共和党人正逐渐接受特朗普政府试图限制哪些学位项目有资格获得联邦援助这一做法所具有的压迫性本质。
Republicans are coming to terms with the oppressive nature of the Trump administration’s efforts to curtail the types of degree programs that qualify for federal aid.
在效仿独裁领导人——例如阿道夫·希特勒——长期以来采用的模式后，该政府试图对各类高校实施意识形态控制。如今，美国教育部正在为一条可能限制某些学位项目学生发展的新联邦规定辩护。
The administration has tried to assert ideological control over various colleges and universities following a model that authoritarian leaders —such as Adolf Hitler— have deployed for ages. And now the Education Department is defending a new federal rule that could hamstring students in certain degree programs.
该规定将允许使用美国国税局（IRS）的数据，评估某些项目的毕业生收入水平是否应导致这些项目失去联邦直接贷款计划的资格。
The rule will allow the use of IRS data to assess whether earnings for graduates of certain programs should prevent those programs from being eligible for the federal Direct Loan Program.
上周，《新共和》杂志指出，该规定可能对攻读社会工作、艺术和宗教学等学位的学生造成严重后果——这只是几个例子——此后，美国教育部便采取了防御姿态。
After The New Republic noted last week that the rule could have dire consequences for those pursuing degrees in fields such as social work, art and religious studies — to name a few examples — the Education Department got defensive.
“太多毕业生反映，他们不得不推迟购房或组建家庭等重要人生里程碑，”该机构写道，“为什么？因为这些投资回报率低的项目让他们背负了无法承受、且根本不会带来实际就业机会的债务。”帖子还补充道：“联邦学生贷款并非为失败的高校项目提供的福利计划。”
“Too many graduates report delaying major life milestones like buying a home or starting a family,” the agency wrote on“Why? Because low return-on-investment programs saddled them with unmanageable debt that was never going to translate into a real-world job.”“Federal student loans are not a welfare program for failing college programs,” the post added.
但一些共和党人已经看到了该规定显而易见的弊端。我们看到的议员们对宗教学可能受到的威胁表现出强烈不满，便是一例。得克萨斯州参议员泰德·克鲁兹和俄克拉荷马州参议员詹姆斯·兰克福德上周提出了一项法案，旨在为宗教学项目及其他信仰相关学科设立例外条款。
But some Republicans already see the rule’s obvious pitfalls, evidenced by the lawmakers we’re seeing bristle over the potential threat to religious studies. Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and James Lankford of Oklahoma introduced legislation last week that would create a carve-out for religious studies programs and other faith-based disciplines.
“一位觉得自己被呼召去牧养教会或担任传教士的学生，不应因为华盛顿用薪水来衡量这种呼召的价值而失去获得学生援助的机会，”兰克福德在一份声明中表示。兰克福德的新闻稿强调，保守派团体“捍卫自由联盟”、美国天主教主教会议以及代表基督教学校的多个协会都支持《宗教教育公平法案》。
“A student who feels called to pastor a church or serve as a missionary should not lose access to student aid because Washington measures the value of that calling by a paycheck,” Lankford said in a statement Lankford’s press release touted support for the Religious Education Fairness Act from conservative groups such as Alliance Defending Freedom, as well as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and various associations that represent Christian schools. Ironically, it seems that this new rule, which is set to take effect next year, could have an adverse impact on MAGA world’s push for Christian nationalism since there are numerous conservative schools that serve as propagators of MAGA evangelicalism — with students who rely on financial aid.
讽刺的是，这项明年即将生效的新规定似乎可能对“美国优先”（MAGA）阵营推动基督教民族主义的努力产生负面影响，因为有许多保守派学校正是MAGA福音派思想的传播者，而这些学校的学生也依赖经济援助。显然，MAGA基督徒也意识到了这一点。
And MAGA Christians seem to understand this. That’s why a better title for Cruz and Lankford’s bill would be the “Religious Education Preferential Treatment Act.”
因此，克鲁兹和兰克福德这项法案更贴切的标题应该是《宗教教育优先待遇法案》。一方面，一些共和党人能够指出对学术自由的威胁，这当然是好事。但他们在保护宗教研究项目时忽视所有其他项目的做法，实在毫无道理。
Because on one hand, it’s good that some Republicans are calling out the threats to academic freedom. But their focus on protecting religious studies programs over all others is senseless. It’s fair to argue that these programs might serve some kind of social good that can’t be quantified by graduates’ earnings.
有人可能会合理指出，这些项目或许能带来某种无法通过毕业生收入来衡量的社会价值。但没有任何理由认为，这些项目的毕业生比其他可能失去联邦援助的学生（无论是助教、社会工作者还是艺术家）更有可能为社会做出贡献。
But there’s no reason to think graduates of those programs are likely to contribute to society than other students whose programs might be deprived of federal aid — be they teaching aides, social workers or artists. The post Republicans realize the awful pitfalls of Trump administration’s new financial aid rule MS NOW