ipl-logo

Summary Of I Just Wanna Be Average By Mike Rose

829 Words4 Pages

Author Mike Rose recites his experiences with mediocrity in high school in his short story I Just Wanna Be Average. Rose explains a time in high school when he became content with being average. Surrounded by bad influences, he struggles to pull himself out of the mundane and into the extraordinary. With the help of a mentor, Rose begins excelling in school, creating a happier life for himself and ultimately starting the road to success he strides on today. Rose starts his story off recounting the morning bus ride. It is is a mixing pot for all types of individuals. As Rose observes his schoolmates, he gives a brief background of what types of people they are. A trend becomes apparent. Generally, the “coolest” and most popular people are the ones that get in the most trouble. By Rose’s analysis of the individuals on the bus, the kids that have more physical prowess and better looks than most are highly valued in the school community. His tone indicates that he is influenced to be like the cool kids, everyone wants to fit in, but fitting in means being average. Rose goes on to talk about his actual school experience. When he had entered high school at Our Lady of Mercy, his placement test scores got mixed up with the much lower scores of …show more content…

He soon falls victim to his environment. After his second year of high school, he is finally able to get out of vocational schooling and into the schooling he should’ve been enrolled in from the start. Rose finds this much more difficult than vocational school where much less was expected from him, he became used to doing as little work as he needed to. When his junior year comes around, Rose still is just floating by. His coping method is to, “reject the confusion and frustration by openly defining (himself) as the common Joe” (Rose, 187). While this mentality scraped Rose through vocational schooling, it is not a strategy for success in a more rigorous level of

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of I Just Wanna Be Average By Mike Rose

    414 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “I Just Wanna Be Average,” Mike Rose explains the experience being part of a school system that had no prior knowledge to have educators to teach students. Rose supports his claims by describing the different situations he had to encounter with the lack of the school system, the hopelessness of the teachers and his peers, that lead those students with no support to lead them in a direction of success. Rose purpose is to point out that; all that it was needed was a teacher that cared enough to teach and to influence those students to succeed and to never hinder the student’s learning experience because anything is possible with an little of an encouragement. In the 8th paragraph in “I Just Wanna Be Average,” Rose describes what it felt like

    Read More

  • Mike Rose's The Mind At Work

    1121 Words  | 5 Pages

    Welders Equal Philosophers Consider the idea that a welder deserves the same intellectual respect as a philosopher. If you have conformed to society’s standards of what jobs require the most intellectual activity, then this idea might seem irrational and intriguing. On the other hand, people such as Mike Rose, author of The Mind at Work, would claim that this idea is true and even defends it in his book. Rose is a firm believer that the modern world has undervalued blue-collar workers. It is common for people to criticize vocational schools and advertise for four-year colleges, and that is what provoked Rose to take a stand.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Ageism In The Misfits

    505 Words  | 3 Pages

    Youth can feel like their ideas and thoughts are nothing because of this, which can lead to self-esteem issues. In The Misfits, Addie is treated with little respect by the teachers and principal even though she had great ideas. “‘Trouble?’ Addie goes. ‘for what?

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Dear Martin And The Rose That Grew From Concrete

    1441 Words  | 6 Pages

    In the poem, “The Rose That Grew From Concrete '' a rose grows from a random crack in the concrete. The rose adapts to its new environment while sticking out from the rest of the roses. This rose grew on its own, not from a bush not in the dirt but from a crack in the concrete. Shakur uses symbolism to convey his message of overcoming challenges. Through story elements and plot development, both texts show how overcoming obstacles may be hard to do, but it's not an impossible task, especially with the right amount of determination.

    Read More

  • The Semplica Girl Diaries Analysis

    1024 Words  | 5 Pages

    George Saunders first published The Semplica Girl Diaries in The New Yorker in 2012 and then again in his collection of short stories Tenth of December, in 2013. The main characters are a middle aged, unnamed man and his family (a wife, two daughters and a son). In an interview Saunders admitted that the inspiration for this twisted story came from a dream which explains the origin of a strange concept in it— Semplica girls, women from underdeveloped countries paid to hang in rich people’s gardens, connected to each other by a wire in their brains. However, the main message is a conscious writing choice. This story explores the struggles deprived people go through and choices they make when facing them.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Judgement In The Crucible

