Jonathan Zimmerman is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania that teaches education and history. He is the author of the article, “Why college should require a gap year?,” which gives his opinion on college students eighteen and older to take a gap year from college. He emphasizes that taking such action will allow students to meet different people and help in their communities. He then says that college can be expensive, which can cause many people not to be able to attend or possibly drop out of college. He advocates taking a year off from college to help better themselves as a person. 

Jonathan Zimmerman states, “although the federal government is unlikely to require national service, we could. And the benefits would be extraordinary – not just for students and our country, but for higher education itself” (1). This is considered the thesis because it tells readers what the rest of the article will be about. Since Zimmerman has his title as a question, “Why college should require a gap year?,” this specific quote illustrates his position on the topic. He feels that the college reinforcing a gap year would lead to benefits for students and the country.

One of Zimmerman’s claims is students get the opportunity to meet different people when they take a gap year. He states, “along the way, they would meet thousands of people who are not like them” (2). This pushes students to get out of their comfort zone and build their communication skills. Students become more social and interact with different people from different backgrounds and cultures. Another benefit Zimmerman makes in his article is that the country would be better for everyone. He states, that “our students would clean up our parks and rivers. They would serve food at homeless shelters” (1). The listing of benefits shows the goodness of students doing these things within their community. It will help keep not only the community but the planet healthy and clean. These two claims help develop his thesis statement because it gives reasons for his position on college requiring students to have a gap year. 

When focusing on the language that Zimmerman utilizes in his article, he connects to his audience by appealing to logos and pathos. An example of logos is when he gives statistical information to back up what he is saying. He states, that in the “ 2018 Pew Research Center survey, 61 percent of Americans think higher education is headed in the wrong direction” (1). This helps his audience to believe him which makes his article effective. It also helps build his argument and possibly allows his audience to lean towards his position. An example of pathos is when he appeals to his audience’s emotions by giving a list of benefits students can do in their community such as serving food to the homeless shelters. 

As a student, I feel as though Zimmerman’s article is sort of a proposal. This is because although he wants a change (taking a gap year from college) he is more so making an argument towards colleges requiring students to have a gap year. Having a gap year for me would not be the best decision to make. This is because I would not feel the need of wanting to come back to college. My family would not dare allow me to do it even if I wanted to. 

 

Work Cited 

Zimmerman, Jonathan. “Why Colleges Should Require a Gap Year.” Chronicle of Higher 

Education, vol. 66, no. 66, 10 Jan 2020, https://libdatabase.newpaltz.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=141665798&site=ehost-live.

 

 

THOMAS’S ENG. FINAL (1)