Summary Of I Know Why The Caged Bird Cannot Read
Education is a big part of our society today. Learning should be an exciting journey. We should learn because it enlightens us and broadens the horizon. Instead we are learning because the society thinks wealth will bring us happiness. Students should be able to have a say in their education because they are the people who are getting the education. We should have a wide variety of books to choose from, instead of reading the same books as every other generation in the school system. Each generation of kids are different and we should acknowledge that. We should also acknowledge that America has a diversity of ethnicities. Even though English is our main language, the school system should also appreciate the other languages that our citizens
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speak. Learning shouldn’t be restricted from us. Students should have a say on what we are being taught at school and how it is being taught.
Reading is a big part of our education, but when we are given books chosen by the school system we are ruining the love of reading .
Not a lot of students enjoy the readings because they cannot relate to the stories. We are given books that may have been popular in the 20th century, but mind numbing in the 21st century. In “I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read”, by Francine Prose, she shares her opinions on the books that are currently being read at school and how they are being taught. Francine states that “high school is where literary tastes and allegiance are formed; what we read in adolescence is imprinted on our brains as the dreamy notions of childhood crystallize into hard data” (pg. 90) The texts we read in high school are not challenging enough. Books should allow us to question society and allow us to be open to new possibilities in the world. Nothing in the world should just be black and white. The books that are “chosen for students to read are for ‘obvious lessons.’”(pg. ). The characters in the books are predictable and the morals in the story were probably learned as a child. Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird was a little 6 year old girl who always solved problem with her fists instead or her head and had to face racism and prejudices at a young age. However, as she grew up this character learned to think wisely and be more aware of the problems in her generation. This novel is filled with life lessons, but this story is too predictable for high school students in this generation. If this was in the 20th century and racism was still new to the society this would be a perfect book for the students to read. If both the teachers and books are not challenging the young students minds, then how can we be expected to understand challenging books. “We hear the more books are being bought and sold than ever before, yet no one, as far as I know, is arguing that we are producing and becoming a nation of avid readers of serious literature”(pg.90 ). The books
that we read in school should be able to inspire us to read more and challenge the way we think. Lesson plans should not be able to exactly tell us how to feel about the characters. Students should be challenged to find our own moral to the story and understand why this book has been read for years.
Aside from books, the language we speak should not be controlled by our school system. Language breaks the barriers with different ethnicities and allow people to express their feelings. It also broaden people’s minds with different cultures and societies. In “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, by Richard Rodriguez, he discusses how his mother tongue was ripped away from him because he was in America. Rodriguez finds comfort and safety in his noisy home full of Spanish sounds. Spanish, is his family's intimate language that comforts Rodriguez by surrounding him in a web built by the family love and security which is emitted by using the Spanish language. However, he considered himself “a socially disadvantaged child”(pg.514). He thought of himself as an outcast at school because he couldn’t speak English fluently. Until one day, three nuns arrived at his house to talk with his parents about speaking more English at home. Soon their family began to practice English at home, and Spanish slowly faded away from their tongues. Slowly their family became less social and he finally “belonged in public”(pg.516). Although he finally felt accepted in public, his family grew apart. “The silence at home, however, was finally more than a literal silence.”(pg. 517). The school system shouldn’t have gotten involved with the language they spoke at home in the first place. Home should be a sacred place where their family could speak freely with their native language. Personal and impersonal life should not be mixed together. Richard would have eventually improved in English at his own pace and continued to speak his native language at home. As a bilingual speaker, I also felt socially acceptable when I finally passed the English Language Development test. This test was given to every child who spoke a different language at home. I felt like an outcast when I couldn’t speak english fluently at school. At home I spoke Longdo(Chinese dialect). At my Chinese-American preschool I spoke Cantonese, but once I was started Kindergarten I was introduced to a whole new language, English. I was ashamed of speaking any type of Chinese in public and anytime my parents spoke to me in public, I would respond with English. Eventually, I lost the ability to speak Cantonese, because we spoke Longdo at home. I never bothered to practice my Cantonese in public because I was too focused on fixing my English. When people ask me questions in Chinatown I can only respond in short cantonese phrases. Like Rodriguez said,” I would be unable to break a barrier of sound, to speak freely”(pg. 519). Although I successfully accomplished my biggest impediment, I lost a language along the way. Ultimately, kids should be encouraged to learn more than one language, instead of being restricted to speak a language.
