Summary Of Two Years Are Better Than Four By Liz Addison

Improved Essays
In the article “Two Years Are Better than Four”, Liz Addison opposes the interpretation of modern day community colleges. In today’s society, community colleges are underappreciated and lack the respect that they deserve; community colleges are deemed “easygoing” since they are easier to get into then a so-called “privileged” college or university. Addison examines the expectations, affordability, level of education, and the growth and development of community colleges in contradiction of a four-year college or University.
In high school, if not told already, students are planted with a seed. This seed nurtures the idea that “Honors, AP, high test scores, and ‘A’ honor roll” get you into college. Eventually this seed flowers into anxiety,
…show more content…
They offer a wide variety of tracts that aim you toward an associates degree or higher. Although you have to switch to a four-year college to obtain a degree higher then an associates, student still experienced their “first biology, physics, and chemistry” courses; just like high school, students are elaborating on the information they obtained in your introductory courses.
“The community college system is America’s hidden public service gem”, Liz Addison states in the belief that community colleges are the key to our futures education. From a psychological standpoint, she argues that a two-year education experience offers the same growth and development for students that a four-year university does; both options help students reach their overall potential. Another positive note associated with community college is that it offers more freedom: freedom of class selection, social selection, and adventure. There are endless possibilities and pathways at a community college.
In high school, community colleges are deemed unworthy, and that students are unintelligent if they attend there. When in actuality community colleges is one of the smarter

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    In the article “Two Years Are Better Than Four Years” Liz Addison is responding to Rick Perlstein comments which he states that community college does not matter anymore. Addison explains how community college still matters and give students an opportunity to discover themselves which isn’t possible to do in most of the university.…

    • 53 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Is college genuinely important? Liz Anderson, a biology major that studied to be a large animal veterinarian, believes it is. In an article she wrote titled “Two Years Are Better than Four,” that was published in The New York Times in 2007, that opposes the views of Rick Pearlstein’s article “What’s the Matter with College?.” In this article, which was aimed towards anyone who is looking to start an academic career, Anderson’s goal was to persuade people to consider community colleges as an equivalent choice to universities or state colleges.…

    • 285 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Community colleges are relatively less expensive compared to campuses and usually were founded to help students from poor backgrounds access the same services as students in other campuses. The degrees offered in community colleges are aimed at training students to meet employer requirements. Community colleges are significantly improving their graduation rates. When the proposal about offering free tuition in community colleges it was aimed at benefiting the whole nation. The program was to increase accessibility to college education.…

    • 864 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Many of the students who go to a university look down upon students who go to a community college. In the article “The Community College/‘Real College’ Divide” by Kristin O'Keefe, she explains how community college is looked down upon and argues that community colleges are as just as great as universities. O’Keefe writes, “they had heard the message that community college was not a real college, and they listened”. Even though O’Keefe didn’t get to experience the community college as a student, she has experienced it as a faculty member. I agree with the article because it true, just because community college is in front of the name it doesn’t make it any less than a university, typical community college students have different experiences than university students.…

    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Discount Dreams Essay

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Community college provides many benefits for those who are less fortunate. In the documentary, “Discount Dreams” it talks about community colleges and the advantages and disadvantages. It also gives some examples of a few people and how community colleges intertwine in their life. Community colleges have technical areas where people can go into and learn about the career field they want to study. Community college is a second opportunity for people across the states to get a chance at what they could not have before.…

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Everyone should have the opportunity to change their life if they want and Community College can offer that to millions of people all around. People should be able to do whatever they desire. Ayer also believed little changes such as getting people involved with Community College would soon make a difference with the actual community and city and maybe even the world. Community Colleges open so many different doors for millions to explore and decide what is best for them. It is about time to get things back on the right track to become a stronger, caring, and responsible…

