Mike Rose's Lives On The Boundary

In the American education system, students are judged from an early age whether or not they will ever reach the standards previously placed before them. The expectations for adolescence are ever growing, and after falling behind it is easy for a student to become lost in the world known as “remedial.” Once deemed as such, it becomes nearly impossible to shed said label and become, at best, average. Breaking free from previously set inadequacies and challenging the unknown world of education are goals in which anyone can accomplish. In Mike Rose’s book Lives on the Boundary, he talks about his early years being placed in a vocational course at the secondary school he attended. He describes it as “a place for those who are just not making it” (Rose, 26). Although Rose was wrongly placed, he and his family didn’t know any better. Since they were uneducated themselves, it didn’t occur that the individuals in authority could have made a mistake. Because of this …show more content…
The next term they placed me in the highest math class in the middle school. At first I thought that it was a mistake, and I had made the right guesses on the test. The math that was being taught was nothing that had ever been presented to me. All the other people around me seemed to understand everything and I could feel the distance between us. It was embarrassing and strange to no longer be the best in the class. In previous classes, I had never paid attention. It soon became apparent that it was necessary to pay attention. Slowly but surely, I learned how to handle the pressure and new information. At the end, I was right on track with everyone else, and that was a great feeling. This proves that even the kids that are seen as inferior actually have the capacity to understand difficult subjects. Being placed in the easier classes only hold back the potential that has been hidden inside the student the whole