Mike Rose and His Reflection on Education and Motivation

Introduction

In Mike Roses's “I Just Wanna Be Average,” he reflects on when he was in vocational school, where he saw it as the lowest of the low classes. Despite accidentally being placed on the wrong “track” for school Rose chose to stay. Mike Rose talks and describes his teachers, classmates, and what he observes throughout his narrative. Rose talks about how his teachers didn’t really care about the students and just did their jobs, assigning the basic work required by the district. He also describes his classmates as how they have no spark in them for wanting to learn, that “I just want to be average.” (Mike Rose, 1989, Pg. 3, Para. 2), like average school kids who want to party and do the bare minimum.

Mike Rose's View on Education System

Ken Harvey, was the particular student that said the quote that stuck with Rose all those years, he reflects on this statement by weaving it in throughout his story by explaining his thoughts on this quote., Rose talks about how wild and mysterious life can be when you’re in school, and by just accepting the basic set standards, the students do just enough so they can just get through life. Later on in Rose’s life, his father dies and he is left alone, and he basically turns into an attitude to that of Harvey’s. Mr. MacFarland, Rose’s new English teacher appears in his life and quickly becomes Rose’s spark in education again. Why? It’s because Mr.MacFarland shows that he genuinely cares for his students and their future, especially Rose. With the help of Mr.MacFarland, Rose ends up finding his love for reading and going to college while also finding himself and who he truly is.

The Impact of Teachers

Mike Rose weaves his reflection with the idea of the education system, how students then and even now have a lack of motivation in education and learning, on how the way teachers teach can greatly impact can change a student’s will to learn instead of just wanting to be average. Looking back on this story I can really relate to it, I’ve had teachers similar to the ones in Rose’s story and it didn’t motivate me to learn and give my 110% in the things I do in school. All the teacher did was give out busy work and expected me to basically learn it on my own, I’d ask for help on homework even after I go online for help first, the teacher would just constantly say go online for help. They made me feel like they didn’t care about me as a student, because these teachers they affected stepped out the spark I had for school and made it into a dying ember on the cold ground, I just wanted to be average.

Conclusion

But, like Rose, I had a Mr. MacFarland in my life, my Math/ Forensic Science teacher. With his bald head, Santa-like beard, and monocle, he created an atmosphere in the classroom unlike any other he made the students feel like we were real people who like to have conversations with the class and somedays put the time in class aside so that the class could bond and play a class-wide game to create friendly competition between classmates so we could push each other to become better students. 

Works Cited

1. Rose, Mike. 'I Just Wanna Be Average.' Lives on the Boundary: A Moving Account of the Struggles and Achievements of America's Educationally Underprepared, The Free Press, 1989.