President Obama Mentions Apple-Backed School Broadband Initiative During State of the Union Address

"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint.
When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist."
---Dom Hélder Câmara

We should have an education system that is properly funded because of a democratic will to take care of every child, rather than having to applaud the bread and circuses distraction of charity and philanthropy.

If the system were working correctly, we wouldn't need welfare, or any other kind of after the fact handout.

Educate people, feed them, clothe them, put a roof over their heads, give them meaningful work to do, and then your fears of crime and war disappear.

Educate people, feed them, clothe them, put a roof over their heads, give them meaningful work to do, and then your fears of crime and war disappear.

Why is it the government's responsibility to do most of this? I agree that education is a purpose of government, however last time I checked I work to feed myself, I work to buy my clothes, I work to pay the mortgage, and I got my job on my own - I didn't need the government to "give me a meaningful [job] to do".

It is not the government's job to do these things. It is an individual's job to do these things. It is in a government's best interest to provide a temporary lifeline for those that fall on bad times, and to make sure that the capitalistic system cannot be taken advantage of by those in power (read: i'm in favor of advancing minimum wage so that those who do work hard can at least afford the above), but in the end, it is an individual's responsibility to provide the means by which they are to survive unless they do not have the physical or mental capacity to do so.

"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint.
When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist."
---Dom Hélder Câmara

We should have an education system that is properly funded because of a democratic will to take care of every child, rather than having to applaud the bread and circuses distraction of charity and philanthropy.

If the system were working correctly, we wouldn't need welfare, or any other kind of after the fact handout.

Educate people, feed them, clothe them, put a roof over their heads, give them meaningful work to do, and then your fears of crime and war disappear.

Seriously, this is the most intelligent comment that I have read on Macrumors in months.

Why is this important

Why do you think it isn't?

You just don't get it.

The things you say are straight out of the republican play book.

If you're happy with a country where far too many people are poorly educated and/or can't afford meaningful education, where people have poor jobs, where people can't afford housing, and where crime is prevalent unlike any industrialized nation.

I have questions for you: Is this really your opinion? Is this something that is truly rational and cohesive, in your mind? Or are you simply regurgitating what a large mass of the conservative population thinks they believe?

I'm the furthest thing from a Republican, and the guy is right. None of that is the government's job. People have to learn to take care of themselves. Quit depending on the government to do everything for you. That's how we got in this mess to begin with.

"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint.
When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist."
---Dom Hélder Câmara

We should have an education system that is properly funded because of a democratic will to take care of every child, rather than having to applaud the bread and circuses distraction of charity and philanthropy.

If the system were working correctly, we wouldn't need welfare, or any other kind of after the fact handout.

Educate people, feed them, clothe them, put a roof over their heads, give them meaningful work to do, and then your fears of crime and war disappear.

I like the sound of that, except that you can't legislate people to ignore their nature of greed and envy. The ability to work hard and reap the rewards (not always monetary) is what drives progress. Your utopian world can never work because not every job in society is equal. In who's eyes will it ever be fair to reward a janitor the same as a brain surgeon? Not everyone is intrinsically motivated.

... would be providing the framework needed to connect over 15,000 schools and 20 million students to high-speed Internet over the next two years.

Porn.

Cross country sexting.

And a plethora of distractions keeping most kids out of the loop.

I remember something similar back when the iBook was created. It hasn't helped our schools develop better students or academicians. We're slinking down on the world stage, but shoveling money into kitsch-tech which is seen as a magical-pill solution for our ills.

Good for Apple and other tech companies. Good for the big-gov. machine. Bad for 99% of the students and the taxpayers below the salt.