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May 18, 2013  |  About the Berkley Center  |  Directions to the Center  |  Subscribe
 
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Where do young people come down on questions of faith, values, and public life? How do they relate their values to public policy issues including education, economic inequality, and the environment? These questions, critically important for the 2012 election, are at the center of a campus conversation being organized by the Berkley Center and Georgetown University. This blog features an ongoing conversation about these issues between students selected as Millennial Values Fellows through a national competition. You can read and comment on their blogs here.

To learn more about the project, visit the Campus Conversation on Values page.

OTHER POSTS

Millennials on Social Media and Politics

November 15, 2012

Millennials on Social Issues and Diversity

November 12, 2012

Hira Baig (Rice) on Why the Presidential Election Matters to Millennials

November 7, 2012

Millennials on Religion and Interfaith Work

November 7, 2012

Ryan Price (Drake) on E Pluribus Duo

November 6, 2012

Mohammad Usman (DePauw) on Unpredictable Millennials

November 5, 2012

Millennials on Affirmative Action Policy

November 3, 2012

Seth Warner (Vassar) on What Happens as the "God Gap" Widens

November 2, 2012

Josina De Raadt (Dordt) on How Social Media Is Like Wii Bowling

October 31, 2012

Zachary Yentzer (Arizona State) on the Next Greatest Generation

October 29, 2012

Brice Ezell (George Fox) on Post-Racial America? Race, Millennials, and the 2012 Election

October 25, 2012

Tyler Bishop (Vanderbilt) on a Future of Hashtags #whatitmeansforus

October 23, 2012

Brice Ezell (George Fox) on How the People Can Heal a “Divided,” Partisan Nation

October 4, 2012

Hira Baig (Rice) on Religion and American Democracy

October 4, 2012

Tyler Bishop (Vanderbilt) on How It’s All About Relatability: Voter Turnout

October 3, 2012

Josina De Raadt (Dordt) on Mistaking Politics for a Hollywood Blockbuster

October 2, 2012

Mohammad Usman (DePauw) on the Internet Solution

October 1, 2012


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Salt of the Earth
October 17, 2008
Pakistan's Quicksand
April 24, 2009

Andres Gonzalez (UC Irvine) on Educational Opportunity

Educationalopportunity

March 20, 2012

For the past four to five years I have seen the University of California struggle in a battle to maintain its core values of accessibility, affordability, and quality. However, these years I have seen how in a declining economy, one of these core values must be sacrificed for the sake of the other, and vice versa. The constant rise in tuition has placed education in California at levels unaffordable to most and thus inaccessible to many residents of the state. These raises in tuition are implemented in order to fill the gap the State has created by decreasing the state funding of higher education. At the same time, these have been implemented in the hopes to maintain the level of quality and prestige the University prides itself on.
Nonetheless, California’s public higher education system highlights a broader issue that is: educational opportunity in the United States. In the past few years, student loan debt financing has surpassed credit card debt financing in the United States. These drastic changes in financing show how American residents are concerned with attaining a higher education, but in return are drowned in debt. Some students who are battling against the increased unaffordability end up dropping out of school early while walking away with insuperable debt. More importantly, a college diploma is turning into a certificate of payment or receipt, rather than a scholastic accomplishment.

If the United States wants to remain as a world power, it must find a way to create more affordable educational opportunities tailored to each individual industry or field. The middle socioeconomic class students should not be forced out of institutions that are becoming too expensive. Additionally, lower socioeconomic class students must be provided adequate K-­‐through-­‐12 education in order to become competitive college candidates. Affordability and accessibility are key given this economic climate. In a nation with low amounts of factory jobs (most of these being outsourced), but with high amounts of managerial and technical jobs, it is important to provide education that is competitive in this economy. Whether that is achieved via means of special trade or vocational schools, or via four-­‐year institutions or community colleges. Regardless of the means, the United States must focus on advancing its educational opportunities by maintaining affordable and accessible forms of education in both the public and private sector.