Overall Thesis Question: How should the U.S. address the issue of the rising costs of higher education?
Question for this journal entry: Is providing free college to all fair to all?
Source Citation: Matt Bruenig. "The Case Against Free College." EBSCOHost, 1 Oct. 2015. Web. 6 Mar. 2016.
This source makes an argument against the idea of providing free college tuition to all students. The article begins by attempting to define what "free college" truly is. Is it just free tuition? Is it free tuition and grants to cover living expenses? The author asks these questions to demonstrate that promoters of this idea have never truly explained exactly what it will entail. The author, Matt Bruenig, continues his argument by making the case that it is impossible to create a free college system that is fair to all students. He bases his argument in the varying economic backgrounds that the students come from. Bruenig explains the dramatic difference in college attendance statistics across the economic levels. Young people from poorer backgrounds are drastically less likely to attend college than their middle and upper class counterparts. He argues that it isn't fair to give free tuition and living expenses to the already well off college students and offer nothing to the young adults who cannot afford to not be working and forgo college to support themselves.
This source brings about interesting points that I hadn't yet considered. I had never thought about those individuals that immediately enter the workforce after high school and how it would be unfair to them to offer free tuition and living expenses to the individuals who are most likely already more financially stable than the student who goes straight into the workforce. I agree with the argument that making college free is not fair to everyone, but my reasons were different from this author's. Reading this helped to view my previous opinion from a different angle. I had never considered how it was unfair to the individuals who had to enter the workforce instead of going to college. This source is extremely valuable in helping me to answer the question posed for this journal entry. My justification for it not being fair was that it was unfair to students that had already paid for their education and felt a sense of pride in that feat. However, this article made me realize that it is extremely unfair to provide funds to cover living expenses to one portion of the young population, but not the other.
This source would not agree with many of my other sources. My first source, Bernie Sanders' campaign website, would strongly disagree with this source in that Sanders believes that it is crucial for our country to implement free college tuition in order to have a more-educated country. My fourth source would also disagree in that it believes that a free college system is vital in the establishment of an effective democracy. I agree more with this source as it takes the idea and looks at it from a new perspective, that of the individual who has to work and doesn't have the privilege of attending college. Bernie Sanders and my other sources focus solely on how eliminating the cost of obtaining a college education would supposedly make our country stronger and more competitive in the academic world. However, they all fail to look at the negative consequences that such a plan could have on the young people of America.
This source has caused me to ask some new questions. The first being, "What do current college students think of this plan?". The second being, "What do current college graduates think of this plan?" The next step in my research will be to look for some research regarding the opinions that students have of this topic. I have researched both sides of the argument, but have yet to get the opinion of a student which I think will be valuable to my exploration of this topic. The answers that I have already gathered are helping me to look at the issue in different ways and work towards a possible solution. The first few sources strongly promoted the idea and the last few have strongly discouraged it. I think that it is interesting to hear both sides of such a controversial topic.
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