I Just Wanna Be Average

Mike Rose

  1. What purpose does the opening paragraph serve? (Consider this entire essay as a metaphorical journey.)

An exposition presented as a bus with students. Its an appropriate way to introduce the various students he associated with in high school.

  1. When Rose describes the actions of Brother Dill, how does he convey the immediacy (and insensitivity) of this experience without making acerbic or critical comments about Brother Dill?

Word choice—unstable, troubled, paranoia, accusations

The comment about his face-turning slap had his glasses sliding across the floor shows the reader that Brother Dill routinely slapped any student. The comments about his paranoia and rising voice indicate that Brother Dill was unable to control students and resorted to physical discipline as a means to gain control. At the same time, Rose does not offer any indications that he feels bad toward Brother Dill. It is matter-of-fact.

Would a negative tone have lessened the impact of the incident on you as a reader?

No for me, it would have made me more angry toward Brother Dill. My focus would be on the physical punishment rather than the setting and characterization of Brother Dill’s homeroom.

  1. What kind of detail does Rose use in his characterization of the other vocational education students? Consider his depictions of Bill Cobb, Ted Richard, and Ken Harvey.

He uses detail that relates what kind of kids these boys are. For example, with Bill Cobb, he describes details about his being both artistic and rebellious, soulful but white; Ted Richard, open, smiling, but quietly vengeful, depth from real world sources; Ken Harvey, car lover,
“I just wanna be average.” Gasping for air in an academic world. He uses detail that presents these students as average.

  1. How does Rose characterize his own response to vocational education students? Does he try to evoke sympathy from his readers? What is he is trying to evoke?He characterizes them as shutting down academically and only challenging themselves as little as possible because that is how schools respond to them. Ask little, get little. He presents them as normal kids who have trouble succeeding in school, a self-fulfilling prophecy. He is not trying to evoke sympathy. Rather, he wants his readers to see these students as the average low students where little is expected and little given. He wants us to see that these students have bought in to the notion that they are “common.”
  1. In paragraphs 21, 22, and 23, why does Rose go into such detail about problem-solving? What is his purpose? Mike Rose believes that all students should be problem-solvers, especially those being trained in voc. Ed skills. But he wants us to understand how these students’ brains and attention span are not allowing them to solve problems. He wants us to see the processes their brains go through of giving up on the difficult tasks. He shows the lack of attention of remedial students. He wants us to realize that these kids have given up on trying to figure things out because little is expected of them.
  1. Is Rose’s description of his father’s deterioration appropriate for this essay? What impact would deleting it have had on the story Rose is telling or the argument he is making?

It is appropriate because parents are responsible for the direction their children take in school. He depicts his father as being too sick to take an active interest in his son’s education. His father represents the adult common man. His father is a symbol for the condition of remedial students.

  1. In the description of Jack MacFarland’s influence on Rose, which passages represent the young man’s view of this teacher and which ones the adult looking back? How does Rose intertwine them so the overall descriptions have coherence? He goes from the adult description to teenage experiences. It is hard at times to distinguish which is which. This serves the purpose of showing how he managed to outgrow his label of being “low” and challenged himself through associating with MacFarland and as an adult looking back, he is shown to be successful.
  1. Rarely does Rose step out from the narration and state his point explicitly. Why not? Would you classify this essay more as a memoir or an argument?A Memoir—he is making his argument through narration. He proves his point through examples rather than explicitly stating his point. This is more effective because we have all been students; we all face challenges; we all know students like these. By using narration, he is building ethos also. He is credible because his argument is based on personal experience.