Even though high school students already have the freedom to select most of the classes they are going to take, we should also be able to decide how we are being taught. The school system may be really hard to be altered, but I believe if we provide more liberty to the students, education will be more exciting and cherished by the students.
speak. Learning shouldn’t be restricted from us. Students should have a say on what we are being taught at school and how it is being taught.
Reading is a big part of our education, but when we are given books chosen by the school system we are ruining the love of reading .
Not a lot of students enjoy the readings because they cannot relate to the stories. We are given books that may have been popular in the 20th century, but mind numbing in the 21st century. In “I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read”, by Francine Prose, she shares her opinions on the books that are currently being read at school and how they are being taught. Francine states that “high school is where literary tastes and allegiance are formed; what we read in adolescence is imprinted on our brains as the dreamy notions of childhood crystallize into hard data” (pg. 90) The texts we read in high school are not challenging enough. Books should allow us to question society and allow us to be open to new possibilities in the world. Nothing in the world should just be black and white. The books that are “chosen for students to read are for ‘obvious lessons.’”(pg. ). The characters in the books are predictable and the morals in the story were probably learned as a child. Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird was a little 6 year old girl who always solved problem with her fists instead or her head and had to face racism and prejudices at a young age. However, as she grew up this character learned to think wisely and be more aware of the problems in her generation. This novel is filled with life lessons, but this story is too predictable for high school students in this generation. If this was in the 20th century and racism was still new to the society this would be a perfect book for the students to read. If both the teachers and books are not challenging the young students minds, then how can we be expected to understand challenging books. “We hear the more books are being bought and sold than ever before, yet no one, as far as I know, is arguing that we are producing and becoming a nation of avid readers of serious literature”(pg.90 ). The books
that we read in school should be able to inspire us to read more and challenge the way we think. Lesson plans should not be able to exactly tell us how to feel about the characters. Students should be challenged to find our own moral to the story and understand why this book has been read for years.
Aside from books, the language we speak should not be controlled by our school system. Language breaks the barriers with different ethnicities and allow people to express their feelings. It also broaden people’s minds with different cultures and societies. In “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, by Richard Rodriguez, he discusses how his mother tongue was ripped away from him because he was in America. Rodriguez finds comfort and safety in his noisy home full of Spanish sounds. Spanish, is his family's intimate language that comforts Rodriguez by surrounding him in a web built by the family love and security which is emitted by using the Spanish language. However, he considered himself “a socially disadvantaged child”(pg.514). He thought of himself as an outcast at school because he couldn’t speak English fluently. Until one day, three nuns arrived at his house to talk with his parents about speaking more English at home. Soon their family began to practice English at home, and Spanish slowly faded away from their tongues. Slowly their family became less social and he finally “belonged in public”(pg.516). Although he finally felt accepted in public, his family grew apart. “The silence at home, however, was finally more than a literal silence.”(pg. 517). The school system shouldn’t have gotten involved with the language they spoke at home in the first place. Home should be a sacred place where their family could speak freely with their native language. Personal and impersonal life should not be mixed together. Richard would have eventually improved in English at his own pace and continued to speak his native language at home. As a bilingual speaker, I also felt socially acceptable when I finally passed the English Language Development test. This test was given to every child who spoke a different language at home. I felt like an outcast when I couldn’t speak english fluently at school. At home I spoke Longdo(Chinese dialect). At my Chinese-American preschool I spoke Cantonese, but once I was started Kindergarten I was introduced to a whole new language, English. I was ashamed of speaking any type of Chinese in public and anytime my parents spoke to me in public, I would respond with English. Eventually, I lost the ability to speak Cantonese, because we spoke Longdo at home. I never bothered to practice my Cantonese in public because I was too focused on fixing my English. When people ask me questions in Chinatown I can only respond in short cantonese phrases. Like Rodriguez said,” I would be unable to break a barrier of sound, to speak freely”(pg. 519). Although I successfully accomplished my biggest impediment, I lost a language along the way. Ultimately, kids should be encouraged to learn more than one language, instead of being restricted to speak a language.
Even though high school students already have the freedom to select most of the classes they are going to take, we should also be able to decide how we are being taught. The school system may be really hard to be altered, but I believe if we provide more liberty to the students, education will be more exciting and cherished by the students.