Community College

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Introduction
The community college is indeed a vital aspect of the American education system. Thousands of students, especially from the low-income earners have benefited greatly from the community colleges. It forms an alternative means for the high school graduates who cannot be accepted into the four year colleges because of either being unable to pay for the school fees or because of low grades access higher education. Moreover, other special groups such as the veterans, parents, and the unskilled Americans are now capable of accessing higher education through community colleges. Therefore, this paper will strive at addressing the role that the community colleges play as far as the American education system is concerned with the help of three articles.
Common Theme of the Articles
The three articles have a common theme of the importance of the community college. They cover the role of the community colleges as far as the provision of education is concerned. Besides, the article also featured the impact that the community colleges have had in the United States of America and the manner at which they are still impacting millions of American lives. The authors in their articles claim that community colleges form an alternative way of accessing higher education as compared to the conventional four-year colleges. They outlined the roles that the community colleges play in regards to the education system of the United States of America. For example, the community colleges are relatively less expensive, as compared to the usual four year colleges (Weinstein 3).

This is because of the lower tuition fees, therefore, it allows the low-income earners the opportunity of accessing higher education.
The authors of the articles
One of the authors of the two articles is Michael M. Weinstein. The title of his article is “Why We Must Prize Community College Success.” He is the CPO at the Robin Hood, his organization is renowned for the fight against poverty in the whole of the New York. Therefore, it can be argued that Michael has all the rights to write this article. This is because being a CPO of such an organization in the New York, he sees the community colleges as one of the fundamental tools of fighting poverty. As presented earlier, community colleges are ideal for not only the low-income earners, but also students that cannot afford the high tuition fee of the four-year college. Therefore, Michael sees education as the main tool for fighting poverty, which can be provided by the community colleges for the Americans that are perceived to be poor.
Tom Hanks is the other author. The title of his article is “I owe it all to Community College.” He is a community college graduate from the Chabot Community College. Therefore, he has all the rights to write the article. First, as the title of his article suggests, the Chabot community college is responsible for whom he is today. The college accepted him with his lousy SAT high school scores (Hanks 1). Hanks also had no finances that could have afforded him an education, but the Chabot Community College admitted him without considering his financial status. Therefore, he has all the rights to write the article has an appreciation of the impact of the community college in his life.
The authors and the future of the community college
Michael M. Weinstein and Tom Hanks both believe that the community colleges have a bright future. They value the community colleges and consider them to have a great impact in American education as well as the economy as a whole. The authors have provided credible evidence to support their claims. In particular, Michael in his article provided an evidence by featuring where he assisted in launching the Robin Hood College Success Prize to act as an incubator for the research components among college students. This shows that Michael is proposing a bright future or the community colleges (Hanks 10). On the other hand, Tom Hanks by featuring in his article the attempt made by president Obama to boost community colleges with a mammoth $60 billion is enough to show his optimism of the future community college.
Author’s call of action and their success in achieving their purpose of writing
From the articles, it is evident that the authors intend to popularize the community colleges. They believe in the impact of the community colleges in the lives of the Americans. They want the others to know that there is also another alternative source of higher education other than the usual four-year colleges. Moreover, they target the low-income earners, the war veterans, and the parents. They want them to know that they still have an opportunity to realize their dreams regardless of their situation. Moreover, it can be argued that they are trying to lobby for any assistance that can help take the community colleges to the next level. Besides, it is without doubts that the authors have achieved the purpose of writing their article. They have managed to present to the Americans the importance of the community colleges as far as the education system is concerned.
Conclusion
It is without doubt that community colleges have contributed to the American education system in vary many ways. First, they present an opportunity for the students from high schools, but had lower grades to access higher education. Second, war veterans, parents, and the low-income earners with no college education are presented with the opportunity of acquiring the much needed professional skills by taking their careers to another level. Third, community colleges also help to bridge the gap between high schools and the four-year colleges. Fourth, community colleges also participate in making the American education system to be more flexible. They provide different modes of studies such as evening sand weekend studies together with the distance studies. Moreover, the community colleges also provide education to students from different backgrounds and different ages (Hanks 4).
Works Cited
Weinstein, Michael. “Why We Must Prize Community College Success.” Education News,
Commentary, and Advice. Forbes, 4 Jan. 2014. Web.
Hanks, Tom. “I Owe It All to Community College Tom Hanks on His Two Years at Chabot
College.” The Opinion Pages OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR. The New York Times, 14 Jan.
2014. Web.