preview

Urban Legends Essay

Good Essays

Jordan Groll

American Society: Urban Legends in the Classroom What is it about America that causes students and people to crave an education? Could it be the intense pressures of society, or could it even be the simple fact that we want to educate ourselves? For centuries people were fine with being un-educated and life was simple and laid back, but when John Cotton (a noted Puritan Minister) established the first public school in America, people began to eat it up. And thus was the start of a race to the top and an obsession in today’s society about education. We are now living life in the fast lane, and most people don’t even have the time to stop and smell the flowers along the way. The Urban Legends, “Open Book”, …show more content…

In “Reward” the student keeps himself accountable for his own success by working diligently and giving it all of his effort, because he knows that the only way to success is to walk down a road less traveled. Is it impossible to solve a rubix cube? Its not impossible, one just needs to know the right algorithms used to solve it. This is very similar to the Urban Legend of “The Unsolvable Problem”. In this tale, a student mistakes an example of an unsolvable math problem for his assigned homework, and after several long hours of hard work and dedication, he solves it. As we can see, the student genuinely cares about his education, and he is willing to solve any problem in his path in order to be educated. This brings us back to the example of the rubix cube. With enough dedication it can be solved without algorithms. These urban legends are clearly directed towards the younger generations as they are the ones who are still in school and are sifting through the slow process of the education system. All three of these urban legends/tales have the same theme of teens and education. They are all written for a specific audience type, and in these three the specific audience happens to be teenagers or the younger generation. The Purpose of these legends is too relate to the teens in a way which will make them want to listen, and then to plant a seed or a message deep down inside of their heads which tells them to stay in school and to stress how important

Get Access