The impact of student loans in the U.S. on public service career opportunities

Essay from the year 2006 in the subject Business economics - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,0, Viriginia Commonwealth University (Viriginia Commonwealth University), course: Urban Economics, language: English, abstract: At a time when the government estimates that two million new teachers will be needed in the next decade, the large student-loan debt that college graduates face may deter students from entering public-service careers like teaching and social work. More generally, this circumstance will lead to a lack of education and will ultimately create for today¿s generation and future generations unsolvable problems. In the media the key phrase ¿sustainable development¿ is often used, but nobody connects it to the field of education. This is a sad fact, for education is a fundamental value of every well functioning society, offering not only pure knowledge, but also developing important guidelines and moral norms that enable a human community to survive and to flourish. The US is struggling right now, still facing issues like racism, discrimination and violence that were said to be solved. Consequently minorities unify and segregate themselves into isolation; the gap between rich and poor continues to grow. If the government does not realize that lack of education is the root of ongoing conflicts and sticks on its course underfund education, the gap between wealth and poverty is going to become a crucial obstacle for a modern America that is continuing to claim a hegemony role worldwide.