Empty Promises, Empty Wallets, Pocket Full of Debts
Empty Promises, Empty Wallets, Pocket Full of Debts

Summary/Abstract: In 2005 American public television PBS aired the documentary Declining by Degrees, accompanied by the book with the same title. The film and the book tried to diagnose why higher education, once a “crown jewelry” of American education, lost its prominence and ceased to fulfill the promise of educating young generations of the Americans.2 The documentary heated up discussions about the quality and the accessibility of US higher education. The rising costs of studying covered by students and their families became a noticeable barrier that prevents some otherwise qualifying applicants from applying to colleges and universities. John Merrow, radio and television reporter, was the man that stood behind the project, sponsored by many educational foundations. Previously he directed or edited such films as: Your Children, Our Children (1984), School Sleuth: The Case of an Excellent School (2000) or Choosing Excellence (2001), all of them discussing the role of education in American society. Merrow himself got Ed.D. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and now serves as the member of the Board of Trustees of the Teachers College of Columbia University. Although he mostly works in media, Merrow is a scholar well prepared to analyze problems of American education of today.

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