Santo Domingo.- President Danilo Medina on Wednesday stressed the importance of the Community College at San Luis and announced the construction of several more to improve the competitiveness of the country's human resources.
Speaking after administering the oath to the new college’s board of governors, Medina called the center is a welcome boost to the national industry, because it will prepare competent professionals and a great opportunity for poor youngsters who cannot afford to attend a university.
"You should also know that from the government’s PYMEs support program, we have the necessary funding for those who want to become entrepreneurs and create their own businesses," the chief executive said.
The College started classes January 14 with 1,300 students, who can get tutors to help remediate deficiencies in math and Spanish.
Medina?? toured the new campus accompanied by Presidency Administrative minister José Ramón Peralta, Josefina Pimentel, of Education and of Higher Education, Ligia Amada Melo.
Also present were Santo Domingo province senator Cristina Lizardo, and Santo Domingo East mayor, Juan de los Santos.
Written by: danny00, 6 Feb 2013 12:41 PM
From: United States, syosset, key west, santo domingo AND NOW THE GLOBE TROTTER
and a great opportunity for poor youngsters who cannot afford to attend a university.
some opportunty when many of the young just don't have the money to go any more.. they tell me most of the colleges have increased their fees and have done this for the last year or more.....yes it less expensive then in the states... { not in all cases some courses are just as expensive}.... but when u have nothing and want an education where do u turn to?
Written by: danny00, 6 Feb 2013 12:47 PM
From: United States, syosset, key west, santo domingo AND NOW THE GLOBE TROTTER
because it will prepare competent professionals and a great opportunity for poor youngsters who cannot afford to attend a university
AS OF TODAY U CAN NOT COMPETE WITH A DEAD COCKROACH.....
HOPE SOME POOR WILL BENEFIT BY THIS SCHOOL. HOPE ITS NOT ONLY THE RICH KIDS THAT DO THIS....
Written by: Danilo, 6 Feb 2013 1:18 PM
From: Dominican Republic, www.DuckyDeals.com
Good pledge Medina! Also, it's imperative that these kids get their full day of school while in high school.
From: Dominican Republic
The College started classes January 14.... wow only ... when was it that FL cut the ribbon? 6 months ago??
Not bad .. open it, then 6 months later start classes..
lets hope Medina can get more built and have classes, teachers and all the recourse needed for all to start when the ribbon is cut....
Written by: josean, 6 Feb 2013 1:26 PM
From: United States, Fighting the Dictatorship of the Narco PLD Mafia; Guillermo Moreno President 2016
Ah and remember the USELESS METRO is still waiting for the 250,000 daily riders after nearly 5 years!
Written by: danny00, 6 Feb 2013 1:43 PM
From: United States, syosset, key west, santo domingo AND NOW THE GLOBE TROTTER
250,000 daily riders after nearly 5 years! ?????????
.
and where the chairs for kids that have none to sit on in many schools?
as one can see what the choo choo train has done..... just look now and one can see less cars on the streets of santo domingo..... with more then 250,000 people day riding the choo choo train and leaving their cars at home now not much traffic in santo domingo today. is their?
if u bring your i-phone when riding the choo choo train and u have a problem u can now also call 911 and the police will respond as fast as they can
not long ago in pop the local police used to shanke down the local business... give us some money so we can put gas in our patrol cars and do our job.
choo choo
all aboard the choo choo train........
Written by: danny00, 6 Feb 2013 1:50 PM
From: United States, syosset, key west, santo domingo AND NOW THE GLOBE TROTTER
get their full day of school while in high school.???
think they need more then a full day.
in china young kids go to school at 7am and leave at 7pm..... {bit overdone} but this is what they do to make sure the kids get an education.....
in south korea many families spend 40% of their income for education for their young..
better jump on the lets get an education express train for the young real quick thing.
as the world passes u by real fast today.
build schools not choo choo trains...... dont let them sell u that metro crap... as its like a live or die thing... its caca they are telling u.. and your kids end up paying the price later on in life......
all aboard the rikers island express......
Written by: danny00, 6 Feb 2013 1:52 PM
From: United States, syosset, key west, santo domingo AND NOW THE GLOBE TROTTER
The College started classes January 14.... wow only ... when was it that FL cut the ribbon? 6 months ago??
Not bad .. open it, then 6 months later start classes..
DID DOMINICANS OR HAITIANS BUILD THIS SCHOOL?
