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Pedro Rico
Jamie McBeth-Smith
ENG: 1010
4/29/2016
A World worth Changing
As many know, we are at a critical time in rethinking our political system. Bernie Sanders
now demanding that access to education is a right and not a privilege is starting to
turn the gears in the minds of many Americans, who have been struggling under the fray
of high cost, such as the ridicules high interest rate of student loans; that debt is impeding
on peoples right to pursue happiness that others have been profiting off misery and it
goes against a utilitarian way of life when so few have so much and so many have so
little. Bernie Sanders a democratic socialist from Vermont, has entered the presidential
race of 2016, his primary concern is the welfare of the American citizens. He is
concerned that our country has benefited large corporations that have not paid their fair
share in taxes that their hands have been involved in the political system for too long. The
same way our country regulates (by dividing) church and state is the same way he wants
to treat corporations; by removing them out of our political system so politicians cannot
benefit from big money, in which they can have an unbiased opinion when it comes to the
welfare of the people. There has been a lot of confusion and misinterpretation of
socialism and many Americans have a negative view of it. That it is a system that will
take money from working people and the inevitable fear is that youll run out of other
peoples money. This fearmongering has led to citizens being misinformed and
stigmatized, separating ourselves from the government by claiming that we are, far more

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free than any other country. On the contrary, our country has several programs that are
socialistic at its core, for example social security, public schools and etc. My main
question is how do we start perpetuating the idea of free access to higher education? And
what are the issues that might arise?
Eskow, Richard Free Higher Education is a Human Right. Campaign for Americas Future. 19
March, 2014. Web. 04/08/16
Richard Eskow, is a writer, a former Wall Street executive and radio journalist and
he argues that higher education isnt an economic issue its a moral one, Social progress
is never a straightforward, linear process. Sometimes society struggles to recognize moral
questions that in retrospect should have seemed obvious. Eskow advocates that higher
education is an essential tool for social mobility and at this moment it is at its lowest
point in modern history. He explains with the rising cost it has become more of an
inherited privilege, and because of that he claims that the likely hood of a young person
in the U.S. going to college if their parents attended upper secondary education are just
29%. The essence of Eskows argument is that, the opportunity for citizens to attend
college is shrinking and the cost of education is effecting lower-income Americans the
hardest. Research (from the Hechinger report) shows that Americas colleges and
universities are quietly shifting the burden of their big tuition increases onto low-income
students, while many higher-income families are seeing their college costs rise more
slowly, or even fall. And because of this America is seeing more and more young
citizens with no post high school education than other developed countries. The OECD
also has found out that, we rank 14the in the world in the percentage of 25-34 year olds
with higher education (42%). Eskows point is that by investing in education, our

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citizens will have a better quality of life, having a strong educated workforce that will
promote better and well informed communities. That will fuel our democratic society.
Eskows argument of the inequalities is spot on and his ethos has me convinced that rich
have a greater advantage for paying for higher education than the middle/poor class he
then highlights many resources to back up his claims which wasnt just and appeal to
logos however he reaches out to us by pathos that our future depends on allowing
accesses to education to our citizens. Eskows appeal to Kairos is timely for we are at a
moment of a crisis that more and more Americans are not attending school due to cost
and I would have to wholeheartedly agree with Richard Eskow, that education shouldnt
be a privilege to those few who can afford it but rather it should be a fundamental right
for all the citizens of the world. That education is a means for a society to lift one another,
and that educating a community creates unity with those around you. By continually
profiting off of education, which is an essential need for human development is
immorally. It all boils down to the utilitarian belief that we all have the right to pursuit
happiness and that providing education for all is in the interest and the betterment of
society.
Foster, Emily. Robert Reich Joins the Call for Debt-Free College. Ourfuture.org. 6/12/2015.
Web. 4/27/16
Foster is a writer for the Campaign for Americas Future (CAF) which is an
American nonprofit progressive political advocacy organization. Foster reports from an
interview with Capital & Main that Robert Reich an economist (and former secretary of
labor of Bill Clinton) is calling for free higher public education and debt-free college.
Reich believes that reinventing education is one of many ways of saving the economy, for

