Publication Information:
Rose, Mike. "I Just Wanna Be Average." Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical
Thinking and Writing. By Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin 's, 2004. 182-193. Print.
Brief Summary: In Rose 's article entitled “I Just Wanna Be Average,” he recounts his high school experience beginning with the fact that during his freshman year he was placed in the vocational program. At the very beginning of the author’s high school career he was forced to take a placement test to determine what track he would be put in, which he ended up doing well on. However, rather than receiving his own scores back he received the score of another Rose who had not done as well as him. This …show more content…
These teachers although they didn’t seem to care enough to teach effectively were still teaching him and if he tried hard enough and spent enough time outside of class working on his school work he could have succeeded, but instead he chose to give up. I relate to the author 's desire to just give up on school when things are difficult to understand, but I have learned that in order to be successful in students need to study, ask questions, and actually pay attention in class in order to do well in school especially if the teachers methods make learning difficult or …show more content…
Rose through the use of his personal experiences in high school allows us as readers to see first hand the thought processes that children in lower level classes have and what leads them to desiring to be average. Also by including his experiences in both the vocational and college prep classes he allows us as readers to better comprehend the difference between these classes in their structure, difficulty, and even the teachers that teach them.
How the Piece Might be Useful: This piece could be used in an essay in which I analyze the effects of the difficulty level of classes on the psyche of the students in them as well as their work ethic. The authors own experiences could be used to demonstrate that in lower level classes students don’t feel the need to try and often feel frustrated or bored. While on the other hand people in upper level classes often work harder and are more motivated to do their
Rose, Mike. "I Just Wanna Be Average." Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical
Thinking and Writing. By Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin 's, 2004. 182-193. Print.
Brief Summary: In Rose 's article entitled “I Just Wanna Be Average,” he recounts his high school experience beginning with the fact that during his freshman year he was placed in the vocational program. At the very beginning of the author’s high school career he was forced to take a placement test to determine what track he would be put in, which he ended up doing well on. However, rather than receiving his own scores back he received the score of another Rose who had not done as well as him. This …show more content…
These teachers although they didn’t seem to care enough to teach effectively were still teaching him and if he tried hard enough and spent enough time outside of class working on his school work he could have succeeded, but instead he chose to give up. I relate to the author 's desire to just give up on school when things are difficult to understand, but I have learned that in order to be successful in students need to study, ask questions, and actually pay attention in class in order to do well in school especially if the teachers methods make learning difficult or …show more content…
Rose through the use of his personal experiences in high school allows us as readers to see first hand the thought processes that children in lower level classes have and what leads them to desiring to be average. Also by including his experiences in both the vocational and college prep classes he allows us as readers to better comprehend the difference between these classes in their structure, difficulty, and even the teachers that teach them.
How the Piece Might be Useful: This piece could be used in an essay in which I analyze the effects of the difficulty level of classes on the psyche of the students in them as well as their work ethic. The authors own experiences could be used to demonstrate that in lower level classes students don’t feel the need to try and often feel frustrated or bored. While on the other hand people in upper level classes often work harder and are more motivated to do their