From: Dominican Republic
The Santo Domingo Metro (Line 1) has been in operation for 4 years and 8 days (includes today). Commercial operations started January 30, 2009.
Written by: josean, 6 Feb 2013 2:27 PM
From: United States, Fighting the Dictatorship of the Narco PLD Mafia; Guillermo Moreno President 2016
Thank you for the precise information.
Nevertheless it is still USELESS, Poorly Planned and a Economic Albatross around the necks of the Dominican Tax payers, the vast majority whom will NEVER use it; and it is still GROSSLY UNDERUTILIZED!
From: Dominican Republic
maybe...maybe not...
hoy.com.do/el-pais/2012/10/13/450493/Metro-no-da-abasto-en-horas-pico-usuarios-abarrotan-las-estaciones
hoy.com.do/el-pais/2013/1/28/464640/Metro-de-SD-transporta-cien-millones-usuarios-en-4-anos
From: United States
Ufff..Josean...
Arcangel is VERY well explaining to you a couple stuff..
Maybe we should by more metros so people wouldn't get the metro so over use, as it is now!
The people that use the metro call it "the human river" in the article..I wonder josie's Ano why is that?
As you could see, Leonel was a visionary..as always!
Written by: josean, 6 Feb 2013 3:45 PM
From: United States, Fighting the Dictatorship of the Narco PLD Mafia; Guillermo Moreno President 2016
Those news reports are based on PURPLE Numbers given by PURPLE Government Officials!
Like I said before to Arcangel96 , he Chooses to believe everything the PLD Propaganda Machine puts out as is his right and I have the Right NOT to believe anything those criminals put out!
You as paid Bull Horn must applaud ALL their LIES!
From: United States
propaganda machine?
Like the nazis?
LOL!
Your paraNOIA TODAY IS very GOOD!
By the way, in the photos the metro was VERY packed..do you think we should by more metros to calm down the "human river"?
From: Dominican Republic
I still am very disturbed that the most IMPORTANT classes in school....languages and Math...are the student's biggest deficiencies. This...even in the most basic of schools should be the focus of education....language skills and math.
Obviously the years of making political statements about how the government was concerned about the education of the children of this nation...was a smokescreen and diversion from the reality...our students are ill-prepared for most jobs the world (or evolving country) has to offer.
Written by: rokete, 7 Feb 2013 3:41 AM
From: Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo
Great, education is the key to our progress in the future.
That is if the government doesn't sell our future to the IMF and the World Bank.
We are already very compromised.
From: United States
PuntaCanaMike, the community colleges are going to find themselves boogged down by the need for remedial education. 90% of the applicants failed the math exam. 70% failed spanish. they did not give us the average test scores, so we do not know how large the deficiencies are. however, it is a known fact that math teachers in the DR accept payment from students to give them a good grade at the end of the year. that is not fiction, as i happen to know people who have done it. this is one thing that 4% for education cannot fix.
From: Dominican Republic
Here are the National Test Average Scores for 2012. They represent 30% of the final grade in order to get promoted. Yeap! we are in trouble.
-- 8th grade in "Lengua Española" :65.5% (private schools); 56.6% (public schools)
-- 8th grade in Math :52.7% (private schools); 48.0% (public schools)
-- High School seniors in "Lengua Española" :65.3% (private schools); 59.1% (public schools)
-- High School seniors in Math :60.2% (private schools); 52.4% (public schools)
see.gob.do/documentosminerd/INFORME%20ESTADISTICO%20DE%20PRUEBA%20PRIMERA%20CONVOCATORIA%202012%201.pdf
From: United States
thanks for the help, Arcangel. however, what i wanted to see was the scores for the entrance exams to community college, since the high school results are rigged by students paying for passing grades.
From: United States, I dont even live inside a house , I haunt one!
4 percent for education was approve lets give credit , where credit is due . danilo kept his promised and he is taking aim for a better future for the dominican republic until I see otherwise he is doing okay I would say, B grade so far .
Written by: josean, 8 Feb 2013 12:53 PM
From: United States, Fighting the Dictatorship of the Narco PLD Mafia; Guillermo Moreno President 2016
helly,
This is not an altruistic decision; the Dominican public protested all of the world and the Constitution demands it, he had no choice!
.
From: United States, I dont even live inside a house , I haunt one!
