Gail O. Mellow is the president of LaGuardia Community College. In her article, The Biggest Misconceptions about Today’s College Students, she argues that there are misguided judgments present about the ‘typical’ college undergraduate. Mellow, writes this to inform the reader about the challenges college students, mainly ones at a junior college, have maintaining structure between their personal and academic lives. She adopts a firm, formal, and assertive tone for different groups of people; likely, financial trustees that could also be her fellow colleagues, any member of a staff of a higher learning institution in general, and even general taxpayers. She supports her claims about financial and academic obstacles students have by further explaining …show more content…
the different strategies that can serve as solutions. Throughout her article, Mello appeals to her audience with logos by insisting that financial aid should be required in order to help increase the ratio of graduates who completes a(n) degree or college program. In addition, she uses a fair share of statistics to strengthen this appeal. She points out that: (1) one of every five understudies have shaky living conditions; (2) 14 percent of college understudies are or have been at some point homeless; (3) More than 40% of undergraduates go to community college; (4) Community colleges gets a minor portion of over forty billion given in to higher education; (4) Over 75% of LaGuardia students’ have household income of less than $25,000 a year These are a few of many statistics that logically shows that “community colleges educate the majority of our country’s low-income, first-generation students”, who are “routinely underfunded”.
These details and numbers help reason that public and private money should be used “where more and more students are educated.”
Additionally, Mellow also makes claims to pathos. She offers plenty of sentiments and situations that students are obligated to outside of their studies. She personally takes note of the fact that many of her students “start their days by taking their child to daycare on the bus … take the subway to college … ride a different bus to their job ... another bus to pick up their child … a final bus to go home.” On top of that, “...they still need to cook... help their child with homework … and complete their own college coursework." She will likely influence her audience to have empathy towards low-income college students who are responsible for different living expenses that may consequently hinder their education, and even heighten the likelihood of them having to dropout. With that
…show more content…
in mind, she also suggests that increased funding, paid internships, and work-study programs are some of the crucial implements to a student’s success. Mellow furthermore adequately presents ethos in her piece as well.
For instance, you’ll notice she opens the article stating a theoretic perspective i.e. "...the typical college student...spending each day moving among classes, parties and extracurricular activities.” and proclaims that rather, only a very small pool of students actually do. Moreover, towards the end of the article she further alludes to her use of ethos by reinforcing that “correcting society's perception of who attends college in the United States is the first step toward helping these hard-working and ambitious students, eager to make a better life for themselves and their
families” When reading this article, the reader gets a great assessment on the reality and conditions a college student really has. Me being one in a low income status and no financial help, I understand how difficult is to have financial obligations while trying to work towards a great degree and having a steady schedule with a full-time job. With that in mind, Mellow effectively did well in addressing something that is worth thinking about: making a better understanding of college students, their circumstances, and having more resources available for them.
Bruni begins by describing the golden promise of college as it appeared for baby boomers. In that time getting into college and completing a degree was enough to be successful. He acknowledges that this idealized vision of college may be inaccurate, however, he asserts that the issue is far more “complicated” than it once was. Bruni makes use of a recent (2012) debate over student loan interest rates in the U.S. to explore the issues surrounding college education today. While rising student debt is certainly part of the problem he suggests that the issue extends beyond that. College is now a “luxury item with newly uncertain returns” (Bruni). While rising costs make college a luxury item that not everyone will be able to afford, even those who can and do manage to go to college are not guaranteed success.
“Just sign on the dotted line as an eighteen year old and you don't know what you're getting into” she mentions in the article. Throughout the passage she talks about how vocal activists and activists in general can make a change and she takes that stand a lot though this passage. It seems like she's trying to persuade the audience into taking control of their own lives . The main target audience seems to be anyone who is in college right now that is struggling with debt.
The essay “How Not to Get Into College” and the poem “Somnambulist” portray a similar message that people become unhappy and lose sight of their own values when the institutional world creates a stigma that forces them to over-work themselves. Alfie Kohn in “How Not to Get Into College” believes that students are already overworking themselves at such an early stage in their lives, and the result of this, is feeling unfulfilled. He believes that “what few realized was that the process wouldn’t end once they finally got into college. The straining toward future, this poisonous assumption that the value of everything is solely a function of its contribution to something that may come later – it would start all over again in September of their first year away from home” (Kohn 1). He proves
In their book Paying for the Party, Armstrong and Hamilton discuss how universities take class differences and class projects of distinct women to define what will be their college experience. In their book, Armstrong and Hamilton define class projects as individual and class characteristics that defines a person’s agenda and class- based orientation. Hence, people with similar class projects, not only shared the same financial and cultural resources, but also the same expectations toward school. (Armstrong & Hamilton, 2013). As a result, Armstrong and Hamilton claims that students with similar class projects end up becoming a collective constituency and a representative group for the university, whom in turn must take their interests to form a college pathway for them. Therefore, a college pathway for Armstrong and Hamilton refers to how universities are able to take successfully the interests, class characteristics and expectations of students to mold within the organizational and architecture context of the school. In a way, each college pathway is built not only to represent, but also to provision and guide the different types of students in a college.
