I Just Wanna Be Average Summary

In Chapter 5 Mike Rose starts working with the Urban Teacher Corps in East Los Angeles. Of all the chapters I read from this book, I found chapter 5 as one of my favorites. Rose provides us with a look into the academic and personal lives of his students. He integrates pictures and music with his teaching methodology to get his kids to think creatively. And of course, it helps him to understand their lives and complications better. I really enjoyed reading about his idea of taking photos of the kids and let them write about what they see in those photos. Their answers show how they see life. I think Rose tries to show us that education is more complicated than just teaching the syllabus. He seems to be more enduring with his student’s like

Crazy Joe, the man who had changed the lives of both the students and the teachers of Eastside High School against all odds. Chaining up doors, calling out teachers, and show both teachers and students who’s in charge, even though he uses military-like teaching methods, Joe Clark was able to flip the school upside down transforming both students and staff into people to look up to. On arriving at the school Joe Clark had found out that this school was in dire need of change from both the students and staff in which he had decided to use unorthodox methods to change the school. Being set on changing East Side High School from a school full of drug dealers and miscreants, Joe Clark had used methods of discipline in the right

A lot people work very hard and struggle through life trying to be the very best at every single thing they do; this is a good trait to have but, sadly not everyone has this type of work ethic or motivation. Some people just try to get by and go through the motions, often not getting the education they they are rightfully entitled to. This is the type of mentality that Mike Rose discusses in his narrative “I Just Wanna Be Average.” Throughout the narrative, Rose shares personal experiences of mistakenly being set on the wrong track of his educational career due to a mix up with test results. Rose gets placed into the vocational education track, which is where the person he was mixed up with, with the exact same last name was supposed

The students in this track were often labeled as “unruly, and not motivated” and of course the parents and students are faced with embarrassment which can be tragic just from an error this school had made. If Professor Rose had not taken that single Biology course his sophomore year in “Our Lady of Mercy” his educational career as a professor would not have been a success. It is always very important teachers understand the importance and responsibility of their role that is in these student’s everyday lives, they shape the way these students think, and understand everyday education we use. During the essay Ken Harvey mentions that he just wants to be average and considers himself to be below average while Rose is thinking to himself what an absurd comment it was. When an individual is constantly told that he or she is not smart they can’t do this or that it lowers their confidence and they actually start working at that level and not striving for the highest standard. Teachers and or professors have many responsibilities including the most important one which is knowing and making sure the student or child understands every single lesson they teach.

Many are quick to disregard education’s role outside of the classroom. According to Mike Rose, “a good education helps us make sense of the world and find our way in it” (Rose 33). Rose emphasizes the value in the experience of education beyond the value of education for the purpose of custom or intelligence; he explores the purpose of going to school in terms of how he defines himself and his personal growth in the stages of his academic career. By reflecting on his personal experiences and how those gave him the tools applicable to his daily life, he emphasizes why education should never be overlooked. Rose’s use of referencing relatable experiences in a logical manner makes his argument persuasive to the readers and he succeeds in making the readers reconsider why education matters to them. Mike Rose’s Why School?: Reclaiming Education for All of Us effectively persuades his audience of the importance of education beyond the classroom, which proves true in our everyday lives because the essential aspect of education is what we do with it and how it helps develop one’s personal growth.

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.

In Rose’s “I Just Wanna Be Average”, readers can determine from what he says that teachers play an integral role in the educations of students. When others are teaching you what to do, it becomes easier to understand; when others are not teaching you, it becomes harder to understand. You can tell how essential a teacher is to a student if you were to read Rose’s narrative and see that: students float to expectations, if teachers don’t expect anything of you they won’t help you, and how beneficial it is to have a teacher who challenges you to be better.

I am aware that there are better and worse high schools out there than Fremont High School. And yet, reading Kozol's account of the terrible conditions that are endured by these students made me feel more aware of the severity of improper or inadequate education that poorly funded schools provide. All of these problems, alongside my awareness of my fortunate years of education, make me wonder, just as Mireya did, as to why, "...[students] who need it so much more get so much less?" (Kozol 648). Interestingly, I have little to comment on Kozol's actual writing style, even though he wrote this account of his. I was just so attached to the characters within that school that I wanted to be able to reach out somehow; Kozol definitely achieved something very touching here.

