In this text, Sherman Alexie talks about how he learned to read. He explains why he wanted to read. During his life, he read many different books. He even says in the article that he read anything that had paragraphs or words. The quote, “Despite all the books I read, I am still surprised I became a writer,” means that even though he had read many books, he didn’t think he could try to become a writer.…
To begin with, Sherman Alexie is a modern day warrior because he never gave up even after enduring torment and numerous difficult situations. When referring to his childhood nicknames Sherman Alexie stated “Sometimes it was Bloody Nose or Steal-His-Lunch . Once it was Cry-Like-a-White-Boy, even though none of us had seen a white boy cry.” This statement illustrates how despite the torment he received from his peers as early as the first grade, Sherman Alexie never gave up hope and was able to graduate from high school…
He explains that intelligence is not based on formal education. It is more complex than that. Intelligence is the ability to comprehend information using critical thinking skills. It is possible to be smart without a formal education, but it is also possible to have an education and be feeble minded. I can relate to his mother’s situation in a small way. I worked as a waitress for a summer, and I can see how ‘worked smart’ as I tried to do. Mike Rose portrays clearly his stance on intelligence using personal narratives, logical arguments, and excellent credibility. Rose shows appreciation for blue-collars and tries to persuade the audience who shows little respect for those…
that if she only can, "[s]he would be in a university lecturing to people who know what she [is] talking about. She also thinks to herself, "[A] true genius can get an idea across even to an inferior mind." The two characters think too highly of themselves that they belittle other people, even their mothers who support them until now.…
Cited: Paul, Annie Murphy. "GRAY MATTER; It 's Not Me, It 's You." The New York Times. The New York Times, 07 Oct. 2012. Web. 16 Oct. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/opinion/sunday/intelligence-and-the-stereotype-threat.html>.…
In Hidden Intellectualism by Gerald Graff, he begins with the argument of “street-smarts” versus “school-smarts”. Graff explains that school-smarts can be hidden within street smarts and can be learnt through not just talking with friends, but also from the media and our surroundings, hence the “hidden” intellectualism. He goes onto explain that “schools and colleges overlook the intellectual potential of street-smarts” (198) because these types of intellectualism are actually considered anti-intellectualism. Graff then begins to discuss that intellectualism is often looked down upon within schools, and people that are considered “school-smart” are seen as nerdy, or boring. We learn that as a child, Graff was afraid of bullying and name-calling so he did not show his intellectual side out of fear. As he wanted to be accepted so badly, he decided to become an “inarticulate, carefully hiding telltale marks of literacy like correct grammar and pronunciation”. (201) Through this, he discovered that he was still able to show his intellectual side by using arguing and reasoning strategies while talking about subjects such as sports and toughness with his friends.…
In Gerald's Graff essay Hidden Intellectualism, Gerald argues that many educators and other people do not take advantage of students full potential, stating that there is intellect far beyond academic skills, intellectualism can also be found in "street smarts" . Thorough out the essay, Graff supports his argument by providing us with his own life experience. Gerald was a man who loved sports, but hated books and anything involved with academics. Growing up in the Melting Pot of Chicago, being intellectual was not in favor for Graff. He lived deciding between two sides, having academic knowledge or streets smarts. Little did he realize that the squabbling of sports with his friends was making him smart and intellectual, he was analyzing, thinking, reading and learning. As Graff aged the brawl inside of him solved, and the intellect part won; the experience he had as a child opened his eyes, and saw that the love of sports info made him smart. It was his street smarts that got him where he is, Graff continues that if there is no connection between text and student. Students cannot find a life connection of their street smarts to the textbook thus making it boring and unappealing. Graff believes that street smarts are looked down upon because they are not good enough to teach, schools are missing the potential a student holds by not taking…
In The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me, Sherman Alexie shares with his audience his story of when he learned to read at a young age through a Superman comic book. Through stories and memories of his childhood, he explains how Indian children on reservations were expected not to try in school and fail in the non-Indian world. In order to successfully portray his ideas, Alexie uses many rhetorical techniques and ideas. By using these techniques the audience is forced to look more into the writing instead of just being given the direct meaning of what Alexie is trying to share.…
Summary: In the story "I Just Want to be Average" by Mike Rose, Rose, talks about his his past schooling experience and how his experience at Mercy nearly ruined him as a student. He narrates his story of his peers in the vocational learning classes and how his teachers responded or failed to respond to their needs as students. The various situations Mike experienced all centered around one main thing and that was a lack of effort, by the students and teachers both.…
The story “I Just Wanna Be Average”, written by Mike Rose offers up a personal account of how a testing mistake early in his high school days could have changed the course of his life for the worse and how these events and those that followed solidified his perception of the educational system as an adult. The author tries to establish credibility by writing in a first-person narrative of his life as a teenager growing up in early 1960s Los Angeles and also with his complex sentence structure and big words as an adult in reflection of his life during that time period. This authority is also emphasized by the intro to the piece about his misfortunes as a teenager and his many accomplishments as an adult as an award-winning author and college professor. By putting such a glowing review about the author in front of the piece, it sets up the belief that what you’re about to read is righteous and true.…
3) The statement made by Fredrick Douglas has the complete opposite meaning to what Alexi feels. I don’t think Alexi envied his classmates because if he did envy them, why did he go his own way when others ridiculed him? Alexi’s difficulties demonstrated not conforming to the stereotype he was given while his classmates worried about upholding that stereotype.…
Raising his only daughter, Patty, to be a perfect human is Nathan Huffner’s goal. He is in denial about his attitude towards raising his daughter; he said that he just wanted Patty to learn more than other kids do but the truth is he wants Patty to be his source of achievement; he is proud that his child is a genius and for that, he feeds his pride. He trained his daughter to be so intelligent, to be not only good at everything but be the best at everything. He taught his daughter things that even some adults can’t do. His daughter never had a chance to complain about the things that was being taught to her because she was so little to understand that her life was not the life of an ordinary little girl. Nathan Huffner concentrated so much…
“One of the saddest days of my life was when my mother told me Superman didn’t exist... I was crying because there was no one coming with enough power to save us.” Just as many children look up to fictional characters such as Superman, parents rich or poor, look up to our school system to educate their children. However, too many of these parents are beginning to realize that proper education, like Superman, is nonexistent. In Waiting for “Superman,” Davis Guggenheim addresses the teachers union about the failing public school system in America. Through the use of ethos, anecdotes, statistics and visual and audio elements, Guggenheim attacks a problem too precious to let slip through our fingers.…
One source I found called “Open Containers” by Stephen F. Evans discusses the reoccurring themes in Sherman Alexie’s work, and one of them is the theme I am discussing in this paper, which are stereotypes. He also discusses the different opinions on Sherman Alexie’s themes. He says,…
In the story “I Just Wanna Be average” poetry, scholarly research, textbook, and book writer Mike Rose recounts his years in vocational track school. I agree with Rose’s views on teachers not valuing their students and them neglecting them as well. The sentence “I just want to be average” is what manifested this whole paper. Not an individual not a person at high standards but just average, Roses approach to this issue is very significant and formal. He fixates on this sentence because he then realizes that those in the vocational school were trying to be someone else instead of themselves. “Reject the confusion and frustration by openly defining yourself as the Common Joe” (Rose 3). The common joe was exactly what the students were trying to be.…