Josh Levy's largely baseless and highly politicized assault ("Over-AccessUVA," Sept. 17) on need-based financial reveals an undercurrent that is rarely discussed on grounds: the widening gap between socio-economic groups. Those of Levy's ilk seem to argue that there should be academic haves and have-nots, but more importantly that this distinction should be delineated not on a basis of intelligence or, more importantly, a true desire to learn, but instead on fiscal factors.
The notion that a person's access to further education should be limited if her parents are not as financially sound asLevy would want is, in a truly bourgeoisie fashion, elitist. So too is the idea of those would be students who are not able or willing to take out exorbitant loans are lazy and unbecoming of an opportunity for a grand education in the classical fashion.
This is not to say that everyone should go to college, as college is not the forum at which everyone can fulfill their goals. However, it is blanket statements like this, from both the Left and Right, that have obfuscated the true goal of higher education, which is not to create and propagate a fiscal and academic elite, but to help fulfill an inborn desire to better oneself.
And despite whatLevy may want, the State, in the Marxist veins of socialism and the Jeffersonian fashions of populist democracy, is continuing to help would be students achieve that desire.
Dave Saas
CLAS IV
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