I Know Why The Caged Bird Cannot Read Summary

The question of whether the educational systems are encouraging competition depending on the students engagement is a tricky one. On one side, one can feel that these competitions encourage students to have an environment with competition that focuses more on getting the material completed and becoming number one. However on the other hand one might feel that schools do not encourage competition it focuses more on actually understanding the material. Evidence suggests that most people feel that education should be taught in a different ways where students feel encouraged to prosper. By examining “I Know Why The Caged Bird Cannot Read” by Francine Prose, “Emerson on Education” by Ralph Waldo, “Superman and me” by Sherman Alexie, and “Best in Class” by Margaret Talbot, it will become more …show more content…
Her point of view is that the environment the students are put is very irrelevant since they loose interest in the books they are assigned in their high school English classes. this supports the idea that students are not being challenged since the school boards of education are not doing anything to change the readings and as she claims will lead towards a “ downward shift.” In her article she says “ One can see why this memoir might appeal to the lazy or uninspired teacher,” although it might not be necessarily true that all teachers do not teach the material in depth, it seems to be a major part of her argument on how a majority of the teachers do not challenge their students or in other words put them in a competitive environment. As a result Prose concludes that in terms of the educational system “ mediocre high school favorites will continue to rise, unburdened by gravity, to the top of the list.” Similar to Prose’s point of view, author of “ Superman and me” Alexie, claims that students are being limited to their full potential because of the school's