Analysis Of I Just Wanna Be Average

Mike Rose experienced a few teachers who used corporal punishment to control their classrooms. Brother Dill for example he describes as a “troubled and unstable man who also taught freshman English. When his class drifted away form him, which was often, his voice would rise in paranoid accusations, and occasionally he would lose control and shake or smack us.” (Rose 25) Rose also described his physical education who would use violence to “make men out of us.” (Rose 25)

Whether we realize it or not, test scores play a vital role in many people’s self esteem. A person who frequently scores high will be confident that they are very intelligent and will expect others to see them that way. Asimov attested to this when he stated, “All my life I’ve been registering scores like that, so that I have the complacent feeling that I’m highly intelligent, and I expect other people to think that too.” (Asimov, 536). On the other hand, those who score low on tests often write themselves off to be unintelligent. Emphasis on the importance of the ACT or SAT test scores can lead an adolescent to conclude that he or she is not capable of succeeding in college and lead them to not pursue higher education. The tragedy is that we may pass on opportunities because we have labelled ourselves unintelligent based on a test score which is not a true refelection of our

unqualified for his position to begin with, which is a failure on part of the Bush Administration.

In the article, “ All Roads Led to Poly for Principal Ari Bennett,” by Karina Avila and Kate Martinez, the authors explain the many obstacles Mr. Bennett experienced throughout his life to achieve success in the American Dream. “ Bennett’s career in Japan could not take off because he did not have a teaching degree. Realizing that he could not hold a proper job In Japan, Bennett returned to California to continue his education. He went back to UC Santa Barbara to receive his Bachelor’s degree in English, going onto California University of Northridge to receive his Teaching Credential, finally moving onto California State University of Los Angeles to earned his Administrative Credential and Master’s Degree in Educational Administration…, (Par. 10) Explaining the quote, Mr. Bennett didn’t have quite the good start in life at Japan, however he did not just stay in that position but instead went back to the United States and continue expanding his education. Connecting back to my topic, Mr. Bennett did not let an obstacle get on his way, he instead worked past it and continue his education for a better future. Picture yourself in his position, you’ll probably be disappointed thinking you made a huge mistake coming to Japan, would you just live with it or go back and find a way to get back on the road to

When the definition of education is looked up in the dictionary it comes out as “a degree, level, or kind of schooling”. While attending a university or obtaining a degree is largely viewed as being educated, there are many other ways to become educated rather than a degree with your name on it. Gerald Graff, and Mike Rose show their personal experience of being educated without a degree. Being educated is different for everybody, and regardless it’s the person’s personal experiences and lessons that lead them to thrive for an education in their own unique fashion. Mike Rose, professor at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, comes from a family of blue-collar workers.

In our world today, there are many different types of cultures. In America especially, there is so much diversity within culture that it's what makes America what it is today. What is culture you may ask? Culture is basically a human’s way of living life through values, beliefs, behavior, and material objects. In the well-known movie, Mean Girls, there are a lot of different types and aspects of culture throughout the movie. The movie Mean Girls is about a girl named Cady Heron who lived in Africa and was homeschooled for most of her life, has to attend a public high school called North Shore. She is clueless at first and after a while she makes friends with a group of popular girls known as the Plastics. She fits in quickly and tries to adapt through high school. There are different types of cultures and subcultures at North Shore such as the Plastics, the Jocks, the Nerds, the Cool African Americans, the Cool Asians, the Foreigners, and the Losers. Everyone at North Shore high wants to be like the Plastics so some of the girls like to copy everything the Plastics do such as the way they speak and dress. In addition to that all the students are desperate to fit in so in order for them to do that they have to value sex, drinking, partying, makeup, and other typical teenage stuff. Mean Girls did in fact have a lot of different types of cultural aspects to it and there are strong examples to prove this.

In terms of credentials and experience, he has a long list of jobs and positions held throughout his lifetime. In no particular order he has received a B.A. from the University Of Chicago, lectured at Harvard, served as the

credibility, but he does have some open opinions that are present. He also makes it obvious that

He gives supporting facts, is credible, and is accurate with the facts that he stated

Many people believe that their image and prestige is the number one thing they should be worried about. That if they don’t perfect in school and go to a prestigious school that their life won’t amount to anything. Well let me tell you that this is a naive and mislead view of the world and completely untrue because those that have actually made it in this world either stumble into it on accident or because they actually decided to work towards improving themselves before improving their transcripts. Let me tell you the story of Andre Holguin, a 23 year old young man who was bullied as a kid, had a hard time fitting in, and did horrible in highschool yet somehow has

He recalls of one of his students whom he knows was doomed when he says “From the beginning of our association vis-à-vis the research paper, I knew that there would be trouble with Ms. L”. He goes on to explain her short comings from not knowing how to use a computer, which is very much needed in order do a research paper to her trying to pick her own research paper. When she finally picks her topic he knew it wasn’t correct but he still let her write it. He knows that she would fail. After grading it and tell her she got an “F” he felt bad.

He also has a powerful personality, and won't easily be swayed by lobbyists. He is not afraid to say what he thinks, and

Testing anxiety has a major effect on the outcome of student’s placement on standardized tests. Throughout my education experience I have struggled with taking tests. Furthermore, tests have affected the outcome of my educational career. On the other hand, I have overcame those hardships because of the opportunities I was given. Well, Mike Rose in “I Just Wanna Be Average” understands what it feels like to be misplaced. Throughout that time period, Mike Rose’s test and some other person with the last name Rose got their test scores mixed up. Furthermore, this was the start of how it affected Mike Rose’s academic career. Mike Rose and I have had many similar predicaments with what the effects of standardized tests can do to our literacy ability.

Your ability to succeed in this society is often valued on accomplishments. So, when you are viewed as “average,” you may lose confidence in how you will succeed. However, average is not such a terrible thing to be.

The purpose of this story was to illustrate the importance of how we see ourselves and our abilities. Many people view intelligence and other skills as gifts that they either have or they do not. If Sally were to do poorly on her final exams, it would be a devastating indication in her eyes, that she does not have the ability to do well. Despite what her mother said, she would think that she is not the “smartest, most gifted, brilliant kid there is.” She then would place less value in studying because there would be no point if she was going to perform poorly anyways. She would rather invest her time in something she is better at enjoys. For some people, however, failure is not an indication that they do not have the ability to do well, but rather an indication that they must make some changes and never give up in order to gain that ability. The way people view their abilities and interpret the reasons for their behavior can be crucial in determining their success (Aronson et al., 2013).