Student Loans And The Exploding Myth of Meritocracy

Last updated on: August 25, 2022 at 9:28 am by C. Don Jones

Student Loans And The Exploding Myth of Meritocracy 2022-08-25T09:28:33-06:00 C. Don Jones

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Student Loans are an important part of receiving a university education. Usually, for undergraduates, they are a big part of the Financial Aid package. For universities, they are an important source of income. The small “Christian university” I attended in Oklahoma would not survive without them. In fact, I wonder how many of the small religiously affiliated liberal arts colleges would close their doors if the student loans were not available. So, Christians opposing any forgiveness of student loans is a mixed message. But Christian education is already a mixed message. Meritocracy is the message in most colleges and even most churches. Grace only has a small lane in the messaging of churches. The movement to forgive student loan debt is one that threatens that message for middle class Christians. And it is high time we did that.

Old Testament Loans

Truthfully, I am leery of applying the ancient agrarian economics of the Hebrew Bible to modern economies. Without good old-fashioned usury, we would not have the present financial system. Some will argue that we should do away with the present banking system. Personally, it should change. But an agrarian economy is not an industrial one. And we need to admit that.

Loans and debts in the Torah are a major discussion. They are in the wisdom literature and the Prophets too. Indebtedness in goods and money are treated the same way. Any lending that charged interest is usury unless it is charged to a non-Israelite. Usury led to indebtedness, and eventually enslavement. The seven year cancellation of debts intends to relieve these burdens. But when a person has income from holding the debt of others, such cancellations were avoided in any way possible. Indentured servitude, once practiced in the United States, carried a guarantee of release every seven years. But a loophole allowed the master to sell the indenture to another person in the sixth year binding the servant for another seven years.

Loopholes are always sought where power and money are concerned. Christians can see the comparison between the two types of economies working here.

Jesus And Indebtedness

“What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their children or from others?” When Peter said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the children are free. However, so that we do not give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook; take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a coin; take that and give it to them for you and me.” (Matthew 17:25b-27)

At first glance, this passage is about Jesus as God’s son who should be exempt from the tax for the upkeep of God’s temple. But look at who else should be exempt. Simon is given enough money to pay the tax so “we do not give offense to them.” Simon is just as exempt or just as liable as Jesus. Curiously, the people collecting the tax should have been able to pay for the temple. But they appear to need money from the mouths of fish. Yes. The story is ridiculous. It is supposed to be seen that way. Jesus knows that such taxes compounded the indebtedness of the common people while further enriching the High Priest and other Temple officials. There was a blasphemy involved that would be covered by the offense taken by these officials.

Loans And The Lord’s Prayer

Every Sunday many English-speaking Christians recite the words “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” As a kid, this never made any sense to me. Trespassing always followed the word “No” on some signs. I knew it meant we were told to stay away from someone else’s land. We never did a whole lot of Trespassing to be forgiven for. Other Christians say “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” I learned that wasn’t as classy a way of saying sin as trespassing could be. Reading the Bible, I realized the second version was not to be found in it.

Luke’s version of The Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:1-4) is not as poetic and flowery. But it contains the most curious line of either version. “And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.” A more literal translation would read, “And forgive our sins, because we forgive those who owe us money.” The NIV translates the word for sin as sin and the word for indebted as sin. Obviously, they knew Jesus meant “debts” to be metaphoric. The way I hear some conservative evangelicals talk we should only be concerned about “sins” because that was all Jesus was concerned about. But we should ask, why would Jesus only be concerned about sin and eternity and not moral action within temporality? Was his literal death in time only for spiritual application?

Eternal Debt

Is grace only limited to eternity? The question is oxymoronic. How can anything eternal be limited? Conversely, how can anything be eternal that is limited? The idea of merit being the foundation of status is silly. A baseball comparison works here. I taught my children they were born on first base. And they would only need hit a single base hit to make it to second. It took some time to get this understood. The had not made a base hit. They had a head start. Other people could be born on second or third and act like they hit a double or a triple when they had not done so. Privilege got them where they started not merit.

Exploding The Myth

Meritocracy is the myth that allows people to believe there was an innate goodness in them because of who their parents were. The myth is you earn your way to whatever level you achieve. The problem is, as a told my children, people with a leg up climb faster. The myth is exploded when student indebtedness is forgiven because life in our world does not work that way. If a person paying off a student loan is taken ill, gives birth to a special needs child, must take time to care for a family member, or loses a job when the company leaves the city the loan may go into forbearance giving much needed temporary relief. But, like a payday loan, this period of non-payment is held against the borrower. They pay for the temporary relief.

The amounts borrowed are not equal. State and private universities are priced differently. Students who are encouraged to attend a private college because of a small scholarship offered ultimately pay more after the first year. Students never see the money. They merely sign paperwork. The money goes to the school and is distributed by the school. The student gets the debt.

Sin-soaked Loans

The loans themselves are the antithesis of meritocracy. Some student’s parents can and do pay for everything. Some pay a part of the cost. Parental ability to pay is factored into the financial aid package. The parents are not obligated to pay for anything though. Often, they are unable. Sometimes they are unwilling to pay. Another higher interest loan, not federally guaranteed, is then offered to the student. The lenders are in legal heaven. They are untouchable even when they are predatory. The borrowers cannot receive bankruptcy protection and are in legal hell. They need to be delivered from this body of death. President Biden took one small step in the right direction. But recognizing the veneer of meritocracy was threatened he started “giving tough love” to borrowers about the forbearance. We need leaders with the courage to take it away and rebuild higher education.

Biblical Interpretation

Forgiveness

Grace

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