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:
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