Passive Education : Life Is A Lesson

Additionally, Rodriguez did not like what reading meant. Reading to Rodriguez was more of a chore rather than for enjoyment. Reading meant that he would be all alone in isolation trying to understand what the meaning behind the book was. In order to fix his loneliness, he felt

Furthermore Richard Rodriguez not only “reads with the grain” but it appears he takes the same approach in every other aspect of his life. He states he idolized his teachers, even imitating them and trusting their every direction. (Rodriguez 518). While most children do not question authority openly and frequently, Rodriguez is so impressed and awed by his teachers he can’t possibly form his own opinions about what they are telling him. He just shakes his head yes in agreement.

“The Lonely, Good Company of Books” by Richard Rodriguez, is an expressive narration about the importance of learning through reading. The essay is a narration of his life from his early school years to high school and how he struggled with the general belief that reading books are the main source of education. “Open the doors of your mind with books” (172) he quotes from a poster over his teacher’s desk. He learned early on that books were the key to academic success. Even though his bilingual parents never read for pleasure, they instilled in him the value of books. This idea was repeated by his teachers that reading was the main activity of learning.

I"The Importance of the Act of Reading" by Paulo Freire, describes the importance of the act of reading beyond numerous experiences in his life as a child, a teenager, and an adult. Freire begins his article by taking readers back to where he was born, in his home city Recife, Brazil. He uses very itemized imagery to describe the trees, the house and the atmosphere of where he grew up and how the text, words, and letters were incarnated in the series of things, objects, and signs. He describes the trees, the house and the atmosphere of where he grew up and how the text, words, and letters were incarnated in the series of things, objects, and

The narrator, a teacher in Harlem, has escaped the ghetto, creating a stable and secure life for himself despite the destructive pressures that he sees destroying so many young blacks. He sees African American adolescents discovering the limits placed on them by a racist society at the very moment when they are discovering their abilities. He tells the story of his relationship with his younger brother, Sonny. That relationship has moved through phases of separation and return. After their parents’ deaths, he tried and failed to be a father to Sonny. For a while, he believed that Sonny had succumbed to the destructive influences of Harlem life. Finally, however, they achieved a reconciliation in which the narrator came to understand the value and the importance of Sonny’s need to be a jazz pianist.

Gerald Graff’s article, “Disliking Books” and Richard Rodriguez’s “Scholarship Boy” are similar and yet different in many ways. The two articles describe the journey of two boys from different backgrounds through various stages in their education.

As a child, I read non-stop. I used to spend entire nights reading, so much so that by the age of 9, I had developed grey circles under my eyes, which I wore like a badge. In school, I would use every free second I had to get just a little closer to finishing whatever book I had on hand. Ms. Carpenter, who always seemed as though she didn’t like teaching very much, frequently yelled at me for keeping my books on my desk so I could get to them quicker whenever I finished my classwork. She insisted that they were a distraction. But I always had a book to read, because every Friday each class walked in a neat line

The essay “Disliking Books” by Gerald Graff gives reason to why so many kids and young adults dislike reading. Graff mentions things from his childhood, and things from his time as a college student to explain his reasoning. Being a part of a middle class family, Graff explains the stigma surrounding studying and enjoying books in his childhood. Graff then shows us his experience that changed his mind. Graff uses details from his life to give meaning to his ideas.

Richard Rodriguez, in the passage “Remedial Reading” from his autobiography “Hunger of Memory”(1982), promotes active reading as a developer of one’s mind. He justifies his position by describing his initial experiences with reading, specifically his attachment to the reading. Rodriguez’s anecdote functions as an encourager of stubborn minds trying to read and displaying its potential to change their life for the better. Rodriguez uses a very descriptive style that may be too verbose for children but compliments the verbosity with enough explanation of his purpose for his message to be known or ascertained.

The idea that information is “deposited” from a teacher into a student fits the majority of Rodriguez’s educational experiences. As a young child, Rodriguez feels that “books were going to make [him] educated” (Rodriguez 578). He never questioned what he was told by his teachers or what he read in any book. He didn’t develop ideas of his own or any critical thinking skills. Rodriguez says that he was “a great mimic; a collector of thoughts, not a thinker; the very last person in class who ever feels obliged to have an opinion of his own” (Rodriguez 581). This type of education helps us to understand the relationships Rodriguez had with his “mentor” Richard Hoggart, as well as his school teachers and parents.

For example, the materials given to them are made by the teachers and are straight from the textbooks where students are not able to give their thoughts on the chapters they learn. He also states that primary education is “imitation” where students are made to memorize alphabets, multiplication tables, etc. This belief parallels to Freire's views on banking education and makes Rodriguez a “Scholarship boy”.

Throughout history, scrutiny towards literature has fallen into three categories: political, moral, and religious. Advocates of intellectual freedom and speech have stood against those individuals and organizations that oppose the rights of any individual seeking knowledge through books under the 2nd amendment. In my essay, I intend to shed light on the benefits books can have and the side effects of a lack of knowledge in a school setting.

"…I came to idolize my grammar school teachers. I began by imitating their accents, using their diction, trusting their every direction. The very first facts they dispensed, I grasped with awe. Any book they told me to read, I read – then waited for them to tell me which books I enjoyed" (Rodriguez 625). Rodriguez allowed his teachers to tell him how to think; he became completely submissive to their every belief. As Freire stated the teacher’s task is, "to fill the students with the contents of his narration – contents which are detached from reality, disconnected from the totality that endangered them and could give them significance" (Freire 348). Instead of having his own opinion, Rodriguez permitted his instructors the privilege of reasoning for him.

“Books are like music to my ears, and Music is like a books imagination (Layla)”. Books and Music have the type of impact that collides together in a person’s left & right lobe. Music and books provide entertainment right) and sense of meaning (left) to our daily lives. Throughout centuries books and music have been passed down over and over, some changing while others stay the same. Books were not always a choice between hard cover and paperback, books were also pictures on a wall or words spoken to children in their villages. Books are stories which can be told through song and dance as well, which brings me to music an historical art that’s been around since the beginning of time. Music isn’t just someone in a studio singing words that were written for them, music is also art that can be illustrated with instruments, lyrics or sound.

In the second grade, a common form of learning at activity time were “stations”, in which students read books like Flat Stanley at a table, and then went to the next station to listen to it. How many second graders went to the audiobook station claiming it was the “easy way out”? Even today, adults and children alike still possess the notion that visual reading is somehow more work, and therefore listening to the book is cheating. Reporter Martha Ross investigates the argument in her article “Audiobooks: Is listening as good as reading?” and comes to the conclusion that audiobooks not only count, but in some ways they are better than printed literature. Ross’s argument, although lacking any emotional components, remains sound and persuasive due to her support of premises and her use of the appeals.