The Community College Model Works Just Fine Summary

In February of 2015, Citizens Voice published an essay written by Dr. Michael MacDowell, in which he gave his opinion on Barack Obama’s recent proposal to make the first two years of community college free of charge. Dr. Michael A. MacDowell, retired president of Misericordia University and a writer for Citizen’s Voice, disagrees with Obama’s plan and makes this clear with his article's title, “The Community College Model Works Just Fine”. MacDowell’s greatest arguments is that the community college group may not be the most affective group to offer free education. MacDowell successfully uses statistical facts and evidence to create a convincing essay.

MacDowell starts his essay by stating his personal opinion of Obama’s program being “problematic

Additionally, only 60 percent of adult students typically return the following year, according to the Brookings Institution.” MacDowell brings up an incredible point, one that could potentially sway the readers who oppose his thesis. MacDowell emphasizes on the dropout rates for community colleges to prove the point of how much of a waste it would be the fund the tuition for students who may not be 100 percent invested in their education. What MacDowell does not do is use this evidence and give it a purpose for his paper, it’s like he just brings up this fact then immediate moves on to talk about something else. MacDowell brings this fact into his article and assumes that the readers know what is meant by it, I would have liked MacDowell to expand on this point. Nethertheless, MacDowell gets his point across, which is all that matters in a persuasive essay .This evidence is very effective toward MacDowell’s argument because it stresses the point that it might not be smart to invest in money toward a group that may not put their free education to good

Instead of taking his entire paper to shut someone elses ideas, MacDowell gives his own solution, showing that he has thought long about this topic and created his own plan. This gives the impression to the readers that MacDowell is knowledgeable towards this topic and knows what he is saying. He says in the eighth paragraph that the proposal would not benefit the middle class. “The widespread criticism it generated focused on the negative impact it would have had on the middle class — the very group the President’s initiative was supposed to help,” this quote makes one believe that MacDowell is all for helping middle class families. One of MacDowell’s alternates in the last paragraph to free tuition is “an expansion of the current and very successful income-based Pell grants”. Because MacDowell suggests an expansion of the pell grant, he stays true to what he says earlier in his paper about helping the middle class. When MacDowell says expansion, he means that the Pell grant will potentially be available to more than just low-income students, giving the middle class the opportunity for more financial