revised writing # 6
this is pretty much the last one until i can revise some more.
Ashley Krolikowski
Ms. Alley
Eng. V01A
November 20, 2009
Thought Paper Two
In Mike Rose’s, “I Just Wanna be Average,” he describes his four years at a public school in Los Angeles, California. He writes of his first two years as being in Vocational Education, the bottom level of education at the school, and the teachers and people he came into contact with. He also describes his transition into the college prep classes, the highest ranking education at the school, the teacher that most influenced him the most, the death of his father, and his decision to go to college.
While telling his story, Rose also points out the flaws in the education system and the importance of just one teacher having faith in a student. He describes having to perform a mathematical problem but not having the knowledge in which to do solve the problem:
You are given a problem. It requires you to simplify algebraic fraction…you know this is pretty basic material because you’ve seen it for years. Once a teacher took some time with you, and you learned how to carry out these operations…but that was a year or more in the past and these are more complex versions, and now you’re not sure. (357, 50 Essays)
He goes on to describe what happens when you give up and how you’re attentions wavers. He also describes how his senior English teacher influenced him to go to college and how he opened his mind to new forms of literature because of this teacher.
I found that I could relate to his main points specifically the situation in which he had to perform math problems he didn’t know how to do. This has happened to me many times before specifically because I had never fully learned the procedures prior. I never had a teacher like he described so I cannot agree or disagree with his point of view.
In “Learning to Read” Malcolm X’s describes being in the prison system and teaching himself to read. He also provides his opinion on several race issues in that era. One opinion in particular describes how he views the white man and how the white man has harmed the world. He writes, “…the whole world’s white men had indeed acted like devils, pillaging and raping and bleeding and drain the whole world’s non-white people.” On this issue I don’t have a formal opinion because I am not as well informed as the writer is. I thought the other parts of this essay were interesting, in particular how he taught himself to read.
In Chris Carlsson’s Nowtopia, specifically the second chapter, he discusses the history of the working class and how in today’s world the working class ceases to exist. He also made a point of expressing how the majority of the U.S. considers themselves part of the middle class. I suppose he meant to say that people should not be defined by their work. I am only guessing because I did not quite understand the reading as well as I should have. I did think that it was interesting and it is growing on me. I did agree with his descriptions of the 1950’s and the union strikes but not in any specific area.
Vocabulary:
- Ameliorated- improved
- Gentry – well born and well bred
- Opaque- unintelligible
- Pedagogy- teaching
- Milieu- environment setting
Questions:
- On the last page of Mike Rose’s essay he says something about being in Vermont. What does this mean?
- What particular opinions did you find controversial in Malcolm X’s essay?
- Did you feel that Carl Carlsson accurately describe notions of class?
Works Cited
Cohen, Samuel. 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin, 2007.
Print.
Carlsson, Chris. Nowtopia. Oakland: AK Press, 2008. Print.
