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Analysis Of Community College By Liz Addison

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In today's society, many people do not recognize community college as a place of opportunity and growth. Liz Addison utilizes a sarcastic tone at the beginning of her essay and later a hopeful tone as well as short and long syntax to convey her belief that community college is the best place to grow and achieve anything.

Addison’s use of a sarcastic tone in the first paragraph shows how she feels about college in the years before. By stating “Those days, man, when a pretentious reading list was all it took to lift a child from suburbia. When jazz riffs hung in the dorm lounge air with the smoke of a thousand bongs, and college really mattered”, Addison presents her belief that college, in earlier years, was not as prestigious as community …show more content…

On the contrary, in paragraphs succeeding, Addison’s tone begins to shift to hopeful and optimistic. By stating, “The philosophy of the community college…is one that unconditionally allows its students to begin. Just begin. Implicit in this belief is the understanding that anything and everything is possible,” Addison explains that in community college, students have the opportunity to accomplish anything. Furthermore, by implementing “begin,” Addison strengthens her statement that there are endless possibilities at a community college. Addison’s tone is also optimistic when she adds that “the community college system is America’s hidden public gem,” and that “they offer a network of affordable future, of accessible hope, and an option to dream.” Through this remark, Addison not only exhibits a hopeful tone but, also makes others optimistic that community college is an option for them. She does such by listing that it is “affordable,” meaning achievable for those that don’t have much, as well as, being a place to “dream.” This shows that in and after community college, there are opportunities …show more content…

She utilizes short syntax by stating, “but he (Mr. Perlstein) is wrong.” In the sentence proceeding, Addison shared that Mr. Perlstein believed that the college experience was over. By using such a short sentence, Addison shows that she strongly believes in her statement and that there is no reason for her to argue such statement. She also diminishes the credibility of Mr. Perlstein by dismissing his statement as “wrong.” She believes Mr. Perlstein is wrong because community colleges are thriving and still offer many opportunities. By implementing Mr. Perlstein’s counterargument, Addison weakens his credibility while strengthening her own writing. Addison displays the use of long sentence structure when claiming, “just follow any one of the 1655 road signs, and pop your head inside…and then you will find discoveries of a first independent film, a first independent thought, a first independent study.” The lack of a conjunction shows that the “firsts” continue for much longer. This shows that in community college, individuals can accomplish what they wish. Furthermore, this statement strengthens Addison’s credibility by, again, dismissing Mr. Perlstein’s as irrelevant and incorrect. This strongly contrasts Mr. Perlstein’s belief that college is no more by giving examples of ways community colleges have provided a place filled with growth

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