Opinions

Laura Kelsey
drsexysex@yahoo.ca

 

 

Why No Tax Breaks for
Post-Secondary Students?

By Sonja Jelaca

 

V V ith a surplus

of over $11 billion,

the Conservative
government plans to put
; $10 billion of it towards
paying down the federal
debt. The rest of the
surplus will go towards
corporate tax cuts that
will amount to more
than $14 billion over the
next half decade, while
personal income tax cuts
will be cut by some $46
billion. That, together
with the GST being cut
to five percent will result
in a savings of $180 for
families in the lowest tax
bracket.

I’m impressed.
Finally I’ll be able to
afford an entire college
textbook. With so much

money floating around Ottawa, one
would think giving post-secondary
students a little break in interest on their
student loans wouldn’t be too much

to ask. With the number of countries
who have abolished tuition fees on the
rise, | would hope that a country as

rich as Canada would do more to help
its student population deal with their
educational debt.

My cousin in Denmark has
completed her college education
recently, has zero debt, and can start her
working life with a clean slate while I,
her lucky cousin, who lives in the “best
place on Earth,” have to worry about
the monthly student loan payments I’m
going to have to start paying in a few
weeks even though I’ve only completed
half my degree.

You’ll have to excuse me if I sound
a little bitter, it’s only because | am. It’s
not my fault that life has thrown me
a curveball with a recurrent medical
condition that has resulted in a number

of withdrawals and unsuccessful terms
at college, so many in fact that I’ve
recently exhausted all the appeals
afforded to me through the Student
Loans Appeais Committee. Don’t get
me wrong, I’m not feeling sorry for
myself; all I really want is to be able to
finish my BA in English. That’s going
to be quite difficult now that I have to
pay for the rest of my education myself
with a part time job, while at the same
time having to start repaying my student
loan of some $40,000 because I cannot
afford to attend college on a full time
basis.

I know that I’m not the only one in

_ dire straits, and that’s exactly why | find

it appalling that the government plans to
use $10 billion to pay down the federal
debt while thousands upon thousands

of college and university students sink
deeper and deeper into debt with no
light at the end of the tunnel.

 

Checking out the Good, the Bad, and
the Disgustingly Ugly Online

Laura

. Kelsey
opinions editor

 
   
 

‘Wise is some sick shit on the
Internet.

You can look up anything and
view it in text, photo, or video form.
And it needs to be seen—all of it.

It needs to be brought into the light

and discussed, because, at the risk of
sounding like Hedy Fry, atrocities are
being committed every day, all over
the world—and there is no other way
to know about many of them other than
the Internet.

Knowledge is power; but knowledge
has to have balance, so that includes the
dark side of life, too. Combating the bad
things on this planet requires learning
about them first. There is hypocrisy to
those who eat beef but refuse to watch
cows being slaughtered, or racists that
support the Nazis but never watched
footage from concentration camps— you
need the facts before you can make
the statements, and consequently, the
action.

6

Internet material needs to be examined
closely, though, not just absorbed. Fact
is so easily manipulated by technology
that uproar can be created over the
silliest of things, (ex Bonsai Kittens)
which can become counterproductive.

When exploring the darker side of
life via the web, it’s easy to get tangled
up in it. Farce is so realistic now that
an open mind may let in hoax after
hoax—but that should not prevent a
person from witnessing truths. It may
not be necessary to know the difference
between a Hot Karl and a Cleveland
Steamer, but witnessing as much of
the world as possible is our time’s
technological, simultaneous blessing
and curse.

It is not morbid to request reality.

It will feel wrong, it can feel sick, but
seeing where your food comes from
should be mandatory for all humans.
Vegetarians can watch fruit harvests,
and meat-eaters can witness chickens
being boiled alive.

Seeing the truth about something,
whether it is a human rights violation
or a freaky sexual fetish, can inspire,
comfort, or scare a person. Everything
in life needs to be examined—the good,
the bad and the disgustingly ugly.

Dogs and cats are being brutally
skinned alive in Asia, their fur passed
off as faux and sold as trim on popular
coats in Canada. Innocent people are

being dismembered in countries for
participating in the most benign of
activities. Disfiguring disease can strike
even the most beautiful person... the list
goes on.

Shock can spur people to action, and
whether that action is a letter, an article,
or a volunteer aid trip to Africa there are

things that need to be seen in this world,
voices that were silenced before they
got an audience.

Check out the ghosts of the past,
easily accessible with the click of
a mouse—don’t family=filter your
searches any longer.