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Giordano: Sparks Of Hope

By Dom Giordano

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- My job is to not only to talk about all the outrages that are out there every day. It's also to bring as many rays of hope as I can each day. For example a guy reports to me each day the plummeting gas prices in South Jersey. With President Obama's proposal to make community college "free" for those with a 2.5 grade point average and the apparent acceptance of this by a number of people, finding hope might be hard to do.

I found hope Saturday during the research class I teach at Community College of Philadelphia. As part of a research assignment, I told students that President Obama would propose this new entitlement during his State of the Union address.

Two female students said they had heard about this proposal and they rejected it. They made a great point that this free money would draw people not really serious about their education. They talked about the commitment they made by working, taking an early Saturday morning class and struggling to achieve.

Other students added that they were afraid that the students lured by the money would make community college like high school. Many had come from schools where discipline and order were problems.

I told the students I would report what they said. There are still sparks of hope out there. We have to find them.

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