Written by: josean, 8 Feb 2013 12:53 PM
From: United States, Fighting the Dictatorship of the Narco PLD Mafia; Guillermo Moreno President 2016
helly,
This is not an altruistic decision; the Dominican public protested all of the world and the Constitutions demands it, he had no choice!
Jossie yes they had to maike noise and fight for their rights , but all that should matter that it was done and now we can move foward with educating the youth with all the necessary resources to have a productive educated populace .
From: United States
despite the fact that the 4% is a constitutional mandate, it is my opinion that we already have the resources to educate the population., and that the issue is not necessarily one of a lack of money.
Written by: rokete, 9 Feb 2013 5:33 PM
From: Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo
dreadlocks
I agree with your last comment 100 %
Lack of will not lack of money
From: United States
shhhh, rokete..don't get Atabey started. i once said that you can lead the horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink. Atabey has never gotten over it, till this day.
From: United States, NJ
dreadlocks;
And I second it ,remember?
What I can't understand is why are they so low in Spanish Language when it is their native tung?
Unless must of them are Haitians or decendant of ?
Math as used in place of Arithmetic in this article not specifying Elementary Algebra, intermediate, advance,geometry,trigonometry,calculus,analitic. This could be due to using portable calculators instead of problem solving,or the teacher are not equiped to tackle these problems and it's easier.
Today in Jersey;I went to buy as many as i could $3 lottery tickets out of a winning $31 after asking
for 4 =$12. Would you believe this 18 years old DR had to use a calculator because he couldn't figure out how many to give me? I had to tell him 10 and give me a $1back. This is a good
example of DR youth in the last year of HS to go to college next year so he thinks.
From: United States, NJ
dreadlocks,rokete:
They are already talking about how to get teacher's salaries increased without getting qualified
teachers on board. The international teachers hiring has not been mentioned again. I guess the
teachers union is very powerfull. Just leave those 4% at the mercy of the board of education and see how fast they will piss it away to show nothing for it.
From: United States
Mr Rancier, as usual, we are on the same page. i guess it comes from experience. the foreign teacher thing is not going anywhere. it is too late for that. when the dollar was equivalent to the peso, it could work. now, it cannot, at 40 to 1. i do not see public schools here paying 40,000 pesos per month to primary school teachers. that would be 1000 dollars per month, and nobody is going to leave places like Europe to teach for 12,000 dollars per year. the 4% will just mean that school principals and people from the board of education will no longer be driving a Camry, but a Lexus SUV.
From: United States, NJ
Dr Drad:
Absolutely this will confirm once more that money does not buy education,here in the USA as well as in DR. The only place now to go is Cuba, since they have a surplus of teachers and are willing
to try anything to get away from the Castro regime.Even if they get workers visas for x amount of
decades as you do in the USA on the touirist multiple. Providing you have money in the bank as well as a business in your country,that being the case who would emigrate.
Dread, they talk a lots about Comunity Colleges but in reality all theirs is Vovational/Technical HS,
where they think building the infrastructure they have acomplished it when in reality that is the least expence.They would have to equip the same with teaching tools beside a blackboard,chauk and an eraser as it is done in a regular Academic HS.Then the Specialized Teachers come into
play,where they would have to pay in salary no less than US$2,500 per month.
From: United States
Mr Rancier, there are so many variables that have to be factored into education, money is the least of the problems. studies have shown that the most important variable is the classroom environment. it counts for the most variance in test scores in scholastic achievement testing. if the classroom environment is anarchic, and disrupted, no amount of money can bring about education. the orderliness of a classroom is partly the responsibility of the teacher, but mostly that of the student. if the kids do not value an education, and turn the classroom into a zoo, they will have learnt nothing at the end of the day.
From: United States, NJ
Dread:
An idea just occurred to me .Why don't they tap the Military and have their trainning facilities at those locations thereby forcing them to pay for their equipment maint.teaching such as airplane motor mechanics,Jet engine maint, deasel mechanics as well as Naval hp boillers,AC units,Heating and steam,as well as HW constuction,and fuel technics,arc welding to repair ships at dry dacks.
For all these they would have to import Chileans or unemployed Spaniards after their unemplyment assistance has run out. By so doing they don't have to perpetuate themselves in the DR Armed Forces when they could find a more lucrative jobs on the outside.if they are ever needed by the Military then the armed forces could contract their skills as a civilian.
