Picking my favorite TAP article of the year is a desperate, essentially arbitrary task, for the happiest of reasons. It was a pleasure to through the archives and be reminded of so much great stuff: Michelle Goldberg and Kay Steiger on the struggle for reproductive freedom abroad and at home; Adam on how non-arbitrary enforcement suddenly gets conservatives concerned about civil rights; Monica on the unfulfilled promise of "green jobs"; Mark Schmitt's wonderful piece on the lessons of John Lindsay ... I could go on like this for a while.
But, particularly in light of the further revelations about how some for-profit colleges too often lock students into mountains of debt without providing useful skills or even credentials, I decided to select Mark Elk's article about how some liberal activists have carried water for the industry against the interests of students. It's everything progressive journalism should be: real reporting on an important but undercovered issue that involves the powerful exploiting the weak. It's absolutely essential reading.
-- Scott Lemieux
