Originally Posted by Benzadmiral

I used to be a regular Alan Alda; I used to think it was poverty that led to the crime. Now I'm not so sure. After seeing the utter fecklessness of the masses who had working cars and yet stayed behind in the face of Katrina, then took every opportunity to steal not food but stereos, my eyes have been opened. I fail to see why we should subsidize these people.

They cry about racism. But Chinese immigrants in the last two centuries experienced plenty of racism; their working conditions on the railroads were not much better than slavery. Yet they kept their neighborhoods clean, learned English, became Americans, and emphasized education. The residents of our modern ghettos haven't done any of these things. I'm beginning to believe that endless scholarship programs are in the main useless, and will continue to be so as long as the intended recipients don't care. Forty years, and nothing has improved.

The money should be spent on people who can actually achieve something. If that person is a genius from a poor black zone in Philadelphia, fine; if it's a genius from an all-white West Virginia coal mining town, fine. But handing a free college ride to some kid whose true destiny (based on his record; see the Jena 6 thugs) is to wind up in jail, and therefore denying a place to a kid who is willing to work, is criminal.