Striking students pass through Sather Gate
Striking students gather in Sproul Plaza Tuesday at UC Berkeley
Music was part of the noon time activites on Sproul Plaza
The fact that broadcast news media want to cover an issue in about 90 seconds works to the advantage of the Conservatives because most voters don't want to get a complete picture of a complex issue and the student strike at University California Berkeley will provide an example of how the rush to oversimplify destroys journalism's reason for being.
In the Sixties the University system in California was an outstanding opportunity for young people in that state to acquire an affordable education.
In the Seventies, Prop 13 was sold to home owning voters as a way to save money. The property tax had provided the funds for affordable educations. When Prop 13 passed, businesses saved large amounts of money when that tax was eliminated from their overhead expenses. Did they pass the savings along to consumers?
Wealthy families are used to expecting that their kids will be college educated and become industry management. The potential for middle and low class families sending their children to college may have seemed like the underclasses were stealing opportunities for large salaries from them so it behooved the wealthy to put the cost of education beyond the capability of the middle and lower class.
The fact that Prop 13 benefited business immensely made its passage a double payoff for the wealthy.
Can an explanation of how the passage of Prop 13, more than 30 years ago, caused the current student unrest, be reduced to a few words that fit on a bumper sticker?
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