What is Community College For? An Analysis of President Obama's Discursive Framing of Community Colleges
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Objective: The project of the thesis is to understand the social and political role community colleges play in the American higher education system through the policy commitments of President Obama’s administration, 2009-2016. To do this, I conduct an analysis of President Obama’s rhetoric about higher education and specifically community colleges in his State of the Union Addresses. Method: I borrow rhetorical analysis strategies from scholars who have previously studied the President’s discourse. From Robert Terrill’s analysis in Double Consciousness and the Rhetoric of Barack Obama, I borrow his practice of centering the discursive analysis on pre-selected political concepts like democracy and equality of opportunity. From Mark Ferrara’s work, Barack Obama and the Rhetoric of Hope, I borrow his tactic of chronological, close-readings, and his emphasis on identifying narratives commonly found in the American social imagination. Speech and Political Theory Analysis: When President Obama calls upon the United States Congress to help realize a free, public postsecondary system, specifically a zero-tuition community college system, he is advocating for what he labels, “the opportunity agenda.” In making his case, the President draws on a limited version of the philosophical principle of equality of opportunity for welfare. Two motivating factors drive Obama’s opportunity agenda: public and private interests. I conclude there is reason for thinking these interests overlap. Conclusions: Obama’s discursive framing of community colleges paints for us a world in which realizing equality of opportunity toward economic ends is a necessary process for fostering a healthy democracy. The President’s discursive framing of community colleges omits language describing the civic purposes of a community college education. The omission contributes to a stagnant, underdeveloped national narrative about the civic ends of higher education.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date created | May 24, 2016 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Patel, Natasha |
|---|
Subjects
| Subject | community college |
|---|---|
| Subject | equality of opportunity |
| Subject | democracy |
| Subject | higher education |
| Subject | postsecondary |
| Subject | President Obama |
| Subject | Barack Obama |
| Subject | presidential discourse |
| Subject | political theory |
| Subject | philosophy of education |
| Genre | Thesis |
Bibliographic information
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- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (CC BY).
Preferred citation
- Preferred Citation
- Patel, Natasha. (2016). What is Community College For? An Analysis of President Obama's Discursive Framing of Community Colleges. Unpublished Honors Thesis. Stanford University, Stanford CA.
Collection
Undergraduate Honors Theses, Graduate School of Education
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- tashahpatel@gmail.com
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