Thursday, February 16, 2012

UNA & Dickinson State


Dickinson State University is a college similar in size to the University of North Alabama. The Bismarck, North Dakota, school desperately needed more funding (perhaps it strove to enter Division I athletics?) and saw the advantage of Chinese students who paid large amounts of out of state tuition.

Authorities now say Dickinson State became a diploma mill. In the past eight years, 410 Chinese students were issued diplomas from Dickinson, but only 10 of these actually earned them. Apparently the students, most of whom didn't speak English, returned home early or didn't have the academic ability required to do the coursework. Nevertheless, they had paid their money and they received their diplomas. Nice, isn't it?

It seems Florence will now have a large campus dedicated to alternative medicine and filled with Chinese students. As long as our tax dollars don't pay for this and local police have no additional problems, this will add a few jobs to the local economy and certainly more than a few dollars to the local retail scene.

But will UNA now be seen as a diploma mill like Dickinson State? We hope not. We also doubt that many local students will seek degrees in this program. In other words, this new college won't be turning away any U.S. students for those who have more money. Now, let's get the popcorn and watch.

*****

Our friend Justin has asked us what Jesus would do concerning illegal immigrants. Obviously, we can only attempt to answer that question. We do know that Jesus commanded us to follow the laws under which we live. If Jesus wanted us to give these illegal immigrants special emphasis, shouldn't we be sending any extra income to other countries to provide a means to bring them here? Once they're all here...oh, well, we'll worry about that later...not to mention planning which other laws we should break.

If our tax dollars support illegal immigrants, we can be sure this only encourages more illegal immigration. If our tax dollars support U.S. citizens who are having a rough time, we can also be sure that at least part of them will use that money to overcome their current adversity, strive to do more, get a better education, and become productive citizens of our country.

Helping others is like playing the stock market. We invest in those whom we believe will give the highest civic return for our investment. When we win, everyone wins.



Shoalanda

5 comments:

  1. I'm pretty sure I know what Jesus would do: "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." Inconvenient huh? The Bible says follow man's law unless it conflicts with God's law. Again, kinda inconvenient.

    re: the Chinese invasion... Oh GREAT! We were doing a great job getting rid of the Mexicans and now the Chinese are coming! I'll be so glad when we're able to have no diversity in Florence at all! Sheesh!

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    1. Justin, if you can tell me how Alabama is going to support the entire world, I'll say go for it. Until then, we at this blog support Alabamians first.

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  2. I don't remember reading Alabamians first in the bible, but okay. I'm just saying that what is good for you and helping thos that are less fortunate don't always go hand in hand. It's times like this that our christianity is tested.

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  3. Justin, this is a true story (the names have been changed). Dan left his family and always regretted it. His son Chad wanted nothing so desperately as a family of his own, so when his 16 year old girlfriend became pregnant, he married her. The 18 year old Chad found work, but no insurance. Lacey, his wife, stayed home with their daughter. Actually, Lacey spent most days with her mother who had a child only a few months older than Lacey & Chad's.

    When their child became extremely sick, there was no money for the antibiotic, so Dan purchased it for them. It seems that Lacey's baby sister was also sick, so Lacey divided the medicine in half. Neither child got well, but had to go to doctors for months. When Dan found out, he was furious. One child could have been made well quickly, but because of a well-meaning act, neither child did. Alabama is 450 million dollars in the hole, and we're afraid many Alabama children will be suffering for it. When they're taken care of, then we can consider illegal immigrants.

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  4. Not sure how this story supports your position other than giving a great example why we need universal health care in this country!

    Read your last sentence. Does that sound anything like what Jesus would say? hmmmm, I can only imagine Jesus saying...."My children, you are commanded to help the least of these, EXCEPT when they don't pay taxes..." Rather, I think he would gather them in his arms and give of Himself.

    I don't fault you for fighting for what is yours, I just think you should admit that it's not always easy to reconcile conservative values with Christian values....

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