Are community colleges doing their job? Don't Ask Don't Tell in a legal tug of war. Debating California's Prop 22 - restricting infrastructure revenue. The politics of indignation are in full bloom this election season. James Zogby and his new book “Arab Voices: What They Are Saying to Us, and Why it Matters."
Are California’s community colleges doing their job?
Community colleges play a critical role in preparing the future workforce, giving students the skills and education needed to boost their career potential, or to transfer to a four-year institution. But a new study released by the Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy reports that California’s two-year schools are failing that job. Seventy percent of students seeking degrees failed to graduate or transfer to universities within six years; many of them eventually dropped out. The study also showed significant disparities in the outcome of black and Latino students, as compared to white and Asian Pacific Islanders. Nearly 2.8 million students are enrolled in California's 112 community colleges. This low graduation, high attrition rate puts California’s future at risk, as each generation ends up less educated than the last. Does our community college system need an overhaul?
Guests:
Nancy Shulock, Executive Director of the Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy, California State University, Sacramento, and co-author of the study
Jack Scott, Chancellor, California Community Colleges
To tell or not to tell
The controversy over the military’s 17-year old Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy that prevents gays from serving openly in the military has become a tug of war between the Obama administration and U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips. Judge Phillips yesterday ordered that the U.S. military begin accepting gay applicants. The Justice Department this morning then asked a federal appeals court to suspend Phillips’s ruling stating that its implementation would leave gay applicants in a sort of legal limbo as the issue is resolved. The twist is that repealing DADT was one of President Obama’s campaign promises, meaning that both sides agree that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell needs to be repealed but have different ideas as for how. How should the situation be resolved? What is preventing the change from moving forward?
Guest:
Aaron Belkin, Director of the Palm Center at UC Santa Barbara. The Palm Center is a think tank at the University of California, Santa Barbara that produces scholarship in the areas of gender, sexuality, and the military.
Prop 22 – limits on state raids debated
It’s something that has long aggravated transportation advocates and local governments....money allocated from gas and other taxes for transportation and special infrastructure funds are often raided to make up for short falls in the general fund when it’s time to balance the budget. Proposition 22 aims to put a stop to that, by prohibiting the state, even during periods of severe financial hardship, from delaying the distribution of tax revenues for transportation, redevelopment, or local government projects and services. But, if it passes, could this end up putting the state into a severe economic crisis? Opponents worry it would and say the state has suffered enough from what they call “ballot box” budgeting.
Guest:
Chris McKenzie, executive director of the League of California Cities
Chuck Devore, Republican State Assemblyman representing California’s 70th District
The politics of indignation in full bloom
Drama on the campaign trail is nothing new. But this season, political theater is verging on farce. In California, Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown have been fighting over housekeepergate and trading accusations about dirty political tricks. But that’s nothing compared with some of the brouhahas in other parts of the country. In Colorado, a Congressional debate turned physical when Democrat incumbent Rep. Ed Perlmutter slapped the hand of his Republican opponent Ryan Frazier during a televised debate. In Kentucky, Rand Paul blasted opponent Jack Conway as a liar who has “no decency” and refused to shake his hand. In Anchorage Sunday night, the founder of the news site Alaska Dispatch allegedly pushed a Joe Miller supporter and landed in handcuffs. And the examples keep coming. Is this business as usual, or have politics gone off the deep end? Are angry candidates merely reflecting the mood of voters? Do we want really want to see lawmakers boiling over?
Guest:
Alex Burns, Deputy Political editor for POLITICO
What are Arabs saying to us and why does it matter?
The U.S plays a leading role in the Middle East whether in peacemaking, war efforts, support of our ally Israel or diplomacy that insures our access to oil. But what do we really know about the Arab peoples who live in that region? In his new book “Arab Voices,” James Zogby reveals the results from a new Zogby International poll he conducted across several Arab countries. The findings contest widely held myths about Arabs including the existence of a uniform Arab mindset, the notion that Arabs are obsessed with hatred of the West, and the idea that Arabs are consumed by violent religious teachings. Pollster and founder of the Washington, D.C.–based Arab American Institute, James Zogby, brings the poll numbers to life in hopes of bridging the information gap he believes exists between the West and Arabs of the Middle East.
Guest:
James Zogby, author of Arab Voices: What They Are Saying to Us, and Why it Matters