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Liz Addison Two Years Are Better Than Four Analysis

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In the article “Two Years are Better than Four,” Liz Addison argues that community college is better than four year universities, such as the one Rick Perlstein attended. Where Perlstein reminisces about his days in college and claims that the greatness of American colleges is gone. Addison makes it apparent to the reader that she not only disagrees with Perlstein, but makes remarks suggesting that she believes that Perlstein’s college days were less for studying and more for partying and enjoying the fact that he went to a fancy private college. Addison continues by detailing some of the opportunities for people that attend community college such as being affordable, a place for the student to begin, and possibly a better match for students’ lives. She claims that this is the way college is intended to be and by no means is college as we knew it coming to an end. In the article “Two Years are Better than Four” Addison addresses community college as “America’s hidden public service gem” (Addison). She explains how community college has been often not even thought of as an option when young adults are …show more content…

Community College is a new beginning for everyone that enrolls. The access to college allows them to broaden their minds, discover their passions, and push themselves forward. Community college opens doors for their students that they would never have believed that they were there before. It gives the students a chance to explore and see what they are truly wanting to do with their lives. Addison writes, “Just follow any one of the 1,655 road signs, and pop your head inside - yes, they let anyone in – and there you will find discoveries of a first independent film, a first independent thought, a first independent study. This college experience remains as it should” (Addison). Community college is the beginning of endless discoveries and infinite

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Liz Addison, who graduated from Piedmont Virginia Community College and Southern Maine Community College agreed that community college was better than a university. Addison believed that a four-year college was for the “privileged class”. Addison viewed universities as the “privileged class” due to students applying at their curriculum vitae. In addition, Liz Addison tells the importance of community college. Addison then goes on to tell how high school graduates have a hard time getting into universities; the odds of entering would be low.

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Liz Addison’s essay, “Two Years Better Than Four,” was first published in the New York Times Magazine back in September of 2007. Addison went to two community colleges and majored in biology; earning her degree in 2008. In her essay, she is responding to Rick Perlstein's article “What’s the Matter with College?” in which he claims, “College as America used to understand it is coming to an end” (211). Addison refutes Perlstein’s claims by saying, “My guess, reading between the lines, is that Mr. Perlstein has never set foot in an American community college” (212).

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