From: United States, NJ
Dread:
How true of a statement above by you. My cousin Franklin had the same philosophy as that of yours ,when he was head of the State Public University and the students revolted and started burning their desk & chairs in form of protest agaist the system.Guess what ,they had to sit on the floor for the rest of the shool year,because he did not accept misbehavior and childish disovedience Going back to what you said there has to be some form of dicsipline in order to learn anything. If that is not adquired then send them to a correction center !
From: United States
Mr Rancier, the late Prime Minister of Jamaica, Michael Manley founded the National Youth Service. this is a basic synopsis
The mission of the National Youth Service N.Y.S. is to To create a cadre of patriotic young people – disciplined, responsible, caring, confident, self-reliant and culturally aware, who through involvement in voluntary activities contribute to personal, community, national and international development.
high school graduates, who were unemployed, could join the service, and would recieve a one month orientation and training program. their jobs, after graduation, were mainly voluntary services to the community. the government would provide for their board and lodgings, and a living stipend. that way, they would be learning to be meaningful citizens, with an aim in life. upon graduation, they would be in place to enter institutions of higher learning, such as technical colleges. it beats staying home and getting into trouble, or pregnant.
From: United States
Mr Rancier, the late Prime Minister of Jamaica, Michael Manley founded the National Youth Service. this is a basic synopsis
The mission of the National Youth Service N.Y.S. is to To create a cadre of patriotic young people – disciplined, responsible, caring, confident, self-reliant and culturally aware, who through involvement in voluntary activities contribute to personal, community, national and international development.
high school graduates, who were unemployed, could join the service, and would recieve a one month orientation and training program. their jobs, after graduation, were mainly voluntary services to the community. the government would provide for their board and lodgings, and a living stipend. that way, they would be learning to be meaningful citizens, with an aim in life. upon graduation, they would be in place to enter institutions of higher learning, such as technical colleges. it beats staying home and getting into trouble, or pregnant.
From: Dominican Republic
Nice to see a good and constructive conversation.. oh .. Dr Atabey is not involved.. so that's why it's going well..
I see a problem that without major changes that the 4% will just go into pockets not classrooms.. As the head of ed has already had a pay rise from 150,000 to over 350,000 per month... yet the teaches still have got nothing....???
Down grading the military from the vast amount of money they already get would go a long way and changing what it is they do.(what is it they do?)..
As said about using their facilities to train is a good idea, retraining a lot of them to park rangers to protect and cleaning DR's national parks, rivers, beaches, road sides etc etc... oh and plant native trees..
From: United States, NJ
stillhere:
That was a good one about the DR Military (what is it they do?)
Maybe by giving them a new look in life might change their attitude and behave as civil,make them productive citizens and tax payers.Those that can't make it have them patrol the perimeter for stollen goods and equipments.
From: United States
says stillhere
As said about using their facilities to train is a good idea, retraining a lot of them to park rangers to protect and cleaning DR's national parks, rivers, beaches, road sides etc etc... oh and plant native trees..
actually, stillhere, those are the kinds of things the National Youth Service does.
From: Dominican Republic
and the army? what is it they do for the nation?
From: United States
what's the matter, stillhere? you have something against playing dominoes?
From: Dominican Republic
I guess all that rum and beer sales help the economy...???
From: United States
sure it does.
Smaller
Bigger
Previous
Next
Close Gallery
Facebook
Digg this
del.icio.us
Technorati
Yahoo
some opportunty when many of the young just don't have the money to go any more.. they tell me most of the colleges have increased their fees and have done this for the last year or more.....yes it less expensive then in the states... { not in all cases some courses are just as expensive}.... but when u have nothing and want an education where do u turn to?
AS OF TODAY U CAN NOT COMPETE WITH A DEAD COCKROACH.....
HOPE SOME POOR WILL BENEFIT BY THIS SCHOOL. HOPE ITS NOT ONLY THE RICH KIDS THAT DO THIS....
The College started classes January 14.... wow only ... when was it that FL cut the ribbon? 6 months ago??
Not bad .. open it, then 6 months later start classes..
lets hope Medina can get more built and have classes, teachers and all the recourse needed for all to start when the ribbon is cut....
Ah and remember the USELESS METRO is still waiting for the 250,000 daily riders after nearly 5 years!
