Compare and contrast: Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown on students

Here's Elizabeth Warren's latest ad, talking about education: "Today, Washington lets big corporations like GE pay nothing'zero'in taxes, while kids are left drowning in debt to get an education. This isn't about economics. It's about our values."

Warren can talk about how important education is and how hard it can be to obtain because she lived it. And, as a professor, values it deeply. If you can believe a cross-section of Warren's former students, her concern for young people, and particularly students, isn't just for political show.

'I remember her saying once that despite having done this for years, she's still nervous about it,' [former student Adam] Levitin says. 'As the first day of class approaches, end of August, she says: 'I start to feel ill because I get nervous about how the teaching is going to go this year. Am I going to be able to do a good job training these students?' So even someone who is so poised and so practiced in this, she cares about it so much that it worries her.'

Then, you've got Warren't opponent, Sen. Scott Brown, who shut a bunch of students out of his office last Thursday when they were trying to meet with him about a summer jobs program.

About 25 students, along with several community activists and Councilor Felix G. Arroyo of Boston, were hoping for a meeting with Brown when they were intercepted at the entrance to the John F. Kennedy Federal Building. They were told that Brown's office could not accommodate a group of their size and were denied entry. [...]

'These are young people who want to work this summer, them and their brothers and sisters,'' Arroyo said. 'Brown voted against summer jobs funding, and we wanted to ask him to reconsider if the issue comes up again.'' [...]

Being denied access to the public building rankled the kids and their mentors.

'They were denied access to a public building by a man who claims he's holding the people's seat,'' Arroyo said. ' 'The people' should include them. They're constituents.''

The students were hoping, at the least, to leave a petition supporting the summer jobs act with Brown's staff. Instead, they were denied even access to the building, though two of Brown's staff did come out to talk with them on the sidewalk in front of the building. They are kids who want to work, want to have a chance to help their families, maybe save a little money so that they can possibly think about going to college, or just gain work experience.

Brown just didn't have time for them. Doesn't do much to burnish his common man image, does it?

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