The Millennial Democracy

News of President Biden's Student Loan Forgiveness Program, in the amount of $10,000-$20,000 per borrower, is a welcome fulfillment of one of the President's most well known and oft-cited campaign promises. With over $1.7 trillion dollars collectively owed in student loan debt across the nation, our higher education system has produced an unstable debt bubble slowly eating away at the economic progress and upward mobility of the American people. From holding off on having children to being unable to afford mortgages on their first home, student loan debt is saddling entire generations with a burden that's only getting worse. While the positive personal and economic effects of this debt forgiveness program will likely be felt for years to come, the program's very existence reveals a much deeper and wider problem with how higher education is structured in the modern United States. Back in the early 1960's, one could attend a community college full-time for an average ...

Education reform in the United States has followed similar trends over the last twenty years or so. Back in 2001, the No Child Left Behind Act, advocated for by the George W. Bush administration, was passed through both chambers of the legislature and signed by the President. Based on the claim he'd overseen a "Texas Miracle" as the namesake state's governor, Bush upheld if every student between the 3rd and 8th grades were annually tested, with high-performing schools rewarded and low-performing schools penalized, the nation would see test scores increase, teacher performance rebound and graduation rates soar. Under this new education regime, America would supposedly undergo a massive investment into underprivileged children by giving teachers and school districts the motivation they needed to perform. In 2009, President Barack Obama's "Race to the Top" initiative doubled down on the concepts implemented during the Bush years with a new round of $5 billi...