Absolutely. Conservative objections to many of these programs are almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy--they fail precisely because as a society Americans don

Absolutely. Conservative objections to many of these programs are almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy--they fail precisely because as a society Americans don't value education. This is more true today than ever as poor and working-class American culture has become, at least superficially, the dominate culture. That culture values immediacy, not only in pleasure but far more consequentially in the fruits of labor.