Rose writes about his high school educational experiences after he is inadvertently placed in vocational education when the results from his placement tests are confused with another student named Rose. Vocational education is a "euphemism for the bottom level." Rose went to school at a time when tracking, or sorting students by the results of placement tests was common in public education. Rose recounts his experiences in vocational education in order to elaborate on the problems of such system. The author calls the vocational track "a place for those who are just not making it, a dumping ground for the disaffected." To further aggravate Rose's situation his parents lack the capacity or understanding of the educational system in order to question his inappropriate placement. "How would someone like Tommy Rose, with his two years of Italian schooling, know what to ask? And what sort of pressure could an exhausted waitress apply? The error went undetected, and I remained in the vocational track for two years." However the most significant issue raised

Mike was also a paranoid person. For example, he gave the wrong address and phone number to the school so if something happened they could not contact him. That is why Paul and Sheldon chose him to be student president because nobody knew him and no one would suspect anything. <br><br>I believe that the hero's of this novel is Shelton and Paul because they got the school believing in themselves for the first time in many years. Don Carey High would have never had Mike Otis as the student body president. The school would have never entered the science fair, the basketball league, or had the school renovated if Paul and Shelton would have done nothing.<br><br>At the beginning of the novel Paul and Sheldon nominated Mike as Student body President without Mike even knowing. Mike then became president and didn't care (obviously). Little things in the school were fixed or replaced because of the guidance that Paul and Sheldon secretly gave (ex: painted hallways, bathrooms were fixed, etc.) and people started thanking Mike, but he didn't understand because he still did not know he was president. <br><br>As the time went on the Don Carey Students traveled to the Science fair. They also went to Laguna High for a basketball game, they trashed that school out of disrespect and jealously for their good school. This is a problem because Don Carey High had to pay for the damages, which would stop the renovations to their school. <br><br>When the vice principal Mr. Gamble heard this, he

Walking into school on my first day of high school, I felt out of place. My face covered in acne, my teeth covered in braces, and the callicks in my hair stuck up through the abnormally thick layer of hair gel that coated them. My middle school social anxiety still ruled over me as I could barely speak with any member of the opposite sex. Yet, I still had an odd confidence about me. I had always been one of the best students in my class, even without ever studying for a test. I viewed high school as a slight uptick from the curriculum I had easily passed in middle school. I was wrong. High school exists as a microcosm of society, in which I originally failed to acclimate myself to the challenges posed to me in a setting of increased

“Easy, unnecessary, pointless,” Raheel says after being questioned what 3 words he would use to describe high school. “School doesn’t teach you to focus on skills, it just teaches you a lot of different stuff. And when you’re learning all that different stuff, it doesn’t teach 100% in one of them. So let's say you get a 90 on a test, there's still that 10% you haven't learned from that material, yet the teacher still moves on.”

Mike Rose wrote a book concerning schools and its students. He writes several pieces of students that faces different situations and the challenge they faced. Whether how society has changed, the

Communication played a key role in how Principal Joe Clark chose to communicate with the students at Eastside High. Because of his impressive reputation and power, he was brought back at the school in hopes to make changes to the severe demise of the school. He was given the mission and assignment to change the environment of the school that had become violent with very low test scores and rapid drug use. The students lacked respect not only for the faculty, staff and other students but also for the school in which they attended. As the movie takes places and Joe Clark accepts the assignment as Eastside High school principal, he is very disturbed at what has become of the school. One of his many strategies that he used was his power to influence the attitudes and behaviors of Eastside High students which left him with a no nonsense reputation and the credit of named one of the nations “10 Principals of Leadership” by the governor of New Jersey in 1986.

High school was never really easy for me, or school in general. I’ve never understood how people take it in strides, leaping from one perfect grade point average straight to an ivy league school. When you grow up in a small household with little money to offer you, school is never your main priority. These circumstances never kept me from trying to get an education, but they never proved to help me. I watched these children go to school in their shiny new sneakers, a lunchbox in hand, and a bouncing ponytail that screams “My parents take me to ballet practice every Saturday.” These children get perfect grades because they never have to skip school because their mother needs someone to watch the baby again. They race to the playground with their friends when the final bell rings, never worrying about how if they didn’t get home right away, they won’t get to eat that night. They moan when they have to go to soccer practice, never second guessing the price of the uniforms. To emphasize my point, perfection is a circumstance that I was never in. Perfection is an idea,