    • 488 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In their articles, “Two Years Are Better Than Four” and “Are Too Many People Going to College?” Liz Addison and Charles Murray discuss how colleges now are much different than colleges in the past. The college experience has changed since people, such as Rick Perlstein, went to college. Even though the college experience is ever evolving, it can still be a very important part of someone’s life. Even if it is not at a “four-year brick-and-mortar residential college” (Murray 229) like many parents and high school faculty push students to go to right away.…

    • 1254 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    I personally think that community college is not easy and I can't even imagine how hard a University may be as well. In college we face a bunch of hard obstacles, challenges, stress, and even wanting to give up easily, but we have to keep our heads up. Based on the article, “5 Pressing Issues Facing Community College Students Today” there are quite a lot of issues students face when attending a community college. For example, the tuition, even though is just two years it’s still expensive.…

    • 556 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In today’s day and age, almost every young adult is told that attending a four-year university is the next step following high school, but two articles question the idea that college is essential and suggest a different type of post high school education. The first article I analyzed was “Should Everyone Go to College?” by Stephanie Owen and Isabel Sawhill, where the authors discuss several factors about a traditional four-year university and question whether the benefits outweigh the costs. The other article I analyzed was “The New Liberal Arts” by Sanford J. Ungar, in which Unger tries to promote liberal arts colleges and show how they are more beneficial than traditional four-year universities. Both articles, in a way, were essentially trying…

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The primary goal of community colleges is to prepare student for four year college and university. The reason why student go to community college is because they don't have the education they need for a four year university yet. They also go to a community college because is cheaper than a four year college. Student also go because it really close to home. I also believe that the community college prepare the students who weren't good in high school to learn to process college level work.…

    • 84 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Boen Wang, a sophomore majoring in engineering science at Penn State who was featured on The Daily Collegian’s Wednesday column, wrote an article called Reasons to make community college free. He insists that making community college free is possible and could potentially reshape higher education. He pinpoints one of the effects of high tuition and presents, “Lack of financial resources is one of the major reasons for such low graduation rates” (Wang). This should worry the college’s staff simply because one of the school 's purposes is to get everyone to graduate. With these low rates, students wanting to apply for the school will not feel confident and are going to assume the institution cannot deliver academic support.…

    • 1080 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    For the past six months one of the hottest topics in politics and around colleges throughout the U.S is whether community college should be free or not. Although there are many thoughts to this topic this literature review will focus primary on why many people are for free community college and while many are opposed to it. The questions surrounding if community college should be free or not is who is going to pay for it and if everyone attends college is college still an accomplishment. I personally believe that community college should not be free, not because I’m against higher education for everyone but because there is no such thing as free college. If community college was labeled as free are it means is that America would go further…

    • 161 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I have many examples of the benefits for attending a community college that I do not believe could be reached while attending a four year college at a freshman for sophomore level. From my introduction into the honors curriculum, becoming a student leader with Service Learning’s Into the Streets program and individualized care from the Disability Resources and Services Department, leading to PHI THETA KAPPA (PTK) and my Honors-In-Action officer position; I have never before witnessed a group of mentors, employing the passion to individually reach out to each student in order to help him or her succeed. For instance, my art history professor explained that because I was receiving an “A” in her class, I should research the Honor’s Achievement…

    • 248 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Also, it is a good opportunity to gather with friends, watch a good game, and show pride in one’s school. After discussing both community colleges and four-year universities, they each have their own unique traits, but they do have some things in common. Community college is a flexible option to earn a degree to take classes at one’s own time. Four-year universities allow a student to be away from home and fully embrace themselves in their studies.…

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    College in today’s society is seen as a lifestyle, experience, and a necessity. Millions upon millions of students are crushed by the false reality being spewed off by television on how life will be after high school. Young impressionable minds are brainwashed into believing that college isn’t the path to success, but instead it is luck. These young minds start to believe that they will become rich and famous while avoiding the dues of student loans. This false reality leads these students to view college in a negative light when in fact a college education is what could be setting them apart from their ideal lifestyle.…

    • 888 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays