[Gráinne]

I think I must be several rungs lower in knowledge and brain power, but I see several problems right off the bat:

1. The minute you set up the neediest classes to benefit the most from inequalities, you no longer have a fair society. In fact, the upper classes (if you will) are being discriminated against. You will never have "fair". You can have "equal opportunity".

2. I don't agree that poor=lower standards for Berkeley or any college. If UCB demands a 4.0 and 2200, so be it. It's the same as the draft example, in my opinion, but based on class, not payoffs, and the other way around in that poor turns into an advantage.

I would be mad as hell if I were Lynn, because the standards were lower. I'd never know if I could have met them on my own merit. Instead, I got in solely on the "benefit" of my class. Also, I (as Lynn) would presumably have had more to learn and had to work harder because my family would not be college educated. I would feel that all that work was for naught because of some factor out of my control. So I don't believe in affirmative action based on class, and I would not take it for myself even if I was eligible under this (hypothetical) society. It's patronizing.

3. I can agree on financial assistance for school, but if I were queen of education, I'd trash the federal loan and grant programs and privatize all student aid. That would cut down the artificially high cost of education and re-introduce competition: bang for the buck, so to speak. But that's another post.

4. Again, if I were the queen of education, the only way to gain equality of education and resources would be to abolish federal government involvement in education altogether. All schools are private businesses with x dollars per student-no exeptions. Those that fail to deliver a quality product (i.e. literate adults able to attend college or get a job), fail. Thanks to the teachers union, it is will nigh impossible to weed out bad ones, so that's (the union) gone under my plan. It's been shown to work in some of the worst neighborhoods in this country.

Some regulation will be necessary, but I believe that we're in this mess because of rampant regulations and interference by government. We need much less, not more.