My response to Mike Rose’s “I Just Wanna Be Average”

1.       It was pretty unfortunate that his test results had been swapped with another Rose and made him get put into Voc. Ed. To me it sounded like his two years there had been pretty miserable and that the teachers didn’t really care a whole lot about these students education. I couldn’t say that I can really relate to any of these classes though, fortunately in this day and age we don’t get beat in classrooms. I could say that I have at least had a teacher for a couple years that didn’t really seem to care or maybe just didn’t know how to teach the students which made me feel like I had missed out on some critical steps and pushed me to try and learn as much as I could on my own.

2.       In this setting it caused Rose and his fellow students to not get the extra attention that they possibly needed to meet and exceed educational expectations. Which I’m sure can also make it hard to be more social when you don’t feel as if you know as much as an average person.

3.       I think that high school is so disorienting to students like Ken Harvey because it is a whole new experience. Unfortunately a majority of people segregate themselves and create “clicks” in the school setting and that can scare some people to think they do not belong and they just want to fit in. For Ken he had coped with it by accepting who he was by rejecting the annoyance and the feeling of being lost and relying on his common sense.

4.       In college you have to learn to truly make your own decisions and become more of an adult. Sometimes it can be disorientating because of nerves. For me sometimes the social aspect of life can be a little bit scary and with college, like high school, you have some assignments that force you to be more outgoing and even stand in front of a class. Sometimes for someone like me that situation can make you shut down and maybe even lose your thoughts.

5.       In some situations I have felt a little shorthanded on my education, like something has been missing. I honestly probably didn’t put forth as much effort as I really should have though. Sometimes it has all been easier to accept being average and not to go above and beyond.