Word: nunn
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Nunn plan will effectively separate those students who can go to college directly from those who cannot afford to go on account of financial constraints. In light of this, the plan is both coercive and discriminatory. Faced with the tremendous (and rising) costs of education and the possibility of receiving no federal aid, low-income students would have no choice but to join the army or sweep city streets if they want to afford a college education...
While the Nunn plan aims to promote civic-mindedness among all men and women, more affluent students will not be affected as financial aid is less of a concern. In a sense, as a result of class backround, one group can buy out of this community work requirement. This is a chilling reminder of draft practices in the 1960s and '70s, when most of those who actually served in Vietnam came from lower-income families...
...more practical level, the Nunn plan seems to defeat its own purposes. Though it aims to give value to community work, it will in reality make community work less dignified. As lower income students are coerced into community service, they will perform with a detrimental resentment, much like the convict who receives a term of 90 hours of community work as penalty...
...doubt this resentment will have a harmful effect on the community: imagine someone participating in the big brother program not because he wants a little sibling, but because he needs the money. The Nunn plan will take the "volunteerness" out of community work, and the whole notion of "one thousand points of light" as the driving incentive becomes monetary. It would be a sad outcome if community work is associated only with those who have to work, those who are poor...
WHILE the many weaknesses of the Nunn plan lie in the implementation and application of a popular sentiment--giving something back to the community in return for one's financial aid--approval of the Nunn plan would represent a dramatic shift in the way we have viewed federal financial aid in the last 20 years...