Read Tom Hanks' touching essay on why Obama's community college initiative is a must

(Image credit: Anthony Harvey/Getty Images)

published 14 January 2015

On Friday, President Obama announced his initiative to make community college tuition-free for millions of students. It's an ambitious proposal that Republicans aren't exactly giddy about and even White House advisers have acknowledged would be a slow build. But how can anyone resist the plea of support from Tom Hanks, National Treasure?

In an op-ed published Tuesday in The New York Times, Hanks endearingly details the mind-expanding two years he spent at Chabot community college in Hayward, California, in the mid-1970s. Chabot boasted a diverse student body that included Vietnam veterans, mothers, mid-career professionals, and wayward high school students like himself. Choosing among Chabot's extensive offerings in the arts, science, and trades, Hanks took classes from public speaking to Shakespeare that he says have stuck with him in the decades since. A history class influenced his John Adams HBO miniseries and his two years at Chabot inspired his 2011 film Larry Crowne. "That place made me what I am today," Hanks says. And imagine, he continues, what the initiative could do for millions more:

I hope the idea sticks, because more veterans, from Iraq and Afghanistan this time, as well as another generation of mothers, single parents and workers who have been out of the job market, need lower obstacles between now and the next chapter of their lives. High school graduates without the finances for a higher education can postpone taking on big loans and maybe luck into the class that will redefine their life's work. Many lives will be changed. [The New York Times]

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Lauren Hansen produces The Weekâ€™s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.