.
and where the chairs for kids that have none to sit on in many schools?
as one can see what the choo choo train has done..... just look now and one can see less cars on the streets of santo domingo..... with more then 250,000 people day riding the choo choo train and leaving their cars at home now not much traffic in santo domingo today. is their?
if u bring your i-phone when riding the choo choo train and u have a problem u can now also call 911 and the police will respond as fast as they can
not long ago in pop the local police used to shanke down the local business... give us some money so we can put gas in our patrol cars and do our job.
choo choo
all aboard the choo choo train........
think they need more then a full day.
in china young kids go to school at 7am and leave at 7pm..... {bit overdone} but this is what they do to make sure the kids get an education.....
in south korea many families spend 40% of their income for education for their young..
better jump on the lets get an education express train for the young real quick thing.
as the world passes u by real fast today.
build schools not choo choo trains...... dont let them sell u that metro crap... as its like a live or die thing... its caca they are telling u.. and your kids end up paying the price later on in life......
all aboard the rikers island express......
Not bad .. open it, then 6 months later start classes..
DID DOMINICANS OR HAITIANS BUILD THIS SCHOOL?
Thank you for the precise information.
Nevertheless it is still USELESS, Poorly Planned and a Economic Albatross around the necks of the Dominican Tax payers, the vast majority whom will NEVER use it; and it is still GROSSLY UNDERUTILIZED!
maybe...maybe not...
hoy.com.do/el-pais/2012/10/13/450493/Metro-no-da-abasto-en-horas-pico-usuarios-abarrotan-las-estaciones
hoy.com.do/el-pais/2013/1/28/464640/Metro-de-SD-transporta-cien-millones-usuarios-en-4-anos
Arcangel is VERY well explaining to you a couple stuff..
Maybe we should by more metros so people wouldn't get the metro so over use, as it is now!
The people that use the metro call it "the human river" in the article..I wonder josie's Ano why is that?
As you could see, Leonel was a visionary..as always!
Those news reports are based on PURPLE Numbers given by PURPLE Government Officials!
Like I said before to Arcangel96 , he Chooses to believe everything the PLD Propaganda Machine puts out as is his right and I have the Right NOT to believe anything those criminals put out!
You as paid Bull Horn must applaud ALL their LIES!
propaganda machine?
Like the nazis?
LOL!
Your paraNOIA TODAY IS very GOOD!
By the way, in the photos the metro was VERY packed..do you think we should by more metros to calm down the "human river"?
Obviously the years of making political statements about how the government was concerned about the education of the children of this nation...was a smokescreen and diversion from the reality...our students are ill-prepared for most jobs the world (or evolving country) has to offer.
Great, education is the key to our progress in the future.
That is if the government doesn't sell our future to the IMF and the World Bank.
We are already very compromised.
-- 8th grade in "Lengua Española" :65.5% (private schools); 56.6% (public schools)
-- 8th grade in Math :52.7% (private schools); 48.0% (public schools)
-- High School seniors in "Lengua Española" :65.3% (private schools); 59.1% (public schools)
-- High School seniors in Math :60.2% (private schools); 52.4% (public schools)
see.gob.do/documentosminerd/INFORME%20ESTADISTICO%20DE%20PRUEBA%20PRIMERA%20CONVOCATORIA%202012%201.pdf
helly,
This is not an altruistic decision; the Dominican public protested all of the world and the Constitution demands it, he had no choice!
.
From: United States, Fighting the Dictatorship of the Narco PLD Mafia; Guillermo Moreno President 2016
helly,
This is not an altruistic decision; the Dominican public protested all of the world and the Constitutions demands it, he had no choice!
Jossie yes they had to maike noise and fight for their rights , but all that should matter that it was done and now we can move foward with educating the youth with all the necessary resources to have a productive educated populace .
dreadlocks
I agree with your last comment 100 %
Lack of will not lack of money
And I second it ,remember?
What I can't understand is why are they so low in Spanish Language when it is their native tung?
Unless must of them are Haitians or decendant of ?
Math as used in place of Arithmetic in this article not specifying Elementary Algebra, intermediate, advance,geometry,trigonometry,calculus,analitic. This could be due to using portable calculators instead of problem solving,or the teacher are not equiped to tackle these problems and it's easier.
Today in Jersey;I went to buy as many as i could $3 lottery tickets out of a winning $31 after asking
for 4 =$12. Would you believe this 18 years old DR had to use a calculator because he couldn't figure out how many to give me? I had to tell him 10 and give me a $1back. This is a good
example of DR youth in the last year of HS to go to college next year so he thinks.