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example, implementing policies that stop endless testing, limit classroom size, increase
federal funding and services, have optional technical training, and increase teacher pay.
Reich believes there are various options that the government can provide a tuition free
college education for all Americans. For example Reich advocates for Sanders College
for All Act which would raise taxes on the wealthiest members of our society who have
never been as rich as they are now. Whose effective tax rates are extraordinarily low
relative to what they were 10 years ago, 30 years ago, 50 years ago. . . Foster also
explains that the organization Opportunity to Learn campaign agrees with Reich and that,
when appropriate investments are paid for with well-structured tax increases they result
in significant positive net impacts to a states economy. The Opportunity to Learn
Campaign has provided easy to read Fact Sheets detailing exactly how to solve Americas
education crisis; they give three ways to do so: first one, is to implement a millionaires
tax provision, which would be a 1 percent increase to tax rates on incomes exceeding
500,000. . . . states would collectively raise around $8 billion in additional annual
revenue. As for the other two they include a progressive income tax provisions, and
sales tax provisions. Foster also mentions that Sanders has a similar tax plan known as
the Robin Hood Tax, in which a Wall Street speculation fee could raise hundreds of
billions a year. Foster advocates that debt-free college should be the norm. it is in
numerous other countries across the world. And that higher education is one of the
most powerful indicators of sustain economic growth and reduction in poverty and
inequality. To build our middle class and boost our economy, it is necessary to provide
young Americans with education they deserve. Fosters ethos to appeal readers of the
need to invest in education as a whole by providing various experts to chime in how

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essential education is to an American way of life, and the way she persuaded me was her
appeal to logos by reporting on the economist Robert Reich who in turned had several
organizations who fully support him by providing tax plans on increase revenue for a
debt-free college. The relevance of this piece is critical of the times we are living in,
especially more so on when many Americans have no answers to the question of How
are we going to pay for this? and Foster does a wonderful job at providing sources and
hyperlinks to each document that gives the reader a breakdown of each tax document. I
would have to agree with Robert Reich that this is a utilitarian issue, that the rich should
have a moral obligation of providing the most to future generations of this country by
paying their fair share in taxes.
Kelly, P. Andrew. Tuition Is Not the Main Obstacle to Student Success. Educationnext.org.
Web. 04/10/16
Andrew P. Kelly is the director of the Center on Higher Education Reform and a
resident scholar in education policy studies at American Enterprise. Kelly claims
that allowing free access to public college would hinder student success; that our
government already provides grants and scholarships for low income and middle
class families which virtually pays for everything. For example Kelly states that
throwing money at students wont prepare them for college, that most of these
students dont even complete their remedial courses and that it would likely draw
in even more students who are unprepared for college-level work. Thus leading
to many underachievers. From these repercussion it would lead to colleges
needing to adopt promising and evidence-based institutional reforms to improve
student outcomes. That this would be a headache for the state to communicate

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and coordinate with high schools, community college, and four year schools to
improve performance for their students. Finally Kelly argues that a free, public
option would crowd out innovation and limit competition.
I do agree with Kellys appeal of ethos that allowing free access to college would
draw in many unprepared students to college, however that shouldnt be the
reason to deny students access to higher education. The claims that there would be
a lack of innovation is farce and is a mere appeal to pathos that will lead many
Americans to be a slave of their own moral intuition by denying others the right to
free education, allowing students to believe they have the ability to achieve would
cultivate young minds encourage a new way of thinking and educating a
community. His argument of the Kairos of denying free access of education is out
dated and continues to reinstates an old narrative and continues to oppress many
Americans the opportunity for an equal chance to succeed. I for one disagree with
Kellys views and just because we already provide Grants and scholarship to those
who meet the qualifications of low income doesnt mean weve done our part to
provide accessible higher education to all, many students dont have the extra
money to pay for their living expenses and college and while providing free
access they can have the ability to learn with-out the burden of how they can pay
for it. The belief that college needs a return in their investment shows how skewed
our perspective is on education.
Moravcik, Darius. What is the Venus Project? The Venus Project. 1 January, 2013. Web.
04/08/16

