Mike Rose's "I just wanna be average."

1) Describe Rose's life in Voc.Ed. What were his teachers like? Have you ever had experience with teacher like these?

Rose was put into Voc. Ed. because of an error made by the school. His test scores had gotten mixed up with that of another Rose within the system. The Voc. Ed. classroom sounds like a place to dump those students deemed "unteachable" by the school. The Voc. Ed. teachers had given up on their students. It was their job to make sure the kids passed, but they had nothing invested. They didn't care. I haven't really had personal experience with a teacher like this. However, there were a number of kids in my high school class who required special help understanding material and taking tests. These helpers, or paraprofessionals, didn't actually help. They more or less handed kids the answers to the homework and tests. Wrote papers for them and did their big projects.

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. did nothing good for Rose and his classmates. It gave them the perception that they couldn't learn, so they might as well not even try. It took away any desire any of them had to learn. There were students who were intelligent in Rose's class, like his friend Ted Richard. Ted was intelligent, although he didn't fit into the mold for intelligence, so he was placed into Voc. Ed. The Voc. Ed. kids were isolated from the rest of the school. As such, they were outcast. There was a stigma attached to anyone who was associated with it. I'm sure that emotionally, it was hard. To constantly be told, "You are not smart enough." has to suck. Not only that, but after a while, you begin to take on that identity of "stupid". It personifies you. After his time in Voc. Ed, I can totally understand why Rose would have a hard time catching up in math. He'd been told for so long he couldn't do it, that he began to believe it himself.

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?

Ken Harvey was put under the label "common". He dealt with this by just accepting his fate. It was easier for him to go along with it, rather than fight it. I've seen a lot of kids do this. There were a couple of kids in my graduating class who were labeled "bad" kids. They weren't bad. Because they had made mistakes, people had this perception about them that they couldn't shake. No matter how hard those kids tried, it didn't matter. So, I guess as a way to deal with it, they just accepted it. And they truly became bad kids. They smoked at lunch, they skipped class, and they didn't do their homework. It became their identity. In high school there is nothing more valuable than an identity or sense of self, a voice. These kids had been given an identity, and they accepted it. At least it was better than being nobody. I've also seen the attitude of "I don't care" even when you know they do. Not caring takes away the expectation of doing well, if you don't try, you can't fail.

4) What, if anything, do you find disorienting about college? What steps can students take to lessen disorientation?

The thing I found most disorienting about college is just the mix of different people that exist within the classroom. I haven't been in school for 5 years, and even then, the school I came from did not hold a variety of people. I struggle with feeling like I can't compare to other students or that I'm not on the same level as far as intelligence goes. I have had classes with 18 year olds who I feel are much, much smarter than me. I have the tendency to sit back a little until I've reached some level of comfort with the class. This is something that I'm dealing with personally. It's just taking me time to get used to it.

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

I had quite the opposite experience in high school. I was lazy, and honestly, a little scared of failure, so I didn't really try. I constantly had teachers pushing me to do better. I took a geometry class my sophomore year. I passed every test in that class, but failed, because I never did the homework. My teacher was baffled as to why I wouldn't just do it. My senior year, I had many meetings with the guidance counselor who didn't understand why I wasn't on track to graduate. She wanted to know why such a "bright student" would hold themselves back like that.