They are already talking about how to get teacher's salaries increased without getting qualified
teachers on board. The international teachers hiring has not been mentioned again. I guess the
teachers union is very powerfull. Just leave those 4% at the mercy of the board of education and see how fast they will piss it away to show nothing for it.
Absolutely this will confirm once more that money does not buy education,here in the USA as well as in DR. The only place now to go is Cuba, since they have a surplus of teachers and are willing
to try anything to get away from the Castro regime.Even if they get workers visas for x amount of
decades as you do in the USA on the touirist multiple. Providing you have money in the bank as well as a business in your country,that being the case who would emigrate.
Dread, they talk a lots about Comunity Colleges but in reality all theirs is Vovational/Technical HS,
where they think building the infrastructure they have acomplished it when in reality that is the least expence.They would have to equip the same with teaching tools beside a blackboard,chauk and an eraser as it is done in a regular Academic HS.Then the Specialized Teachers come into
play,where they would have to pay in salary no less than US$2,500 per month.
An idea just occurred to me .Why don't they tap the Military and have their trainning facilities at those locations thereby forcing them to pay for their equipment maint.teaching such as airplane motor mechanics,Jet engine maint, deasel mechanics as well as Naval hp boillers,AC units,Heating and steam,as well as HW constuction,and fuel technics,arc welding to repair ships at dry dacks.
For all these they would have to import Chileans or unemployed Spaniards after their unemplyment assistance has run out. By so doing they don't have to perpetuate themselves in the DR Armed Forces when they could find a more lucrative jobs on the outside.if they are ever needed by the Military then the armed forces could contract their skills as a civilian.
How true of a statement above by you. My cousin Franklin had the same philosophy as that of yours ,when he was head of the State Public University and the students revolted and started burning their desk & chairs in form of protest agaist the system.Guess what ,they had to sit on the floor for the rest of the shool year,because he did not accept misbehavior and childish disovedience Going back to what you said there has to be some form of dicsipline in order to learn anything. If that is not adquired then send them to a correction center !
The mission of the National Youth Service N.Y.S. is to To create a cadre of patriotic young people – disciplined, responsible, caring, confident, self-reliant and culturally aware, who through involvement in voluntary activities contribute to personal, community, national and international development.
high school graduates, who were unemployed, could join the service, and would recieve a one month orientation and training program. their jobs, after graduation, were mainly voluntary services to the community. the government would provide for their board and lodgings, and a living stipend. that way, they would be learning to be meaningful citizens, with an aim in life. upon graduation, they would be in place to enter institutions of higher learning, such as technical colleges. it beats staying home and getting into trouble, or pregnant.
The mission of the National Youth Service N.Y.S. is to To create a cadre of patriotic young people – disciplined, responsible, caring, confident, self-reliant and culturally aware, who through involvement in voluntary activities contribute to personal, community, national and international development.
high school graduates, who were unemployed, could join the service, and would recieve a one month orientation and training program. their jobs, after graduation, were mainly voluntary services to the community. the government would provide for their board and lodgings, and a living stipend. that way, they would be learning to be meaningful citizens, with an aim in life. upon graduation, they would be in place to enter institutions of higher learning, such as technical colleges. it beats staying home and getting into trouble, or pregnant.
Nice to see a good and constructive conversation.. oh .. Dr Atabey is not involved.. so that's why it's going well..
I see a problem that without major changes that the 4% will just go into pockets not classrooms.. As the head of ed has already had a pay rise from 150,000 to over 350,000 per month... yet the teaches still have got nothing....???
Down grading the military from the vast amount of money they already get would go a long way and changing what it is they do.(what is it they do?)..
As said about using their facilities to train is a good idea, retraining a lot of them to park rangers to protect and cleaning DR's national parks, rivers, beaches, road sides etc etc... oh and plant native trees..
That was a good one about the DR Military (what is it they do?)
Maybe by giving them a new look in life might change their attitude and behave as civil,make them productive citizens and tax payers.Those that can't make it have them patrol the perimeter for stollen goods and equipments.
As said about using their facilities to train is a good idea, retraining a lot of them to park rangers to protect and cleaning DR's national parks, rivers, beaches, road sides etc etc... oh and plant native trees..
actually, stillhere, those are the kinds of things the National Youth Service does.
and the army? what is it they do for the nation?