Keeping the Faith: Forgiving Educational Debt

Educational Debts Are Undermining Our Democracy

The size of Americans' educational debts threatens the survival of our democracy, because the weight of the debts destroys the security and stability of our middle class.   The founders of our country knew that a successful democracy needs a broad and secure middle class, and they knew that free, public education was one of the keys to maintaining such a class. Thomas Jefferson said,

 ...that democracy cannot long exist without enlightenment; That it cannot function without wise and honest officials; That talent and virtue, needed in a free society, should be educated regardless of wealth, birth or other accidental condition; That other children of the poor must thus be educated at common expense.

If we wish to preserve our democracy and keep faith with the vision of our country's founders, we must re-establish the security of our middle class by means of a system of free post-secondary education. Forgiving educational debt is a first step in that direction.

In the past, a high school diploma may have allowed a person to maintain a middle-class life, but today, a post-secondary education is the main route to the middle class. Unfortunately, the heavy weight of educational debts has made that route a dead end for many. Instead of secure, middle-class lives, they are now living lives of debt-peonage in which their debts continue to grow in spite of good-faith efforts to pay off the loans. Thus, the strong, secure middle class that our democracy requires is being undermined, and we cannot allow that to continue if we wish to preserve our democracy.

President Biden Intends to Forgive Educational Debts But Republicans Object

President Biden is working to preserve our democracy. He intends to forgive the educational debts of millions of Americans, but many Republicans object. Some Republican-controlled states are even suing to block the president’s plan. Behind their action lies a fundamental misunderstanding of the purpose of public education in a democratic society. 

Those who oppose Pres. Biden's plan believe that the purpose of public education is to give students opportunities to acquire skills that will enable them to get good jobs and earn decent incomes. From this point of view, paying for education is an investment that students make, and since they are the beneficiaries of their investment, it is reasonable for them to bear its cost. They borrow money to invest in their futures, and they should be responsible for paying back the loans that they take out. This view is mistaken.

In reality, public education - including public universities - is a kind of infrastructure that is needed by a democratic, commercial and industrial society like ours. Our democracy needs educated citizens, as Thomas Jefferson knew, and in addition, our industrial and commercial economy needs an educated and skilled work force. When students acquire the skills that enable them to get ahead, our whole society benefits because the skilled work force enables us to live in an advanced economy that provides us with a high level of living. In addition, companies benefit because they are able to profit from the sale of goods that can be produced only by highly skilled workers. Thus, the students are not the sole beneficiaries or even the main beneficiaries of their education. We all benefit, and therefore, we should all share in the cost. Moreover, by sharing in the cost of creating a skilled work force, we promote equality of opportunity, which is a key pillar of our society and of our democracy.

We Used to Understand That Public Education Is Infrastructure

Our country’s founding fathers understood that educating our people benefits us all, and historically, most Americans understood it, too. We created free public elementary and secondary schools in order to educate the citizens that a modern society needs. We built the land grant colleges to educate the lawyers, accountants, doctors, engineers, scientists and political leaders that a modern society needs. Thus, we extended the idea of free, publicly supported education to include post-secondary education. We supported community colleges and state universities.

We knew that the purpose of our colleges and universities was not merely to provide opportunities for the students; it was to create skilled and educated citizens and to provide the equality of opportunity on which our democracy depends. We did not ask the students to pay for their post-secondary educations. We knew that it would be wrong to ask the students to cover the cost because asking the students to pay the cost would destroy equality of opportunity and would thus be incompatible with democracy. Democracy requires educated citizens a strong, economically secure middle class and equality of opportunity, and we knew that democracy was incompatible with an educational system that educated only the well-to-do or with a system that turns independent middle-class citizens into debt peons.

We Lost Our Way

However, beginning in the nineteen seventies, we began to lose sight of the purpose of public education in a democratic, commercial and industrial society. Bit by bit, we reduced our public support for higher education in order to reduce our taxes. We forgot that freedom is not free. We forgot that if we want to live in a democratic, commercial and industrial society, we have to be willing to support the educational infrastructure that it needs. If we want to preserve our democracy, we must return to the wisdom of our founding fathers who knew that democracy cannot exist without enlightened citizens. 

Forgiving Educational Debt Is a First Step

Pres. Biden's plan to forgive student debt is a first step in recreating an educational system that is compatible with democracy. Forgiving student debt will allow millions of people who are now debt peons to become the educated and economically secure middle-class citizens that a democracy requires. However, forgiving student debt is only a first step. We must also find a way to finance post-secondary education without requiring the students to take on heavy debts.

We Must Keep the Faith

We used to have such a system, and we can have it again. When I attended the University of California beginning in 1958, the tuition was free. We can have a system like that again. We should forgive current student debt, and we should return to a tax supported system of post-secondary education that is compatible with democracy. We must return to the faith that has sustained our country for more than two hundred years.