Essay: The Demand for Free Public Higher Education in America

In 2015, Senator Bernie Sanders wrote an opinion editorial for the popular newspaper, The Washington Post, on the need of change in higher education in America. During this time Sanders was running for the Democratic presidential nomination. Many of the democratic candidates, including Sanders, were pushing for free college in their campaign. Sanders’ campaign in particular drew attention from many young voters due to his ambitious proposals like free college and Medicare for all. Considering this, Sanders’ piece with The Washington Post could be seen as biased. He could have been wanting the support and votes from the young people, rather than him actually standing behind and believing in the need for changes in higher education. Nevertheless, his piece was still greatly relevant because like Sanders’ stated, “the national student loan debt is continuing to increase every year.” Sanders’ main claim is that the rising cost of high education is making it harder and harder for Americans to get the education they are striving for. Instead of using numbers and graphs like most do to support their claims, Sanders used history and examples to make the audience visualize the issue. In one instance, he described how much has changed for ordinary Americans to get the education they want and need: “In 1978, it was possible to earn enough money to pay for a year of college tuition just by working a summer job that paid minimum wage. Today, it would take a minimum wage worker an entire year to earn enough to cover the annual in-state tuition at a public university.” This backs up Sanders’ warrant of why so many bright young adults are not able to go to college, do not finish, or graduate deeply in debt. Throughout his editorial, Sanders wants the audience to remember how “educational is essential for personal and national well-being,” since we live in such a competitive society that needs a good educated workforce in order to be strong.
When looking at popular press sources rather than academic, many use the authors’ opinion or an overview of the issue rather than actual full research. Personally, I do not think that means they should not be use, but for formal argument sake sometimes they do not offer solid evidence.
The topic in a piece published by Dissent Magazine is “free public higher education is long overdue” (Cottom). The author used some factual information like pulling statistics from over the years and using information from past Democratic platforms and the Obama administration. But for the most part, her backings were just her blunt opinion, which makes the article bias. The author states the cost of tuition is the main reason why only half of Americans go to college but there are other factors like cultural and social barriers imposing on people’s education too. The claim is that free college is only going to benefit a small group of people– “students with the ability and/or some cultural capital but without wealth” (Cottom). Nonetheless, the author still wants the audience to know she does not care if free college will not solve inequality. She inflicts the idea of quality because she believes free high education is extremely valuable and shows public good. She then ends her argument with President Obama’s justification for free college, “Every American… should be able to earn the skill and education necessary to compete and win in the twenty-first century economy.” While the author’s delivery was not “scholarly” she was short with it and got to the point. All while pushing her side of the argument and offering the not-so-great aspects of it too.