The Next American Century

When it comes to the long-term well-being
of America, it is time to stop looking right
and left and focus on what’s ahead.
By Dr. Eduardo J. Padrón

There is a certain comfort in the phrase “the American century.” It suggests strength and stability, born of ideals that have stood the test of time. At its best, the American century has showcased the nation’s people, encouraging a dynamic free for all of potential and growth. And this incomparable melting pot has manifested a nation of vitality and ingenuity for the entire world to see.
But there is debate—rancorous, bitter and divisive—about the trajectory of American interests into the next century. Proponents thrash about over seemingly every substantive element of American life—from foreign policy to the economy and trade deficits; from healthcare and poverty to the environment and energy sources. From the culture war to bloody and tragic war.
Nothing seems sacred, in the sense that the common good is sacred. The national dialogue spits back and forth from hideouts of ideology and vested interest. Politics as usual? Perhaps. But if we continue to entrench ourselves in partisan bunkers at the expense of the common good, that becomes a habit, an institution. And that is not the democracy of collaboration and compromise upon which we rely. It is a dangerously deep hole from which to extract the nation’s forward motion.
The next American century will depend on the same intelligence, creativity and resourcefulness that marked the country’s rise to prominence in our lifetime. But those qualities were boosted by farsighted policies that opened the doors of higher education to people across the American spectrum. Subsidies to public universities and federal and state aid to low-income students paved the way toward prosperous middle-class lives. Millions of people moved up the economic strata and powered the best-educated and most productive workforce in the world.
No such dynamic social mobility exists today. A recently-released study by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, a nonpartisan research organization, suggests that the learning engine that drove the American century is grinding to a halt. Forty-three states were assigned a grade of “F” for higher education affordability. The United States, once the runaway leader in college enrollment, now stands in a crowd with eight other countries that have made far more progress than we in recent years. The United States now ranks 16th among the 27 advanced nations in the study for completion of baccalaureate and certificate programs.
This is not happening by accident, though it depends on your definition of an accident. The enlightened policies that fueled the post-World War II surge in access have been watered down or eliminated. The Pell Grant, staple of need-based financial aid, funds well under a third of present college costs, compared to 84 percent a quarter century ago. States have followed the federal lead, shifting need-based funding to so-called merit aid. SAT scores trump family income. The result is that middle- and upper-income students receive an inordinate percentage of financial aid dollars compared to low-income and minority students. Students from the richest 25 percent of households are seven times more likely to attain a college degree than students from the poorest families. A conservative estimate suggests that over 2 million qualified students will be unable to afford college by 2010.
The next American century has begun in search of a middle class. Forty-seven million people cannot afford health insurance. The costs of owning a home, transportation and education are carving a gap in the middle of a two-tiered society. When police and firefighters and teachers and nurses cannot afford to live in the cities they serve, the social order has lost its heart and soul.
I remember the America of my young imagination. Sleeves rolled up, strong bodies and bright faces. It was a vision of the undaunted, the unbounded. My America was a merchant of hope, a factory of possibility. I wonder what I will see, how America will reveal itself in this new century.

Dr. Eduardo J. Padrón is president of Miami Dade College, the largest institution of higher education in the nation.