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Darius Moravcik (a young entrepreneur) is interviewing the founders of the Venus
Project, Jacque Fresco and Roxanne Meadows who propose a new way of life, free from
the constructs of the monetary system, politics, and wars. Declaring earth and all of its
resources the common heritage of all of the worlds people. Jacque claims that the most
essential thing to do now is to get rid of the monetary system, for it isnt capable of
providing a high standard of living for everyone and it cannot ensure the protection of
our planet because the motive behind the monetary system is profit. He suggest that we
move towards a resource based economy, and utilize existing resources rather than
money to provide an equitable method of distribution in the most humane and efficient
manner. It is a system in which all goods and services are available to everyone without
the use of money, credits, barter, or any other form of debt or servitude.
His belief is that people dont need money, rather they need free access to their personal
needs, without stressing out about, financial security or having to appeal to a
government bureaucracy. And with a resource-based economy, money will become
irrelevant. Moravciks interview with Jacque Fresco was well thought out and its appeal
to pure logos of how detrimental the monetary system will be to the future of our planet
and generations after us, and the ethos of moving to a resources based economy has me
on the same page. The Kairos of this piece is interesting, for the Venus project has been
around for some time now but has now gained momentum especially at the this time
where many Americans are now aware of the income inequalities. I have to say that I do
agree with Jacques stance on money being the main culprit on environmental policies
and poverty affecting many around the world. However it doesnt give us an immediate
solution to affordable education, but keeping in mind that money is a mere a construct

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and that it isnt an essential means to provide a good life, but rather we need free access
to personal needs. Keeping this value that humans require access to their personal needs,
and that we are hindering on their right to pursue happiness. We can now argue that
education needs to be affordable and accessible for everyone and anyone who wishes to
enlighten themselves.
Samuels, Bob. Why All Public Higher Education Should Be Free Huffingtonpost. 18
November, 2011. Web 18 January, 2012
Bob Samuels is an author and the President of the University Council, he argues that
higher public education should be free, that attending any post-secondary education is
unaffordable due to its rising cost. Samuels claims that as government funnels money into
privatized colleges and divest from public colleges (that are forced to cut their
enrollments and raise their fees) which has lead most students to profit schools that have
low graduation rates. Inevitable means, with our current system, people pay more, and as
result these institutions produce fewer graduates. Samuel states that at the moment 30%
of Americans graduate from college or universities, and the big reason for dropout rates is
due to high cost. Samuels point is that if we were able to provide higher education to 1824 year olds, we would reduce the unemployment rate by 2 million people, and fewer
people would be in need of governmental assistance. In other words, Samuels believes
by providing free access to education and relieving them of debt it would allow graduates
to be productive and they would have more money to spend to stimulate the economy.
Samuel ethos on how privatized schools have been a huge source of graduate drop out
rates has me re-thinking about the privatization of education. His appeal to logos than
pathos gave me an understanding of the picture and the Kairos of this piece is

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illuminating especially at a time when privatized schools are now closing down and or
providing a students forgiveness option that minimize their student loans.
I agree with Samuels on making education affordable for all, and moving away from
privatizing education. That these institutions, that are for profit arent thinking of
producing graduates rather they are thinking of the amount of money they can get from
our students. Education is an essential need in a globalize world and the fact that these for
profit institutions arent thinking of the future of our workforce is immoral and that it is
high time to end privatization of education and move towards providing free higher
public education.
In conclusion, while there are plenty of people who believe that education
shouldnt be free because it devalues degrees lessens motivation and innovation but there
are plenty of other people who believe that education isnt a means for profit but rather a
way to enrich our communities improve the quality of life. That providing free access to
education we allow those who cant afford it to contribute back to society that we allow
every mind the equal opportunity to create a better life regardless of their social class;
and the first step of achieving this goal is by removing money out of our political system
and usher in new people who arent interested in making profit but rather interested in the
development of our society.