Mike Rose "I Just Wanna Be Average"

Mike Rose’s “I Just Wanna Be Average” Questions: With regards to our own Ed. Narrative

1.      Describe Rose’s life in Voc. Ed. What were his teachers like? Have you ever had experience with teachers like these? Rose’s life in Voc. Ed. was about as good as he made it out to be. He and his peers were under constant scrutiny about being consistently “below average.” Many of his teachers did not have the desire or will to be role models and educators to their students. They thought their level of knowledge had no room to grow, and that they were going nowhere but down. In my educational experience, I have had a few high school teachers that were like this, but most them were in Voc. Ed. classes. Teachers like Mike Rose experienced in Voc. Ed. are often ones we do remember for a long time, but not for the good, positive, reasons we should remember our teachers for. Life lessons are learned when someone we look up to teaches them to us, if it is not a role model or someone we can count on, lessons often do not stick with us forever.

2.      What did Voc. Ed. do to Rose and his fellow students? How did it affect them intellectually, emotionally, and socially? Why was it subsequently so hard for Rose to catch up in math? Voc. Ed. not only prepared Mike Rose and his peers for the “real world”, but it also made them stronger individuals. They knew they just had to “squeak” by when it came to class, but they always strived to conquer and reach their goals they each individually made. They were often referred to as below average intellectually, so this is how they viewed themselves. This “below average” standard hurt the kids emotionally as well. They knew they were placed in this direction because of their low test scores, but they didn’t know that because they didn’t score so great, they couldn’t improve on it. For example, math was a subject that Rose could never come to a full grasp on, but it was his teachers’ unwillingness to make sure he continually learned this skill and eventually mastered it. Mentors in our life reiterate the importance of practice to us, and if we don’t practice towards perfection it often will be a skill we forget.

3.      Why is high school so disorienting to students like Ken Harvey? How does he cope with it? What other strategies do students use to cope with the pressures and judgments they encounter in school? Students who often view themselves in a negative way, see a negative impact on their lives one they reach middle school and high school. If you are down on yourself, usually that trend will be followed by others. Ken Harvey didn’t necessarily think he should be, along with the rest of Mike Rose’s peers, on this vocational ed. pathway. He struggled to come to terms with the fact he was placed in this realm and often took it out on himself. At the end of the day, he knew he couldn’t change it, and other people’s opinions didn’t matter to him, so eventually he stuck to his beliefs and kept his mouth shut. He had to realize that in a classroom like his, with such a broad range of diversity, everyone had their own beliefs and opinions that often did not match the likes of his. Students often let the pressures and judgments inhibit their learning and bring them down as individuals, but when you set your own goals and stick to your own strict beliefs you can quickly realize the opinion of others does not necessarily matter.

4.      Rose explains in ¶ 16 that high school can be a “tremendously disorienting place.” What, if anything, do you find disorienting about college? What steps can students take to lessen feelings of disorientation? College, in many ways, is a complete different atmosphere than that of high school. College is completely dependent on the student and their effort they put in. Attending class and getting the required material is now up to the student, it isn’t all just handed to them. Some students find this dependence beneficial on their education; others think this is the burden weighing down on their success. It is up to the student and the human being to want to learn, and to learn new things in order to be successful in life. Knowing this, for me, takes the feeling of disorientation away from the college atmosphere; it is what WE make it out to be. If we want to learn a skill, then we will learn it. Students who do experience this sense of “disorientation” often find themselves falling behind.

5.      How does your experience of education compare (or contrast, or both) to Mike Rose’s?

Education for me was never really similar to the one Mike Rose experienced. I always got to choose the classes I wanted to take, and which ones I wanted to stay away from taking. I kind of avoided the Voc. Ed. path through high school and stuck to more of the core curriculum, like math and English, which many students didn’t want to conquer. The teachers I had, thankfully, wanted to make every student they had a better person and they made sure we always were there to learn. They were mostly very knowledgeable at the topic they were teaching, and always could provide real world examples in where we would use some of the things we learned. Teachers always had an impact on my learning, whether it was positive or negative. Many things that have stuck with me today have come from role models that I trusted and knew were knowledgeable.