Expand your vocabulary

[emeraldkity4]

<p>and give food
[url=<a href=“http://www.freerice.com/index.php]FreeRice[/url”>http://www.freerice.com/index.php]FreeRice[/url</a>]</p>

<p>Pet peeve.
I admit I have my favorite phrases- but I haven’t had anyone tell me to stop using them
( which would give me a better idea of what they are)</p>

<p>But when others use hyperbole to get attention ( like in recent threads comparing debt to slavery, or stating that parents are * insane* if they have more than 100 posts on CC ), it annoys me to no end, because those words come with baggage that isn’t appropriate to the context, IMO.</p>

<p>I’m hoping in college, they acquire an expanded vocabulary so they can use words accurately.</p>

[appleofmyeye]

<p>i used to go on that site everyday. haha</p>

[SamK]

<p>In defense of “college loan slavery” (the use of the term, not the practice):</p>

<p>1) Take it up with author Nan Mooney (or perhaps her editor), who titled her article “College Loan Slavery: Student Debt Is Getting Way Out of Hand.”</p>

<p>2) Debt slavery is not a recently-coined phrase, and has nothing to do with the history of slavery in the US and everything to do with the exploitation of human beings who can’t pay back their loans:</p>

<p>[Debt</a> bondage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt_bondage]Debt”>Debt bondage - Wikipedia)</p>

<p>

Debt bondage or debt slavery or bonded labor are all terms describing a means of paying off loans with direct labor instead of currency or goods. It is either a kind of indenture or truck system. Historically, in the USA, it is also sometimes called peonage.

</p>

[emeraldkity4]

<p>Debt slavery is not a recently-coined phrase, and has nothing to do with the history of slavery in the US and everything to do with the exploitation of human beings who can’t pay back their loans</p>

<p>right…
but

What is slavery today? A short summary</p>

<p>A slave today is a man, women or child who is forced to work and controlled by another person. There are over 12 million slaves around the world (International Labour Organisation) and may be as many as 27 . Most slaves are in bonded labour mainly in Asia or Latin America, this results from a family debt which can’t be repaid. In the past slaves were transported across the Atlantic. Today over 2 ½ million slaves are trafficked in West Africa, across Europe and between Mexico and the US. There could be up to 8 million children in slavery. Slaves today are worth less in real terms than 200 years ago.</p>

<p>Questions and Answers about Slavery</p>

<p>What is a slave today?</p>

<p>A slave is:
Forced to work
Controlled by another person who uses forms of abuse
Treated as a commodity
Physically not free to move
How many slaves are there now?</p>

<p>The International Labour Organisation (ILO) minimum estimated in 2005
there were 12.3 million.
The ‘Free the Slaves’ organisation estimates 27 million, more than at any time in human history!
What types of slaves exist today?</p>

<p>Bonded labour, 9.5 million (ILO) resulting from a family debt which can’t be repaid
Forced labour, illegally recruited and forced to work
Trafficking people 2.5 million (ILO), for example transporting women for sexual exploitation and domestic work
Worst forms of child labour, 126million children (ILO estimate) are doing harmful work of which over 8 million are in slavery

</p>

<p>not quite the image of someone who freely chose to attend a college ( and put off going to work to support themselves)- thinking that they would be sitting in a corner office cashing large check after graduation.</p>

<p>[We</a> Are Worth More !](<a href=“Coming Soon”>http://weareworthmore.org/)</p>

<p>If someone can’t calculate their debt after 4 years of higher education- perhaps they didn’t learn anything in K-12.</p>

<p>

One positive outcome of the current financial downturn is that families are taking a hard look at the economics of attending college. Students report lowering their sights from pricey private schools to less-expensive public colleges and universities, many of which are reporting big increases in applications.</p>

<p>Why do I think that’s a good thing? Because despite steady increases in tuition over the past decade, families have apparently downplayed costs in the college equation. For instance, a startling 70% of parents and students surveyed by Sallie Mae said that a student’s potential postgraduate income wasn’t considered or didn’t make a difference when deciding to borrow…
That makes sense financially, considering that the total average cost of attending a four-year public school is $18,326 for the 2008-09 academic year, according to the College Board – about half the cost of a private school, which comes in at $37,390.
In Kiplinger’s 2008-09 rankings of the top 100 values in public colleges and universities, fewer than two dozen schools cost more than $20,000 a year for in-state students.

[The</a> New Realities of Paying for College - Kiplinger.com](<a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/columns/drt/archive/2008/dt081105.html]The”>Paying for College | Kiplinger)</p>

[MidwestMom2Kids_1]

<p>

For example, let’s say your son plans to major in accounting, with a projected starting salary of $49,100, as estimated by the Student Loan Advisor. And let’s assume a student-loan interest rate of 6.8% (the going rate on unsubsidized federal Stafford loans). If he wants to hold his monthly loan payment to 10% of his income and repay the debt over 10 years, his payment would be $409, and his maximum manageable debt load would be about $35,600.</p>

<p>On the other hand, if your son wants to be an elementary-school teacher, with a projected starting salary of $35,900, his monthly loan payment would be $299 (assuming the same criteria) and his manageable debt load would be about $26,000.

</p>

<p>I think that this quote from the Kiplinger article should be handed to every parent and especially every student in the spring of the student’s junior year of high school.</p>

[SamK]

<p>

Most slaves are in bonded labour mainly in Asia or Latin America, this results from a family debt which can’t be repaid.

</p>

<p>not quite the image of someone who freely chose to attend a college ( and put off going to work to support themselves)- thinking that they would be sitting in a corner office cashing large check after graduation.

</p>

<p>Notice that the reason a family debt can’t be repaid is not part of the definition of “bonded labor.” Perhaps the debts are e.g. the result of gambling, but that does not justify bonded labor.</p>

<p>There is a parallel here to student debt. A student who foolishly takes out too many student loans only to find out that their earnings make this level of debt unmanageable finds themselves in a situation from which it is virtually impossible to get out of. They are doomed for the rest of their life to see their debt grow without bounds, have their wages garnished and deal with collectors. Any income they earn for the rest of their life will go substantially to continue paying their student loan. Only death or disability will release them from this responsibility. Hence the term “slavery”, granted used as hyperbole, is not completely off the mark.</p>

[NJres]

<p>I was doing fine until I was annihilated by…</p>

<p>hatchel = flax comb</p>

[emeraldkity4]

<p>*I was doing fine until I was annihilated by…</p>

<p>hatchel = flax comb*</p>

<p>yeah some of those… wut?
I went to the geography section instead.</p>

[SamK]

<p>Having visited FreeRice.com and donated more than 1000 grains of rice, I must say that this mettlesome debate about the improvidence of taking out substantial student loans to become a terpsichorean has not dissuaded me from the ratiocination that a condition similar to bonded labour is often concomitant with such debt.</p>

<p>Or something like that ;)</p>