Modern Day Slavery in America

As for the college I went to, my dean had opened up a new section Equestrian Studies just because her daughter liked horses. Her daughter also owns her own ranch before graduating highschool.

I think you all need to chill, he is on his every right to be pissed off since the comparison is actually really shitty. Still, I never really liked to take sides, hence this thread is about something different, like entirely, then please, Drum, like any other normal person, you should calm down when stating something that goes against a majority's opinion. Anyway, the topic to me is interesting to read, to be honest, yet my personal opinion is that's still veeery wrong called. Interesting to know how college works there so yes, I agree with the 'don't ruin it' part.

differentdrum kinda' reminds me of this guy: http://mikeydislikesit.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/check-your-privilege.jpg He's right, though. What we have isn't slavery and I agree that it shouldn't be compared to something so horrible, as they aren't even on the same level. However, I think we all know it wasn't Arc's intention to insinuate that ACTUAL slavery and wage slavery are the exact same thing. It also doesn't change the fact that it is a major financial problem that will keep most people from being able to buy a house, have children, or achieve many other lifetime milestones that our grandparents' generation were able to achieve thanks to the economically progressive platform put in place by FDR because of World War II. Debt of some kind is a necessary evil in life. Buying a home or a new vehicle outright is next to impossible without it. However, the predatory rates of interest on some of these loans nowadays are absolutely sickening. A person could end up paying nearly as much in interest as they did on the original balance. College loans are the worst about it too, and the fact that they can't be forgiven even in bankruptcy is unbelievable. They will even try to get your family to pay up in the event of your death, regardless of whether or not they were co-signers and have a legal obligation. This is predatory and destructive, and the fact that everyone in my generation was told that they needed a college education to succeed in life made the situation almost farcical. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. It's not slavery, but I would put it on the level of something like being under mafia rule. Pay your protection money to keep your business open or else we wreck up your place and take everything you've worked for. It's a slight exaggeration, but probably a more apt comparison than some others. Look, for years, children worked in factories until we made public schooling mandatory and paid for it with taxes. It helped us create a strong, educated workforce that was up to the task of holding the various positions we needed across a lot of unique jobs. Our current system doesn't provide an adequate level of education for the type of world we live in anymore, so colleges should, at the very least, be affordable so that we can have an educated workforce. There is no reason for college in America to cost what it does; especially with many universities supplementing their incomes off from the sickening disgrace that is college sports programs. Y'know what... just get on YouTube and watch some John Oliver. He can probably explain a lot of this better than I can.

If the title of the thread is that hard to swallow, let me offer this comparison. Rather than outright calling it slavery, I have always considered student loan debt to be a form of indentured servitude. "Indentured servitude was a labor system in which people paid for their passage to the New World by working for an employer for a fixed term of years. It was widely employed in the 18th century in the British colonies in North America and elsewhere. ... Indentured servants could not marry without the permission of their master, were subject to physical punishment (like many young ordinary servants), and saw their obligation to labor enforced by the courts. To ensure uninterrupted work by the female servants, the law lengthened the term of their indenture if they became pregnant. But unlike slaves, servants were guaranteed to be eventually released from bondage. At the end of their term they received a payment known as "freedom dues" and became free members of society.[12] One could buy and sell indentured servants' contracts, and the right to their labor would change hands, but not the person as a piece of property." Trust me, when you come from a poor background, the prospect of college and getting a degree for a better job IS the New World. A very small, thin line separating it from slavery. So yeah, bring on the calm because to me someone got their panties twisted for nothing.

I agree veru. Not all of us were born with a silver spoon in our mouths. Some of us had to fight our own way through college and many are still paying for it. Not everyone qualifies for grants, and not everyone has parents that are willing to spend thousands of dollars so we can learn.

Since we are all stuck on the terminology of the word "slave", I'll have to say my opinion on it. I believe shawnji says it well, "However, I think we all know it wasn't Arc's intention to insinuate that ACTUAL slavery and wage slavery are the exact same thing." I didn't coin the term "dept slavery". It's a modern issue. It's a new type of slavery, at least in the way that the problem was created. If you didn't know that there are different kinds of slaves, that's not my problem. Oranges and apples are fruit. Does that mean it's wrong to create a thread labeled fruit? Same concept.

That's the problem with the current generation Arc. You have to go out of your way to ensure what you say doesn't offend ANYONE. Otherwise you're automatically a racist, sexist, bigot, and suddenly you don't know any history. When in reality, most of this generation does everything it possibly can to remain ignorant. They all want a perfect world where everyone is dancing, singing and getting along. Screw the fact that something like that cannot and will not happen in reality. Because if you say otherwise, you're the one that's screwed up in the head. Only because the millions of brainwashed idiots in this generation says so. I've lost count of how many I've offended because I speak in generalizations. However, I refuse to change my speech just because some children can't handle it.

@ shawnji explain it best College is away for people to make something out of themselves also to make friends and build character but the people in charge of this are just using people who just want to get to that next stepping stone in life.