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Post by ngadhnjyesi on Aug 11, 2008 12:48:14 GMT -5
Guys if grad school killed you by paying $100 000 US for 2 year education then definitely you chose a superior and luxurious school maybe one of schools that is elite in the entire planet and that is LUXURY. I have no problem with Harvard or Yale charging outrageous tuition because they have definitely earned that right. The problem is with bottom of the rung schools charging upwards of $40,000/year. Do not forget that these schools are not-for-profits and do not pay taxes. I'm not speaking for the whole graduate school system but for my specific field. I'm sure though the same is going on in other fields as well. No individual should be forced to pay without his consent for others individual choices. I'm sure you wanted this sentence to apply to this topic but in case you haven't noticed this is not the case in America. A single person pays taxes for education, a carless person pays taxes for road maintenance, and so on and so forth.
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Post by meltdown711 on Aug 11, 2008 12:54:00 GMT -5
Uless it is Harvard or Yale(and a few others, such as Chicago U), the other private universities are simply not worth it because state schools have reached top quality now. Berkley is one of the best schools in the world, and Ann Arbor is among the best as well....
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Post by bordura on Aug 11, 2008 14:14:02 GMT -5
I'm sure Ngadhnjyes my sentence applies to America. Taxes i pay and you pay guarantee you me and everyone else even to who doesn't pay taxes elementary, middle and high school for free all over America. If u want a better quality school then as in Europe u pay for a private one. as for colleges and universities that also is taken care of. My taxes and your taxes pay for city and state colleges and universities. Thats why tuition for city college and state university is affordable even for an emigrant that has only 1 year living in USA. Baruch (part of city college of NYC) is cheap and has the same cost with the college where Kanaris daughter went in Canada. And they pay taxes more then in USA. As for taxation level AMERICA has hands down the lowest rate of taxation in the entire WESTERN WORLD. Anyway we emigrants some time are not humble and judge the entire country we live in based on our personal experiences which are not representing and not transcending of the real average experiences of people born here. Do not forget no country is build to take care of emigrants first and then its born citizens. America has the highest average pay rate in the western world and the lowest tax rate in the western world. In America you are your own limit. No government, social cast, ethnic group, financial institution, or any other subject would stop on your path, contrary to Europe where once poor you die poor, once middle class you die middle class, once aristocracy you die aristocracy. Where if you come to power you stay for life. Where hundred of political parties are non, but hundred of party leaders that rotate. They are like leches that don't go away. Guys this is not a desire to bash Europe or idealize America. I respect both, as I can be critical of both, but just can't understand the "the world should be as my backyard is" logic that you apply to America and the presumptuous attitude: This is frightening at the same time you all are going for grad schools in elite schools in this "terrible place" and all emigrants. I'd change America for Albania tomorrow, my heart is warmer there, my life patterns get integrated better there, but that its me America has nothing to do with how I feel. Give to Cesar whats Cesar's. Donnie if you are reading this lines i apologize for derailing your topic. Sorry Hope we see some pics of your trip soon. Sorry guys this reply; it is not proper here, but that's where it started and I can't move to another new thread, maybe to respect Donnie's thread and keep this dialog open someone from the moderators might split it and open a new one.
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Post by meltdown711 on Aug 11, 2008 14:44:22 GMT -5
Personally, as somebody who is in those institutions, the basic human right isnt my worry. If other people cant have access to what can, then it only brings my value up in the world... so really, as a person paying for it already, I dont really mind it.
I've also never been a humanitarian and remain a strict follower of personal interests, at least as long as I live in the US.
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Post by ngadhnjyesi on Aug 11, 2008 15:25:47 GMT -5
Maybe I wasn't clear in my previous responses but what I'm trying to say is that the cost of post-graduate education has increased at a much higher pace than inflation has over the last 20 years. And that is just plain wrong. Students are being duped into taking out loans that will take a lifetime to pay off. Couple that with a slumping job market and you have a recipe for disaster.
Also tuition at state schools has been rising at an even higher pace. Seems like they are trying to close the gap with private schools while forgetting that they are publicly funded.
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Post by Red Brigade on Aug 12, 2008 2:08:58 GMT -5
The problem is that there is a lack of representation in the USA. America has a population of 300.000 and only about 1/3 of them vote. The representation is not proportional. This means that democracy doesn't function as it should.
I am sure many the rest of the 1.5/3 (assuming 0.5/3 are <18) there is an enormous number of people from ghettos and working class people. 60 million people are living below poverty line and they are probably mostly apolitical and uneducated. These people must organize, they must establish their own party, they must fight for their rights, they must promote their own agenda, the agenda of their class. They are the one's who can bring the change, neither messiahs nor "great leaders". Nothing is given free, you must fight for it.
