mike rose

     Rose’s life in vocational education was basically an educational cesspit where the views of society played a bigger role in the success, or lack thereof, of the students than their own desires.  This ties back into my views on the American education system and the strength of the lower economy’s societal influence on their youth.  It seemed like his teachers did not care about their job.  They were just there to collect a paycheck.  I mean, according to their views, it was pointless to try to teach these young hoodlums wasn’t it? So why try?  Luckily I did not experience any teachers like that in my upbringing, except maybe that 8^th grade teacher.

     Voc. Ed. Affected the children in it in a manner that told them it was ok to be mediocre because that was all that was expected of them.  Again we go back to the idea that it is ok to fail.  Their intellect was never properly stimulated which stunted their educational growth as well as the emotional maturity that could have been realized.  Socially it offered them an excuse to personify the views thrust on them by others.  Seeing as Rose was never properly instructed in the use of math, he never learned the basic rules.  That lack of base knowledge is the reason that he had such a hard time catching up.

      High school is disorienting for students like ken Harvey because they not only have to first worry about the learning curve but also the views that are thrust upon them amid a tumult of hormones and bodily changes.  Not to mention the potential domestic disputes which may be taking place?  He copes with it by embracing the ideas that he is labeled with as his own.  Others may try to ignore them, prove them wrong, or even drop out and give up.  Either way the education of those students suffers.

      As this is my first class I do not really have any disorienting attributes to tell you of.  Maybe once I have taken a few more classes.

      My experience may be similar to Mike rose’s seeing as I basically said the same thing.  Or close enough at least. I think that the societal views of my economic group and the people I was surrounded by had the idea that it was ok to fail.  The same way that the kids in the handout were forced to adopt a persona that fit with what others thought of them.