Testa 1

Michael Testa
Professor Kellner
ENGL 0099 004 Essay 1
20 September 2019

Colleges can often be exclusive and not welcoming to the general public. Requiring high

test score, community service hours, rigors placement exams, and extra-curricular activities, they

can often feel like a wall or fence was put around them to keep the lesser uneducated away. But

when some schools relax their admission standards they allow people with less then stellar

performance records to attend. Giving this group an opportunity to gain access to higher

education and a chance to change their lives. While some of the students who worked hard and

put in the extra time and effort to be accepted under the strict acceptance guidelines were

understandably upset when the school allowed open admissions. But when schools accept people

who are wiling to work hard to achieve their goals despite their pasts truly magical things can

happen.

“Open Admissions and the Inward I” written by Peter J. Rondinone is his story of his rise

from street thug to published author. Rondinone argues that his enrollment into The City College

of New York was a life altering experience and that it was only afforded to him through a recent

change in the school’s admissions policy. In 1970, the school temporally reduced requirements

for admission and the author was able to actively enroll in the university, despite his negative

grades. Through hard work, perseverance, and sacrifice he became a successful writer and even

reviewed a book written by one of his mentors. Looking back at his life and the opportunity

given to him by the school Rondinone realizes he was a very fortunate individual.
 Testa 2

He goes on to write “If it weren’t for open admissions, the likelihood is I would

still be swinging baseball bats on the street on Friday nights” (Rondinone 47). In this line he

sums up the fact that if had never been given the opportunity to attend school he would still be a

no-good running amuck on the town streets. The open admissions program at the college was the

only chance he was going to have to get out of the lifestyle he was living. He had seen friends

stabbed and even shot on the street and he knew that wasn’t the life he saw for himself. And

when given the chance to change things he did. All thanks to the laxed standards of the college.

Rondinone, Peter J. "Open Admissions and the Inward 'I'." Change: The Magazine of Higher

Learning, vol. 9, no. 5, 1977, pp. 43-47.