Summary Of I Just Wanna Be Average By Mike Rose

Throughout history stereotyping has been used to generalize a race class. Although when a race is being stereotyped it can be done in a positive way, in many cases it has also been done in order to keep a minority group inferior. In the article, “Thin Ice” by Claude M. Steele, Steele shows how African Americans who are stereotyped or have the mental image of being stereotyped negatively can affect their success in their academic success. In the other hand, in Jennifer Lee and Min Zhou’s “The Asian American Achievement Paradox” demonstrates when a stereotype is positive it can feed one’s ego and deliver better outcomes in a people’s academic achievements. Even though a large population of people can be stereotyped in a certain way through false concepts, it can affect the mindset of a single individual.

The authors use of pathos in the essay is well planned and is used effectively. The see proof, the reader would have to look no further than the title of the essay: The Logic of Stupid Poor People. The word ‘stupid’ can be seen as a strong word towards someone or a group of people which stirs up emotion into some readers before they even start reading. It grabs interests and makes people want to hear what she has to say. When the author recalls of her past of being raised in a poor family, the author could also be using her stories to make the reader feel sympathy for her and understand the pressure that poor people are put under for them to be able to be considered for certain benefits and help in general. Another example of the author trying to appeal to the readers emotional side was how she concludes the essay with disregarding and opinions others have about the choice of poor people if they were not poor themselves. She states, “You have no idea what you would do if

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

Mr. Mitropetros was described as not having much training in teaching English so therefore had students read aloud from Julius Caesar over and over. This did not provide any understanding of the text, only a memorization of the dialogue. (Rose 25) Rose also describes several other teachers who did not have a positive affect on him, but left him questioning their knowledge of the subject they taught.

Pathos is used in order to link the essay with the reader’s emotions and ethos is used to show the writers moral character. For example, pathos is used when Kozol speaks to a student of a Bronx high school, “Think of it this way,” said a sixteen-year-old girl. “If people in New York woke up one day and learned that we were gone…how would they feel?...I think they’d be relieved.” (Kozol 205) This part of the essay really made me feel sad for this girl who lives in a society where she has grown up feeling like now one cares about her or others of her race.

Pathos is to get peoples attention and draw them into to what they are reading to keep

Graff effectively uses ethos in his article by discussing a personal anecdote as well as utilizing some intelligent diction. When arguing that students would be more inclined to engage in an academic mindset if they were able to apply their own interests, Graff states, “I offer my own adolescent experience as a case in point” (245). By claiming that he personally struggled with academic engagement, Graff influences the audience to perceive him as a credible source. Not only does Graff prove his ethos through his personal anecdote, but he also builds his ethos by using impressive, complex diction. For example, Graff uses scholarly words such as “philistine,” “interminable,” and “rudiments” in order to present himself as a qualified, intelligent resource (247). By establishing his credibility, Graff strategically influences the audience to be convinced of his argument.

Meanwhile, ethos allow the reader to view the author as a trustworthy source and builds the author's credibility. An author can do this in a number of different ways, such as using other credible sources to their advantage or by building common ground with the reader. It is especially important for Gladwell’s audience to trust him, as he is trying to convince them that what they believe about success is wrong.

Pathos: emotion/value, a way of convincing an audience of an argument by an emotional response

First let’s talk about how Sherman Alexie uses pathos to appeal to the reader’s emotions. In his writing when he is using this technique he says, “I read anything that had words and paragraphs. I read with equal parts joy and desperation. I loved those books, but I also knew that love had only one purpose. I was trying to save my life.” (Alexie). This quote is successful because his word choice is helping to make the reader feel emotionally attached to the reasoning behind why he is doing what he is doing. Also, he says towards the end of his writing, “I refused to fail. I was smart. I was arrogant. I was lucky.” (Alexie) He does a good job with his word choice in these short sentences. It makes the reader engaged in the writing because he is being assertive, and he knows what he wants. Which what he wants is the reader to understand his point that something needed to be done and he was going to be the one to do it. Both of these quotes that I have pulled from his text reaches the readers on an emotional level because he makes it seem that knowing how to read saved his life and now that he knows how to read and

One of the main quotes Rose adds is when Ken Harvey says “’I just wanna be average” (80). Hearing this shocked Rose because people never strive to be just average, but in a place where they are already seen as being slower this was what they wanted. Depending on the background that someone comes from can affect the way they are in a classroom compared to others. Some have advantages right off the bat over some students because of their family or other influences. It can be easy for a student to work to be average but it can be difficult for people like this to work to be beyond this. It can be challenging when you are basically told by being in lower level classes that you are suppose to be doing that well in the first place.

Our class was inspired by Shankar Vedantam’s piece to conduct research on stereotypes at Point Loma High School. We were provided questions by Ms. Roberts and asked one person in class and another outside of class. The ages of those interviewed ranged from freshmen to seniors in highschool. Later, we input our data in a Google form and later converted it into a summary data chart and spreadsheet. The results were sorted by ethnicity and gender. Using our results we were able to find trends/similarities of the impact/aftermath and responses of those who were interviewed

Jane Addams does a good job of not only using ethos, but she makes it so that she can tie it to here pathos. What that does is that it makes her a credible source and it emulates a certain emotion that gets the audience to not only agree with her, but they can sympathize with her as well.

Pathos: It is the use of emotion and affect to persuade the audience. In this appeal, the author creates an emotional statement: “ an overworked single mother may find herself over stressed and fatigued at the end of the day, making

Staples illustrates how the nature of stereotypes can affect how we perceive others around us in either an excessively admirable light or, in his and many other cases, as barbaric or antagonistic. In his introductory