Yesterday my son was out with friends to celebrate one of his study partner’s acceptance into a Ph.D program in biochemistry at one of the very top schools in the country. I am not going to name the school because I don’t plan on asking his friend if I can tell this story, and so I don’t want to make it easy to identify him. During the course of the celebration another student’s name came up. The Ph.D. candidate said that the missing student had been unable to complete his studies because his eligibility for financial aid had expired. The Ph.D. candidate then told the group that the same thing had happened to him, but that our family had “saved” him.
I had forgotten that we had loaned the student the money to stay in school when his financial aid eligibility had run out and his mother had lost her job. Over time the student had paid us back in installments that he could afford. I was grateful that we had been able to help the student, but I also felt a deep sadness that there had not been anyone there to help that other student. I did not know about this student, and I don’t know if he was ever able to finish his degree or if there is any prospect that he might be now progressing to as bright a future as my son’s friend. In fact, the likelihood is that the other student languishes with many other bright and gifted young people who don’t have the money to fulfill their academic and human potential. And our nation suffers the loss, as well.
I hope that when people go to vote during this primary that they will think about what their votes mean for students, for the poor, for people of color, for the world. I hope that having heard about my son’s friends that they will think about one student who was fortunate to have a safety net and the one who did not. I hope that they will recognize that we are all better off when we provide a safety net, better yet a springboard, so that our human potential and our nation’s potential can be realized. I hope that they realize that only one candidate recognizes that “skin in the game” with respect to university and academic achievement is measured in academic performance and not the addition of more burdens to students without financial means. I hope that democratic primary voters acknowledge that only Bernie Sanders recognizes these facts and promises to work to realize the ideal.
berniesanders.com/...
