You Just Wanna Be Average, Eh?

Rose had been placed in Voc. Ed after taking a placement test to get into Our Lady of Mercy. He had to take remedial classes with sub-par teachers to make it. His teachers such as his Physical education and homeroom teachers, were often abusive and demeaning to his intellect and his motivation. I've had a few horrible teachers, ones that have given up on us or have no way of controlling the classroom whatsoever, but I have never had a teacher like the ones that Rose describes in his book. Voc. Ed. did to Rose what it did to his peers, it became a place of either help or hopelessness. You either took it as a learning opportunity and a great curriculum to jump into or a bottom of the food chain that showed your low thinking skills. Some like Ken Harvey were only getting by and playing it open, almost detached, from the intellectual world on purpose. He didn't want to fret about things that he himself didn't think were possible; things that he could actually do, such as philosophical inquiry and scientific reasoning. This is almost the desired effect.


College has this affect on high school students that breaks the mental borders of high school rules. For example, high school teachers will often give extra credit to students who complain that they "need to pass", whether it be sports or a diploma. Professors and instructors, for the most part, won't be so lenient on slacking students. Their pay checks don't rely on the students passing rate. The adult atmosphere is very prevalent in college, and to some such as myself, it may come as a pleasant experience. But for the high school student that is a social soaker, it may be frightening. My education is different to Mike Rose's. I grew up in a private school until I was thirteen, then I went to a public school. Growing up in such an environment set my moral boundaries and intellectual goals. Coming into a public school, I was overwhelmed at first by the diversity, but I adapted and I feel that the private school did set me up perfectly for what I have faced and still face today.