GTs) can be found.

I expect that one really good thing will coalesce on Tuesday night. The Reign of the Stupid People will come to an end, at least for a time. Yes!

Another good thing—a really, really good thing—is the imminent going-into-effectitude of the new G.I. Bill of Rights—you know, the new law, ardently opposed by Senator “Maverick” McCain, that will provide returning post-9-11 veterans real assistance in getting a college education.

Yes, yes, yes!!

I do hope you got a chance to read the recent New York Times piece about the new world of opportunities and difficulties created by this happy legislation.

Community colleges, too, will be affected. Some excerpts:

Combat to College:

…When the bill goes into effect, in August 2009, a boom in post-9/11 veterans is expected at colleges and universities across the nation. And unlike the aftermath of the Vietnam War, when few colleges and universities welcomed military veterans, a growing number are taking steps to ease the difficult transition.

Still in its early stages at many institutions, the effort is led in large part by a generation of student veterans who came to view their own struggles to adapt to academic life as dispiriting and unnecessary.

“Some people are talking about it like it’s a movement,” says Derek Blumke, a University of Michigan senior and cofounder and president of Student Veterans of America, an advocacy group formed earlier this year. “A lot of people are returning now and realizing they want to go to college. They are coming back, getting together and wanting to make this happen. People are mobilizing.”

The legislation fueling the movement pays homage to the original G.I. Bill of Rights, which is considered one of the most successful and transformative government programs in history. It ultimately sent 2.2 million veterans to college after World War II and helped five million others acquire trade skills. Rather than come home to sell apples, as many neglected veterans did after World War I, these veterans helped broaden the middle class and democratize universities, which were primarily bastions of the wealthy and well connected.

Few would argue that the impact of the new G.I. Bill, formally the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, will rival that of its prototype, mostly because there are far fewer eligible veterans and the new law is less generous. The original bill paid for public, private and vocational education. This one covers public education for most veterans who served after 9/11 and eases the burden of private tuition. The law also extends many benefits to members of the National Guard and the Reserve, and offers stipends for housing and textbooks. But it does not pay for non-degree vocational training.

Still, the law is viewed both by veterans and colleges as an opportunity to do right by today’s combat-tested troops and mend a relationship that has badly frayed since the antiwar movement of the 1960s. The hope is that new veterans, buffeted by war and a troubled economy, can seize on college as a roadmap to a productive life beyond the military.

“This is the biggest step toward turning the page on what we did after Vietnam,” says Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of the advocacy group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “We saw the G.I. Bill as a way of attempting to deal with veterans’ reacclimation issues in a more comprehensive way. They are in a safe place there in school, moving forward with their life.”

Mr. Rieckhoff’s group spearheaded efforts to pass the bill, written by Senator Jim Webb, a Virginia Democrat and Marine Corps veteran. The bill met strong resistance from John McCain, the senator from Arizona who is now the Republican candidate for president, and from President Bush, who argued that it would prompt service members to choose college over re-enlistment after just three years. But ultimately, it passed handily and was signed into law on June 30….
…
“Some [returning veterans] need more help than others because their academic beginnings were not as strong,” [Borough of Manhattan Community College’s Dr. Eugenio] Barrios says of veterans. “They bring a certain level of maturity and a certain appreciation of our system. Their desire is there. There is a word in Spanish for that: las ganas. They have that very strong will to want to succeed.”….

OTHER ARTICLES OF INTEREST:

Harsh attacks characterize the Prop. 8 debate. In today’s San Francisco Chronicle.

"Extremists." "Indoctrination." "Liars." "Destroy America." "Blackmail." Fiery words and harsh attacks are punctuating the campaigns surrounding Proposition 8, which would ban same-sex marriage in California….

If Prop. 8 passes, what about those who wed? In today’s San Francisco Chronicle.

When Californians vote on Proposition 8, they'll decide whether same-sex partners' right to marry will still exist as of 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. What's less clear is the impact on as many as 16,000 gay and lesbian couples who have wed since June….

Billionaires put their agendas to a vote. In today’s LA Times.

California's ballot is often crowded with measures known as citizen initiatives. But many of the citizens whose causes will come before voters Tuesday are not everyday Californians. ¶ International financier George Soros wants to change drug laws. Computer technology titan Henry T. Nicholas III—who has been indicted on federal fraud and drug charges—is pushing two measures seeking tougher penalties for criminals and expanded rights for victims. ¶ Oilman turned alternative-fuels investor T. Boone Pickens is pushing subsidies for cars that run on substances other than oil. And Peter Sperling, one of the founders of the highly profitable Phoenix University system, is the financial force behind another green- energy pursuit. ¶ Never before has such a large assortment of the extremely wealthy placed their pet projects on the statewide ballot….

Stanford and other California universities brace for budget cuts. In Today’s Mercury News.

Amid a deepening financial crisis, Stanford University has announced plans to cut expenses by slowing some construction projects, controlling salaries and perhaps eliminating some jobs….