Category Archives: COMMENTARY

I began my work-life in the neighborhood. My brother and I collected newspapers, bottles and cans to recycle for pennies at the corner store or at the junkyard across the street along the alley. We were 4 and 6 years old pulling our wagon along behind us. I have been earning a living since then. As I got older I washed woodwork and carted groceries for older ladies who could no longer stoop, bend nor carry. I used a spoon to trim borders as my brother cut their grass. By age 12 I was babysitting. By age 14 I was teaching summer religion class to kids who did not attend our Catholic school. I was assigned the first graders. At 15 I got a work permit to run the Little League snack bar. At 16 I worked after schooI and on week-ends at a local dry cleaner.

My grandparents were Italian immigrants. My parents worked through their childhoods to help support the family, so what they expected of me was part of our family history. We working children never doubted our self-worth. We did not need certificates of achievement or trophies to tell us we could be proud of our accomplishments. Yet, I earned those too in my academic life.

I had a rich academic life taught by Dominican Sisters whose goal was to elevate our intellect and secure our souls. The arch stones above either side of the door to enter our school read, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free,” and “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Those words still guide me.

My mother was the only one of her siblings to attain a high school diploma. She skipped two grades to graduate at age 16. Her first job was Society Editor at the local Staten Island, NY newspaper.  Impossible to believe, but true. Two years later she became the Executive Assistant to the CEO of  chemical company, running the plant in his absence during world war two as he focused on raising war bonds. 

My dad and his brothers were high school graduates. No one in Newark, Ohio would hire Italian men at that time so the day after graduation he hitchhiked, with five cents left in his pocket , to enlist at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center. He learned to swim thrown into a tank of deep water and was soon on board a destroyer escorting Lend Lease supplies to Great Britain across the north Atlantic, dodging U-boats.  

Two years later, assigned to the Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii his ship was one of two out on maneuvers when the base was attacked by Japanese aircraft. He never forgot the screams of the men drowning in the oil fires as his ship returned to the harbor. Within hours his ship was headed to the South Pacific, where he served for the duration of the war. 

After an ambush on a U.S. convoy through the straits between islands his ship was so badly damaged it lay dead in the water. As night fell, his destroyer lay dark and silent, and undetected by the Japanese. They retreated, not realizing the ship was still afloat. It was towed back to the New Jersey naval yard for major repairs. 

Dad met Mom at a Catholic Youth dance and courted her during the time his ship was in dry dock. He also got a job at a factory to supplement the income he was sending home to his mother. After marrying Mom, he also shared his income with her mother. This is what family meant to Mom and Dad; everyone working to help each other, sharing all they had.

I was the first girl in my entire extended family to attend college. On the day I left, Dad gave me $20 of the $50 he earned each week. A huge sacrifice, I knew. My education was to be financed by work-study (I became a resident advisor),a federal loan, and a federal grant. I had little savings since what I had been earning paid for my Catholic high school tuition and books, dental and health care, and once in awhile a vinyl album of classical music. 

I read every assignment in the time before classes started and the three weeks after, returning the assigned textbooks at the last minute in which I was eligible for a complete refund. I relied on the notes I had taken and those taken during the lectures. This practice got me through undergraduate, graduate and law school. I worked a second job as a part-time clerical worker off-campus, and worked full-time wherever I could find work during breaks. During finals week, I used packets of sugar and hot chocolate, pads of butter, and cartons of milk from the cafeteria to make batches of fudge in my soup pot and sold it to fellow students once the snack machines in the dorm ran out of “study aides.” I made the money I needed to buy the books for the next quarter.

My frugality was limitless. Even to me this sounds like an oxymoron. But to anyone who does not have a family able to pave their way with financial assistance, this makes total sense.I still could not afford to pay for the one dinner not covered by the cafeteria food plan I was eligible for as a resident assistant.  When the cook who ran the cafeteria food line every Sunday night realized I never ordered food, and simply walked through with my roommates she questioned me. I explained I was a scholarship student, so came only for company, and the free coffee. She decided I needed to eat and gave me a free hamburger and fries…every Sunday that entire year. The kindness of strangers should never be underestimated. I try to emulate this woman every chance I get. I know the power of such generosity and risk-taking. I always feared she might lose her job. Still, hungry, I ate.

The discussion of the Biden decision to partially forgive student debt is distressing in its ignorance. Wealthy students do not rely on student aid. Even upper middle-class students whose parental assistance is supplemented by student financial aid, do not face the same challenges those who entirely rely on financial aid when it is time to repay those loans. People rely on the connections within their economic class. Guess who benefits. I am happy to pay my taxes. I know they enable the common good and keep my nation strong. We all win when we are all strong. We all have time to raise strong families when we can all earn living wages. When we have a single job we have time to study issues, vote, make wiser decisions about where we should be headed and who shall lead us. Who gains by weakening the economic hopes of our young people?

In 1978 I completed law school and took my first job owing $87,000 despite working full-time my entire academic career. The 5% cap on repayment would have made a world of difference for a student like myself. I finished paying off my loan. But, delayed marriage, child bearing, buying a home. I chose a law career in public service, earning less than if I had found work in the private sector. At that time, women were not easily accepted in the male-dominated practice of law. Graduates with family ties to the profession, personal connections to job offerers had an easier time, but the women still faced more obstacles than the men. They still do. African-American students, even more so. Those struggles continue.  The class-status of those who take out loans matters. We all know this. Will this Biden plan help women and people of color? Yes. Will it help the working poor? Yes. Does this matter? Of course.

I finally bought a home. I will die before it is paid off. 

If the limit on repayment had been in place for me, and others like me, I would have been able to escape the bondage of that loan and contributed even more to the economy of this country. I could have been financially secure enough to purchase a home and build wealth. I could have helped my parents more, to live more prosperous lives, not rely on food programs, buy a new car, replace broken appliances, move to better neighborhood, get better health care. I and my family would have been lifted up, not held down and held back. That is what I hoped for with a college degree. That is what I eventually achieved, after my parents had died, once my loan was paid off. 

Other nations invest in their young people and provide universal education through college. Are their taxes higher? Yes. Their millionaires pay their fair tax share. Ours should, too. We are the richest nation…ever…on the face of the earth. We can do this. What Biden proposes is a moderate effort to at least alleviate the burden enough, on those in greatest need, that they will be able to more fully participate in building full lives and building real wealth. That builds a stronger middle class. That makes the nation stronger for all of us. 

Forgiving student debt, capping repayment levels will encourage more people to attend college. They will no longer fear being crippled by debt. There will be a real pay-off for graduating. It will enable students to attend full-time and graduate sooner. It will encourage students to pursue advanced and professional degrees. It will build a momentum of economic growth for future generations. The economic momentum, undercut by tax cuts for the wealthy and attacks on social support programs since the 1980s, will be resurrected. Parents will no longer wonder if their children will be able to reach the same, or even surpass, their own economic achievements. 

Finally, framing this discussion as one facing off working class against the elites is an old and hateful trope. Technical and vocational training beyond high school also creates student debt. Arguments that helping college students hurts non-college students is inane. Do you really think all those young people working in restaurants would not prefer better paying jobs? Who could afford college on tip money?

 And what makes one job “classy” and another “trashy”? For such a discussion implies that not all work is equal. But, all work is equal. If we learned nothing else about the  value of workers during the pandemic we did learn this one thing: Every single task has value, every worker has value. Hope itself has  value. Biden’s plan gives young people hope. This is the truth. And the truth shall set us free. It should make college free; but, I am happy we at least have this new plan.