American Colleges Murder Artists

Sweeney Hall SJSU Outside

I went through some depression while I was at SJSU and ranked up $20,000 in student loans.  Sadly this was not only a waste of time because I decided to peruse a Child Development degree at De Anza College, rather than my Creative Writing degree, but I couldn't complete hardly any of my classes because of how depressed I was.


The only problem I to have are getting the federal government to find my taxes for 2011.  I cannot simply print out my tax forms from Turbotax, no, they want documents from the government.   I've tried all my addresses, talked to a representative who said all the tax forms are not in yet, so there is a chance I will not be going to school in the fall.

Sweeney Hall Inside
What am I paying for?

If the school wants to encourage students it should be relatively simple for students who apply, especially when you have to have official documents from the federal government.  The government is slow and still cannot find my information.  I'm just so frustrated.


I believe De Anza is making their students do some of the legwork because of the lack of staff and horrible education cuts.  I just wish they chose another way to reduce their costs, because I cannot see how this is making a student's life any easier.


To go even further when a student works part-time it leaves less time for studying.  But he needs to work to pay off his bills, unless he lives at home or has financial support from his parents.  If he does need to work, he still doesn't earn enough to pay the bills and has to have a loan.  This makes the student acquire debt.

Coffee Backpack
by Rocketpacks1

Yes, education is an investment, but at what cost?  Lack of health care for the student, sleep deprivation, emotional stress, poor diet, long work hours, financial debt all promote health issues spanning well beyond college years.  


After a student acquires all of this stress and debt there is no other option but to "opt to major in fields that will give them more marketable skills in the current job market: Think computer science, information technology, and engineering" (From the interview with Andrew Delbanco on NPR).  The artists are dead because society has murdered them financially, so will only rich children shape the art in America?


I think all of this helps promote the stress and unhealthy fervor for money.  I plan not to pay back my student loans for as long as possible, because I do not think my higher education helped me peruse the goals I wanted.  I felt they threw a bunch of English classes together and some writing classes, only 15/48 units were writing classes; not even half the classes you are required to take focus on your personal writing ability.

by Axstrat

Perhaps this is just the major I chose, and changed after I was so unhappy, but if colleges cannot make an effort to help liberal arts students making a living in a field they love, what is the point of earning a degree?

San Jose Animal Care and Services Killed My Cat

Pie was a healthy, neutered and was missing a left eye. He was then taken to the City of San Jose Animal Care Center.

We were so relieved when we found his picture and called leaving messages and finally spoke to a real person. We gave her the information and said we would be in Tuesday to pick Pie up, but on Tuesday his website image was missing and so was Pie.
The shelter only keeps their lost animals for about four days, that is the minimum, and then they become the property of the City of San Jose. However we could not pick up Pie on Monday, his fifth day at the shelter, because they were closed.

In consequence, Pie was euthanized, despite the fact there was no way to retrieve him from the shelter on Monday and we called telling them his identification number and the fact he was our cat. Obviously, someone did not do their job, otherwise our cat would be home.

The policy gives little hope for a pet owner, especially for cats, because cats tend to wander and can be missing for a day for two. By the time you realize your cat is truly missing half your time was gone.

Then, you have to look in different shelters. Pie was not at the normal Campbell shelter, the Silicon Valley Animal Control Authority, but at the San Jose one. This was also time consuming.
Fist off, change the waiting period for lost animals to seven days, so owners can search more ground and have a change to actually find their pet.

Second, no euthanizations on days the shelter will be closed and do not count the days of closing as days of holding. If the family cannot pick up their beloved pet, then the shelter shouldn’t have the right to exterminate it.

Lastly, make the fines cheaper. It would have cost over 150$ to release Pie. It costs about 100$ for adopting a new kitten.

No wonder why people decide to abandon their animals, they cannot afford to bail them out of kitty jail.

We spoke to Staceey Dains about or detrimental situation and she attempted to blame us for Pie’s death, but it was her staff who either forgot or never bothered to write down the desperate pleas of a family for their cat’s life.

Policy needs to be changed, these shelters are supposed to be a safety net for our lost pets, not an execution chamber.