Academic Freedom and Indentured Students

Todays student loan process is extremely similar to the process that indentured servants partook in during the early years of the United States' development. Both entities are controlled by a binding contract, that you will not be able to get out of, even if it is the only possible way you can pursue your self interest. 

Source: WILLIAMS, JEFFERY J. "Academic Freedom and Indentured Students." Academe, vol. 98, no. 1, 2012, pp. 10-15. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23208995. 

Summary: Taking out student loans is relatable to immigrants taking the plunge centuries ago, coming to America as indentured servants. Unlike slaves, these servants normally worked for seven years for free, in exchange for their paid trips to America. This article compares college students who take out loans to indentured servants because if you use government assistance to advance your education, although the initial benefit is great, you will be paying for it for several years following graduation. The word "indenture" is a way of making a binding, personal contract with someone. Similar to indentured servants, governmental institutions who give out loans are prying on the desires of the less privileged. To add on, "student debt applies primarily to younger people, as indenture did."  these students who take out loans are already in a worse position then those who do not need student loans. Those who rely on the loans and other government programs in order to advance their education are far less likely to go onto graduate school. On average, 2/3 of college graduates, graduate with almost $30,000 in debt. However, 25 years ago, loan debt was only an average of $2,000 after graduation.

Quality: The source is relating the process of student loans and student debt to another aspect, history. This makes the source more attractive to those who study history or enjoy aspects of the social sciences. Furthermore, relating student loans to indentured servants makes a connection within two separate entities. This connection can possibly make student loans easier to understand for those who understand the indentured servant process. If before reading the article you did not have a grasp on indentured servitude, the author does a great job breaking down the process, and using examples and key vocabulary to help you understand the relationship between indentured servitude and receiving student loans. For example, "student debt primarily bears on those with less family wealth, just as indenture drew on the less-privledged classes" gives the idea of putting a connection between the two separate concepts. Likewise, "the growth of debt has ushered in a system of bondage similar in practical terms, as well as in principle, to indentured servitude" also helps with this connection.

Issues: The author does not list many sources from where he got his information from. I believe that he primarily relied on some information that he already knew when writing this article. The issue with not having many sources is that some information can possibly be questionable in terms of creditability. When a source is not for sure creditable, you cannot count on the material (in this case the article), being absolutely correct. Even though this article has many references to the author's opinion, the issue with the article is that you aren't for sure that some of the information is correct because of the article's lack of sources. If the author would have given the reader a larger amount of sources that they received or learned their information from, the article would overall be more creditable.