Brian Cross
Professor Rigolino
ENG170
5/13/22
Imagine How Much Better this Community Would be if you Helped?

Jonathan Zimmerman, a history and education teacher at the University of Pennsylvania wants to persuade people to act on why a gap year for college students could be so beneficial. In the article, “Why Colleges Should Require a Gap Year” Jonathan Zimmerman states his first claim by explaining, how restoring this gap year with a national service (Compulsory-service) should be a requirement since it would create better citizens and a better country, and overall, “a more decent and humane place, for everyone” (1). Zimmerman backs this up with what exactly he means by “national service”; help teachers at the public at public schools, give senior citizens some attention by keeping them occupied, remove all the waste and garbage out of nearby parks and rivers, bring food to people in need (homeless centers), and just assist the disabled people from doing day to day tasks. This would expose college-level students to more advanced connections and “Burst their college bubbles” as Jonathan stated.
An issue that arises with colleges is whether it will deter people from certain institutions and lead to fewer applications resulting in fewer tuition dollars. Although many would fear this, if colleges are providing alternative aid, and/or credit opportunities that are not expanding the overall time college takes to complete, it wouldn’t dissuade people. If colleges provide gap years with compulsory services that prevent them from falling behind, it will make higher education seem more beneficial/important to the community and erase the elitist shine of gap years. Zimmerman deems that this service year would be known as a freshman English or a language course, crediting colleges more.
Jonathan does a great job of connecting with his readers by utilizing logos and pathos. He states how other large institutions are already begging to offer aid to students who show proof of their gap-year projects. This allows people’s eyes to open and acknowledge that it is not that bad overall and could be very beneficial. This author does a good job of persuading readers with his use of language and the development of pathos as well. One way the author does this is by involving the community and how the purpose of college is to create better citizens and how it wouldn’t just benefit the students but all of America.
Personally, being so involved and itching to help the community and environment, I enjoyed reading Zimmerman’s proposal and strongly agreed with all his claims made. I think he supported his claims well with strong responses to back them up. This gap year is something to take into serious consideration due to the rise in pollution and population. There’s no reason not to support this proposal due to the endless benefits that you could receive. I think this will impact our community and environment, making it a more sociable place and opening people up to new connections and support for their further degrees in education. Working in different towns in our area I see firsthand how negative and dirty communities could get with no help. Providing a small army year-round would solve thousands of issues and get us through everyday challenges.