Topic > Mike Rose: Reinventing the Education System

Index IntroductionMike Rose and his views on the impact of educationThe need for personalized positioningRose's position on the role of positive mentorsConclusionWorks CitedIntroductionIn the eyes of the education system, students are nothing more that the test score they get receive. The narrative “I Just Wanna Be Average” follows young Mike Rose as he recounts his high school career and how he developed as a student under different educational circumstances. It was written by Mike Rose, a research professor at UCLA, and published in Lives on the Boundary in 1989. Rose wrote this short story with the purpose of informing his specific audience of his overall argument, which he develops through his personal experiences. These individual experiences that Rose endures work in portraying the effects that different forms of education have on individuals. The audience to which Rose addresses his argument can be defined as educators and students associated more specifically with the high school education system. He argues that most students have unrealized potential and the education system neglects this potential by generalizing these students. Mike Rose effectively convinces the audience of his argument by strategizing with juxtaposition through the difference shown between two different educational paths, using rhetorical questions to effectively demonstrate his helplessness in an educational decision, and using anachronism to demonstrate that academic rediscovery is possible with a positive mentor. . His narrative works in portraying that when individuals feel inspiration and individualization in their education, they are more inclined to succeed and reach their full potential. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Mike Rose and his views on the impact of education The education system should give students more freedom in their education to control their future. Rose argues that the education system focuses on labeling students, rather than helping them realize their individual potential. Through the use of juxtaposition, he highlights the major differences between the vocational education and college preparatory pathways found in his high school. This appeals to ethics, because Rose demonstrates his trustworthiness to the audience by having personally experienced both educational systems. “I lived in one world spring semester, and when I came back in the fall, I was living in another” (Rose pg 4.) Having been powerless in deciding his categorization, Rose had no control over his education and limited access to resources that could enable him to reach his full potential. His use of juxtaposition effectively demonstrates to the audience just how big of a difference a minor educational placement can have on a student. The significance of his entry into professional training is due to the fact that he felt the need to assimilate among his peers, preventing him from seeking educational growth as an individual and aligning himself with the system. He effectively demonstrates the failure of this categorization system through the depiction of his direct experience with it. This effectively convinces his academic audience that, while the system has allowed them to succeed, it doesn't work for everyone. His use of juxtaposition effectively shows how large the educational difference an individual perceives from a small change in positioning can be. It opens their eyes to anotherperspective of the education system that they have never experienced. The need for personalized placement The education system needs to develop a more beneficial and individualized student placement process, so that students are able to reach their full educational potential without feeling subjected to a certain educational path. Rose argues that students are placed into industries through standardization methods that can inhibit their learning potential. Using various rhetorical questions, he highlights the helplessness he felt in his placement, due to his parents' limited education and busy schedule. An appeal to pathos is justifiable, because Rose evokes emotions in her audience due to the relationality some may feel with a family life that may not be as helpful as others. Rose states “But how would someone like Tommy Rose, with his two years of Italian school, know what to ask? And what kind of pressure could an exhausted waitress put on? The error went undetected and I remained on the career path for two years. What a place” (Rose pg 1.) Rose had taken a standardized placement test which he had mixed up with another of his classmates who did not have the same academic proficiency as him. Before his successful placement, Rose's time on the lower professional path affected his entire education and dampened the potential of his individual abilities. Most students are helpless when it comes to placements in different educational sectors because these placements are decided on the basis of standardized tests and once they receive the score they are forever subjected to a certain path. These tests create an unfortunate generalization and can place students in a field that will not allow them to excel to their fullest potential in some subjects and suppress their ability to learn. This lack of individualization of education in education systems leads to a loss of interest in many students and can cause rebellion and abandonment of their education. With the use of effective rhetorical questions, he shows the audience firsthand that he had no outside help that allowed him to be placed in the correct sector. Rose actually convinced his audience of his argument, because students and educators most likely had to take a standardized test and experienced firsthand the generalization of their abilities, but most likely had positive outcomes that came from it anyway, including l entry into certain tracks or colleges. This is why Rose describes the negative effects of these tests, to provide insight into a less mainstream perspective on the topic. The variety of these placement tests is becoming a prodigious problem nowadays. This generalization is leading to the extinction of individual students' abilities and is causing the current generation to give up on their education as a whole. Education systems need to change their placement arrangements and focus more on the specific abilities of students, in order to be able to place them correctly and enable them to reach their full potential in specific areas, as well as their education as a whole. Rose's take on the topic Role of Positive Mentors The strict and general agenda that educators must follow due to common core guidelines leads them to have less interest in their classroom and generalize about their students. Rose says having the presence of a positive mentor will motivate a student to be more successful in their education. Using anachronism, Rose does, 1989.