密歇根新闻广播 学生贷款债务仅次于房贷 成为银行重灾区

What do you think is the biggest category of consumer debt in this nation, apart from home mortgage loans? Car loans? Medical bills?

Not even close. It is student loan debt, now nearly $1.5 trillion dollars, and getting bigger by the day. The average undergrad leaves school, degree or no degree, owing $35,000.

Many owe much more. They have to begin paying on their loans as soon as they leave school. Yesterday I talked to a newly tenured faculty¹ member in Michigan, an extremely talented woman in her 40s who still owes $90,000 in student loans.

She doesn't come from a moneyed background, and would find it hard to, say, buy a house, since she already has to carry the equivalent of a mortgage on her modest salary. This is a scandal that is hurting all of us.

Now, a new book lays out the full dimensions of this looming² debt avalanche³. The Neoliberal Agenda and the Student Debt Crisis in U.S. Higher Education, a series of essays edited by Nicholas Hartlep, Lucille Eckrich and Brandon Hensley, my colleague at Wayne State, makes it clear just how bad things are.

This is, as they say, an example of unchecked bad policy gone horribly astray.

This book does have one weakness: A constant ideological⁴ rant⁵ against what the authors call “neoliberalism,” which has nothing to do with conventional liberalism as we normally understand it. The authors use “neoliberalism” to mean a sort of unthinking worship of capitalism⁶ and free market values as a solution for everything.

This is occasionally annoying. I have never met anyone who called themselves a neoliberal, and the incessant⁷ repetition of this word isn't helpful. But the authors are correct in thinking that too many of us have been brainwashed to view higher education as something, like a Cadillac, that should only be available to those with the money to buy.

This is wrong-headed. This society and this state, more than ever, need as many educated people as possible, if only because a better educated work force is absolutely essential to our economic survival. Beyond that, can you imagine a world where only a rich kid can become a doctor? The woman I mentioned who owes $90,000 was working in a private sector⁸ job making more than she does now before she decided⁹ to become a professor.

These days, she is helping¹⁰ give dozens of students the technical skills needed to work in broadcast and other visual media. Clearly, she ought to have her student loans forgiven.

Actually, that she was forced to borrow at all is highly questionable¹¹. Who knows how many other potential brilliant scientists or filmmakers will never realize their potential because they were unwilling¹² to get so deeply in debt?

The authors of this book say their goal is to provide a road map to get us to a place where education is seen as a public right and a personal responsibility, not a commodity for sale.

That's not only morally right, but practically necessary.

The ever-growing pyramid of student debt is unsustainable, and the authors provide evidence that something close to half of those who owe aren't paying. Maybe, just maybe, it might be a good idea to do the right thing before the wrong one destroys us.

1 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。

2 looming   

n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• The foothills were looming ahead through the haze. 丘陵地带透过薄雾朦胧地出现在眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they looked up. Looming above them was Mount Proteome. 接着他们往上看，在其上隐约看到的是蛋白质组山。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望

3 avalanche   

n.雪崩，大量涌来

参考例句：

• They were killed by an avalanche in the Swiss Alps.他们在瑞士阿尔卑斯山的一次雪崩中罹难。
• Higher still the snow was ready to avalanche.在更高处积雪随时都会崩塌。

4 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

5 rant   

v.咆哮；怒吼；n.大话；粗野的话

参考例句：

• You can rant and rave at the fine,but you'll still have to pay it.你闹也好，骂也好，罚金还是得交。
• If we rant on the net,the world is our audience.如果我们在网络上大声嚷嚷，全世界都是我们的听众。

6 capitalism   

n.资本主义

参考例句：

• The essence of his argument is that capitalism cannot succeed.他的论点的核心是资本主义不能成功。
• Capitalism began to develop in Russia in the 19th century.十九世纪资本主义在俄国开始发展。

7 incessant   

adj.不停的，连续的

参考例句：

• We have had incessant snowfall since yesterday afternoon.从昨天下午开始就持续不断地下雪。
• She is tired of his incessant demands for affection.她厌倦了他对感情的不断索取。

8 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

11 questionable   

adj.可疑的，有问题的

参考例句：

• There are still a few questionable points in the case.这个案件还有几个疑点。
• Your argument is based on a set of questionable assumptions.你的论证建立在一套有问题的假设上。

12 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。