    533 Words  | 3 Pages

    Society today is really judgemental. If you don’t wear the right clothes or have the right car then you will get judged. It’s kinda like in the book The Crucible if you weren't a puritan then you were an outcast or you might have been a witch. One of the puritan girls Abigail Williams blamed a lot of women who were called puritans and lived the puritan way. In this case people just judged them without looking into far more research.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Speech: Why Public Schools Are More Important Than High School

    1286 Words  | 6 Pages

    Many of us are faced with tough times, hard decisions, and struggles but there are only certain people that have the willpower and determination to overcome those obstacles and change their life for the better. Many of us are faced by little challenges like when the alarm clock goes off for school. Do we get up and go to school or do we go back to bed? The immediate reward is going back to bed and getting the satisfaction of more sleep but the downfall is that you miss your classes. This didn’t seem like an important decision for me until I got to college.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Mike Rose's Blue Collar Brilliance

    843 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Blue-Collar Brilliance” is about Mike Rose challenging the view that perspicacity can be quantified by the amount of schooling a person has consummated. He suggests that blue-collar and regular jobs require

    Read More

  • The Breakfast Club Sociological Analysis

    604 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sociology Analysis Paper Sample Analysis: The Breakfast Club The Breakfast Club is a film detailing a Saturday intention involving five very different students who are forced into each other’s company and share their stories. All the students are deviant in their own way and eventually are able to look past their differences and become friends. The film also offers detailed observations of social sanctions, peer pressure, control theory, and the three different sociological perspectives. The first principle seen in the film is a stigma, which is an undesirable trait or label that is used to characterize an individual. Each of the characters is associated with a stigma at the start of the film.

    Read More

  • Mike Rose I Just Wanna Be Average Analysis

    533 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mike Rose shares his personal story to the public in “I just wanna be average”, as he reveals the many flaws within the educational system of a high school in an economically depressed neighborhood in Los Angeles. He effectively directs his arguments towards both educators and parents by utilizing emotional and logical appeals. By convincing the audience to fear that children placed on remedial tracks are being hindered rather than assisted, the author causes both awareness and a feeling of duty to change the way we handle teaching children. Rose presents his argument by aiding the reader through the eyes of his younger self as he retells the story of his years in high school.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Blue Collar Brilliance

    698 Words  | 3 Pages

    To conclude this analyzation of Mike Rose’s essay “Blue Collar Brilliance” and Gerald Graff’s essay “Hidden Intellectualism”, Mike Rose’s essay was more effective. He gave readers examples of real life scenarios to validate his point. He used rhetorical tools that would help the more academic successful audience. He also connected with the audience labeled as “Blue Collars”, with stories from his mother and uncle

    Read More

  • Mike Rose Rhetorical Analysis

    670 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mike Rose took an admission test to find out where he would be placed in the school system, there was another child with the last name Rose. Apparently this other child had done poorly on his admissions test, being placed in a vocational school. While the author Rose had done well enough to get into a standard school. The two children’s scores got switched so the author Rose got placed in the vocational school. “The other Rose apparently didn't do very well, for I was placed in the vocational track, a euphemism for the bottom level.”.

    Read More

  • Blue Collar Brilliance Mark Rose Analysis

    776 Words  | 4 Pages

    Zachari Whipkey Professor Brandon Clay ENG141_03 Rhetoric & Intro Research Writing September 8, 2016 “Blue Collar Brilliance” by Mark Rose indicates the view that intelligence cannot be measured by the amount of schooling a person has completed. He describes that blue-collar jobs require more intelligence and skill than what people may think. He describes his experiences growing up seeing his mother as a waitress in coffee shops and restaurants. He portrays his mother as a dedicated and loyal woman who loved her job and put her heart and soul into her job as a waitress.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Mike Rose's Essay Blue Collar Brilliance

    592 Words  | 3 Pages

    He also points out that people assume less time in school means that a person is less intelligent. First in Rose’s article he starts telling his personal experiences as a foundation for his claims to conceive the emotional effect towards the blue-collar workers. He writes about his family members to

    Read More

  • Character Analysis: The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

    2542 Words  | 11 Pages

    ““Do you always think this much, Charlie?” “Is that bad?”… “Not necessarily. It’s just that sometimes people use thought to not participate in life.” “Is that bad?”

    Read More

More about Summary Of I Just Wanna Be Average By Mike Rose

Open Document