I am currently in my fourth and final year as a Miami student. I wouldn’t say I’ve been The Miami Student’s most avid reader, but I pick it up a few times a month to feel a connection to the campus and student body which is lost when you move off campus.

But here’s the thing: that connection I’m searching for, the story I hope resonates with me, is eclipsed by blindly supported, un-informed political writing.

The journalism displayed in past editions of the student newspaper would fall under constant scrutiny if it were published at a university with a more equal composition of liberals and conservatives.

Instead it allows for its readers to hear one side of an argument, with maybe a quote or two from the opposition thrown in there to remain “neutral,” and feel informed because we’ve put down our phones long enough to actually read something in print.

The most disheartening, for me, was to read that a comparison was made between the housing bubble and federal aid disbursement for higher education.

This is laughable in a really, really sad way. How can an analogous relationship even begin to be drawn between the two?

The earning gap between a high school graduate and a college graduate is, on average, $20,000. While this may not initially cover all student loan costs, a college-educated person has a better chance of being promoted, inevitably widening this earning gap.

Earning-potential aside, buying a house does not create intellectual capital; it does not provide opportunities for individual and societal advancement; it does not create leaders for the future.

Higher education does.

Is a student newspaper really circulating the notion that the United States has too many students? The demand for intellect is just too high? The number of freethinking individuals should have a cap and be limited to those of a privileged socioeconomic class?

“Government handouts,” as Baylor Myers calls them, implies the government receives nothing in return and only the individual benefits from financial aid.

It might have been argued, had the playing field been level, that it’s a reciprocal relationship. When a society is educated, and here I do mean educated, not influenced by propaganda, its citizens are more productive, and the government benefits.

We’re here to learn and develop the ideals on which we will build our futures. I urge The Miami Student to take advantage of the great opportunity is has to educate us, not try to sway us to “be on the right side” (yes, pun intended).

At the very least it must let both sides be heard. No other publication reaches more corners of campus than The Miami Student. It is our student body’s one opportunity to represent itself as a whole, unified not by political ideology but by our dedication to providing smart people the tools necessary to make their own decisions.