For example, both Soma and Dontay both struggled with their grades within the first semester due to lack of support, which is not exactly surprising due to the statistics the documentary discussed such as 90% of lower-income students dropping out and only 21% of lower-income students will actually transfer from a community college. With lack of extra finances and support from families it is of no surprise that these two students struggled, though not all of the students struggled. Cecilia and Jess both graduated and found jobs, Cecilia even when back to school for her Masters, both ladies completing college and remaining successful once they
The right and privilege to higher education in today’s society teeters like the scales of justice. In reading Andrew Delbanco’s, “College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be, it is apparent that Delbanco believes that the main role of college is to accommodate that needs of all students in providing opportunities to discover individual passions and dreams while furthering and enhancing the economic strength of the nation. Additionally, Delbanco also views college as more than just a time to prepare for a job in the future but a way in which students and young adults can prepare for their future lives so they are meaningful and purposeful. Even more important is the role that college will play in helping and guiding students to learn how to accept alternate point of views and the importance that differing views play in a democratic society. With that said, the issue is not the importance that higher education plays in society, but exactly who should pay the costly price tag of higher education is a raging debate in all social classes, cultures, socioeconomic groups and races.
Two professors of different backgrounds, Mike Rose of California, and Gerald Graff, of Illinois, discuss the problems college students face today in America. Though similar in slight variations, both professors view the problem in different regards and prepare solutions that solve what they feel to be the heart of this academic problem.
The author, Julia Brookshire Everett commenced the article, “Public Community Colleges: Creating Access and Opportunities for First Generation College Students”, by first characterizing first- generation college students and also expounding on the difficulties first-generation students encountered when acquiring post-secondary degrees. According to Everett (2015), the term ‘first- generation college student’ was first coined in the 1960s in order to regulate student eligibility for federally financed programs to aid students from low-income households.
Coming to college as an adult, we have many expectations and preconceptions of what college will or will not be. The expectations we have can influence our college life for the better or the worse. My experience since starting college has been an interesting one. People have misconceptions about college because they do not know what to expect. After doing some research, I have concluded that there are three major factors that are often misunderstood about college life. The first is the financial aspect of college. Second, is the relationship between the professors and students. Third is time management. These three factors play an important role in why people are afraid to go down the path to college.
Most first generation college students are significantly older than the average, approximately 24 year of age (Pascarella et. al 2004). The surrounding low-income environments that many of these students are raised around can explain this late age. This financial pressure can also explain another category of first generation students, preparation (Chen & Carroll, 2005). These students are often less prepared to enter the college life. They have not been exposed to the necessary preparation needed to succeed on college admissions tests and furthermore don’t meet the performance requirements that universities and institutions require. Analyzing the prefaces that surround the environment of first generation college students aids in understanding current problems faced in college as well as assist in proposing solutions for this subset of
In Caroline Bird’s “College is A Waste of Time and Money”, it’s argued that there are many college students who would be better off if they were to begin working after high school graduation. Colleges and universities can no longer ensure that one will go on to get a better job, getting paid more than they would have without a higher education. However, high school seniors still stress about where they will be attending college, how they’re going to pay for it and what they’re going to study for the next four years. Bird points out how college has changed over the past few decades and how, in turn, it has set many young adults up for disappointment, if nothing else.
Students entering college for the first time become concerned with their college life. The students are on their own once they enter college. There are no parents or guardians telling them when to do homework, when to go to bed, or how to eat healthy. These students are now responsible for how they are going to succeed in school and meet their own needs. From the beginning, these students wonder what their experience is going to be like and are they going to handle the demands of college?
A college education has become the expectation for most youth in the United States. Children need a college education to succeed in the global economy. Unfortunately for the majority of Americans the price of an education has become the equivalent to a small house. The steep tuition of a college education has made it an intimidating financial hurdle for middle class families. In 1986-1987 school year the average tuition at a private university was $20,566 (adjusted to 2011 dollars) while in 2011 the average cost was $28,500 for an increase of 38.6%. Similarly in public universities there has been an increase in tuition: in the 1986-1987 school year the average tuition at a public university was $8,454 (adjusted to 2011 dollars) while in 2011 the average cost was actually $20,770 for an increase of 145.7%. Most families who are able to save for college try to do so, therefore their children are not left with large amounts of debt due to loans. Nevertheless, families are only able to save on average around $10,000, which is not enough to pay for a full educ...
Public colleges must be affordable to anyone who wishes to attend. If colleges lack to provide this to students, it can affect dropouts, a student’s ability focus, and cause stress. The problem of lack of funding is that colleges have insufficient funds. Therefore, the best possible solution for the problem of lack of funding would be increasing and collecting more funds from state taxes. Collecting funds from the state’s taxes is an effective solution because students get more academic support programs, which decreases dropouts.
O’Dubhslainé, A. 2006. The White Paper On Education: A Failure To Invest. Student Economic Review. 20 p 115