Analysis Of The Dumb Kids Class By Mark Bowden

The article “Are We Raising a Generation of Helpless Kids” by Mickey Goodman appears on the Huffington Post, an online news aggregator and blog. The author focuses on explaining that children who are allowed to make choices and decisions on their own should be a thing of the past. He also touches on the idea that children learning valuable life lessons in our generation are not getting things done. The article tells the reader that the parents of the children today should prepare their kids for failure in life, and show them how to actually succeed in life without handouts.

Pathos is the writers attempt to appeal to the audience emotions. For instance, “In June, a professor protecting himself with a pseudonym wrote an essay for Vox describing how gingerly he now has to teach. ‘“I’m a Liberal Professor, and My Liberal Students Terrify Me,”’ the headline said” (Lukianoff and Haidt). The authors appeal to emotion paints a picture in the reader’s mind, further opening their eyes to make them feel how the professor was feeling. Also, naming the article “The Coddling of the American Mind” was a great was to represent how the problem was being addressed. The use of the word “coddling” reflected the way colleges were treating their students like babies. Enforcing trigger warnings to protect the students are not helping them for the future. This appeals to pathos because the audience gets a glimpse of what the after effect of “babying” has on

Through the effective use of ethos, Gatto readies his audience for reliable applications of logos through the educated opinions of others and historical evidence. Gatto’s use of logos is spread throughout his essay and makes up some of his most impelling and supportive claims against schooling, and while there are many examples that can be called upon, I would like to highlight a few of the more compelling instances. By referring to well-known pioneers of the past, Gatto makes it clear to his audience that schooling is by no means a necessary component of greatness:

The short story Hands by Sherwood Anderson is one of the twenty-two stories in the book Winesburg, Ohio. This story specifically focuses on the psychological trauma of a teacher after being falsely accused of molesting his male students. This alone brings up the topics of homosexuality and sex, which was considered scandalous at the time it was published in 1919.Although this is true, it did not stop the public from finding this piece of literature as fascinating. In Hands, Anderson’s form of symbolism, narration, and themes are what make this piece modern and unique.

Rose’s test results got confused with another student named Rose so he was placed in the vocational track; placed in classes that meant “dead ends”. Many of his teachers did not have the desire to be role models and mentors instead they were driven to violence. “My homeroom was supervised by Brother Dill, a troubled and unstable man, when his class drifted away from him, which

“Hidden Intellectualism” an article written by Gerald Graff is a very interesting piece of writing intended for the audience of high school and college educators. Throughout the text Graff argues that high schools and colleges are failing to incorporate topics that interest street smart students into the school system, which is therefore resulting in street smart students failing to do well academically in high school and college. He uses his own personal anecdote to support this. Graff successfully persuades his audience that high school and colleges can develop a student’s intellectualism by using topics that already interests students. He successfully does this through the use of development, conventions, and evidence.

Rose first explains how the educational system classifies a child’s class. He then proceeds to elaborate on how the vocational class works for those who do not do as well in school. He uses pathos so the reader feels emotional for the less fortunate student in the vocational class. Rose conveys his beliefs by using personal examples. He learns true qualities of people and shares the stories of Dave Snyder, Ted Richard, and Ken Harvey. Sharing the personal indications of what puts the students in the vocational class, gives the reader the notion that they have strengths that do not apply doing well in school. Rose ties the examples together in the end to confirm his opinion that one should never settle being defined as average.

Being a smart kid is an honor to most, but as a child, Mark Bowden believed otherwise. In “The Dumb Kids’ Class” he tells his unique experience in Catholic school, where he was in the dumb kids’ class and then switched into the smart class, and discovers the true differences between them.

There were many diverse aspects to this book. Most of this book is a recall from either the main character, or one of his students. This book is intended to open people’s eyes to see that in order to change the world we must first change ourselves. Being able to go through this story and see the mistakes, and the good decisions, teachers in Michie’s life have made, has taught me that the best way to teach is through love, justice, cultural empathy and imagination. Some of the points brought up in this book include the positive and negative sides of physical contact with a student, classification/stereotyping, race, gangs, police brutality/lack of justice, and children not being able to escape peer pressure.

What is the first thing people think of when they hear the “smart” kid talks about his accomplishments? Those smart kids get called a nerd and automatically have to deal negative things all because society itself thinks it is okay to do so. In “Anti-Intellectualism: Why We Hate Smart Kids”, Grant Penrod explains why anti-intellectualism exist. People will remember what the anti-intellectuals do but not so much the intellectuals. Society envy those who are smarter than them and only look at any other accomplishment besides education accomplishments. Anti- Intellectuals tend to bash others around them for their success academically. That is how society works in every generation. Penrod informs everyone of an example of how nerds can be treated differently especially in the school system. More recognition goes to sports teams instead of debates teams, which is factual. Penrod’s lack of credible information and the tone that has been presented has brought a lot of thoughts that need to be analyzed more closely on why he presented this article this way.

For example, my very intelligent child had been labeled as a “trouble maker” at a young age. He could not sit still in Kindergarten and focus on lessons. He had not yet developed these skills that were expected of him. Children are designed for movement and play. In a formal school setting, these natural impulses are stifled and pushed aside to obtain high test scores. The school system is designed to create a model student conformed to produce model citizens.

In the article “War Against Boys?”, I noticed two common and reappearing rhetorical appeals, pathos and logos. The reason I chose both of these appeals is because of how Michael Kimmel thinks about how gender inequality affects boys and how this is affecting boys education in lower and higher institutions. Pathos played a huge part in this essay because of the emotional and mental impact on boys through discrimination from the school system. One example of pathos being shown is when feminism was mentioned pathologizing boyhood making boys think what is normal , another way pathos was being shown is when gender stereotyping was stated to be hurting both girls and boys (Michael 522-523). Like pathos, logos was also seen throughout the article as well. The first logos that was shown was when statistician Tom Mortensen stated that “ the graduation line 2068 will be all females”(Michael 522). Another example of logos was the statistics of gender imbalance throughout the higher educational system.

Being a smart kid is an honor to most, but as a child Mark Bowden believed otherwise. In “The Dumb Kids’ Class” he tells his unique experience in Catholic school, where he was in the dumb kids’ class and then switched into the smart class, and discovers the true differences between them.

While reading Too Cool for School by Ellis Cose I have became aware of various aspects of my ‘schooling’ experience. I realized that I may not have had the best schooling experience, but I never pushed up against the system to get any better. Throughout my life I have attended over 10 schools some very high end others bottom of the barrel. Like Cose, I always knew my intellectual abilities, but I was always so dissatisfied with my situation I didn't make the best of it. Instead of soaking up as much knowledge as possible and making a lesson out of my situation I became complacent. I started to slack off and allow myself to become stagnant to what I knew my abilities were. I allowed myself to be a product of my environment when I should I have

Flynn, M. (1993). The Culture of Catholic Schools. Chapter 2, 33-59 Sydney: St. Pauls Publications. Retrieved from http://203.10.46.30/mre/cdrom/The%20Culture%20Of%20Catholic%20Schools.htm