As a great writer once wrote "If there is hope... it lies in the proles. If they could become conscious of their own strength, they would have no need to conspire. History does not matter to them." .
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Post by ngadhnjyesi on Aug 12, 2008 10:35:59 GMT -5
These people must organize, they must establish their own party, they must fight for their rights, they must promote their own agenda, the agenda of their class. Welcome Karl. We tried that somewhere in Eastern Europe and it didn't work.
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Post by ngadhnjyesi on Aug 13, 2008 15:26:54 GMT -5
A nice documentary on financial debt and what it does to you:
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Post by Teuta1975 on Aug 13, 2008 19:26:14 GMT -5
Why voting? The candidates are one worst than the other? No opportunity to elect a non-millionaire candidate
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Post by ngadhnjyesi on Aug 13, 2008 20:37:28 GMT -5
No opportunity to elect a non-millionaire candidate Obama grew up on the South Side of Chicago and if he has any money it's from his books.
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Post by Teuta1975 on Aug 13, 2008 20:40:36 GMT -5
Do you really believe it?
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Post by ngadhnjyesi on Aug 13, 2008 21:00:14 GMT -5
Do you really believe it? I stand corrected, he worked in Chicago. I think he grew up in Hawaii with his grandparents and in Indonesia when his mother moved there after marrying. He still didn't grow up rich.
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Post by Teuta1975 on Aug 13, 2008 21:07:50 GMT -5
...and he became rich all of a sudden! Where did he find the money to pay for Columbia and Harvard?
Listen, no poor can afford Harvard! No middle class either if not a strong support or back up. It seems his mother had a lot of qualities...special...
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Post by albquietman on Aug 13, 2008 23:53:44 GMT -5
Obama might have not been rich as a person in the beginning, but as Teuta says, you've got to have some back up to afford Harvard...no wonder mostly the rich go there, because the average american can't afford to pay more the $40,000/year to study in Harvard. That's most than most of americans make in a year...
But why you should have millions in this country to run for president anyway? And it's not only for president, you can't be even a major of a city if you don't have millions in the bank? Is this called democracy?
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Post by Teuta1975 on Aug 13, 2008 23:55:19 GMT -5
We'll discuss this issue tomorrow AlbQ for I have to go now.
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donnie
Senior Moderator
Nike Leka i Kelmendit
Posts: 3,389
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Post by donnie on Aug 14, 2008 10:20:44 GMT -5
Here is a fraction of the pictures I've taken from the trip, haven't been able to upload them to the computer from the laptop yet; Himare. I was in Himare for about 2-3 hours. The water there was the clearest ever; even after swimming quite a distance, where the depth was perhaps 7-10 metres, the water was still crystal clear. Absolutely amazing. Himare "Bregu" -- don't remember if it is Borshi, but it's between Himara and Saranda. Absolutely breathtaking. Olive trees everywhere. Bregu Saranda beach. There you can see my shoes. And Corfu of course. Saranda, lots of ethnic Macedonians in this town (and Vlore) The Ioanian seen from Llogora In Drenica, Kosova, driving a tractor ;D Thaci's government is called "qeveria e asfalltit" -- I don't see that as an insult. Roads have been paved even in the most rural corners of Kosova!
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donnie
Senior Moderator
Nike Leka i Kelmendit
Posts: 3,389
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Post by donnie on Aug 14, 2008 10:23:15 GMT -5
Get used to it bro, not only Macs and Serbs/Bosniaks, but western Slavs as well (I saw Poles near Shkodra wearing red and black t-shirts with the double headed eagle on, chanting "Albania is the best" haha).
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Post by ngadhnjyesi on Aug 14, 2008 11:43:06 GMT -5
...and he became rich all of a sudden! Where did he find the money to pay for Columbia and Harvard? Listen, no poor can afford Harvard! No middle class either if not a strong support or back up. It seems his mother had a lot of qualities...special... Teuta and AlbQ I thought you guys live in the US. Are you even aware how the educational system works here? Have you heard of loans or scholarships? You don't have to be rich to go to Harvard/Yale you have to be smart enough to get in there. Once you're in depending on your financial situation you'll pay as much as you can afford. And it's not just Harvard/Yale that cost $40,000. Lots of private institutions charge outrageous tuition. My graduate school cost $33,000/year and it's not even ranked in the top. I had $2,000 in my bank account when I went. How do you think I paid for it? LOANS.
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Post by ngadhnjyesi on Aug 14, 2008 11:47:05 GMT -5
Donnie sorry to derail from your topic. Can someone split off this topoc if it's not too much to ask?
The pics are beautiful, hope you got more.
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Post by meltdown711 on Aug 14, 2008 17:19:55 GMT -5
Cudi. Car do gjejn Polaket ne Shkoder? huh, interesante.
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