Reading Reflections

Mike Rose's "I Just Wanna Be Average" offers details on a life that is probably worlds away from what most of us have experienced. Though I can't make claims about the social or economic backgrounds of anyone else here, those of us who are working at the Writing Center are unlikely to have been slapped with the label "underprepared." There was no "Vocational Education" for us. We're the ones who were "good" students, taking Honors, AP, or College Prep classes. How many of us here, rather than taking a "basic" writing class, were exempted from the WRA requirement?

The heart of Rose's piece is the challenges students face navigating the labyrinth of academic institutions not designed to accommodate them. Though his experiences reflect the same period of time that my parents were probably in school, I'm all too aware of how many of the problems he faced persist to this day. Schools create an artificial dichotomy between the students who excel and those who struggle. This isn't a criticism of the grading system, because it's important to have some way to quantify a student's mastery of material. However, we shouldn't confuse an individual's proficiency in a given subject with their capabilities as a student. A student who has a weak background in math might need a class that focuses more on the fundamentals, rather than more abstract concepts. That's reasonable and that's appropriate. What doesn't make sense is labeling a student as an underachiever, and then shunting them aside into remedial classes taught by teachers who aren't prepared to teach them. Rose called his classes "a dumping ground for the disaffected," and I know just how true those words can be. The students who are in these classes are the ones who need skilled, motivated teachers the most.

Even though I was always labeled an "over-achiever," my own experiences support Rose's ideas. I know how easy it is to tune out a lesson that is boring or difficult. Some teachers make it easy to coast by in their classes with a minimum of effort. I’ve had friends who were called “poor students,” and placed in classes for “their type.” I’ve seen this happen to people I know were bright, but who failed to suitably impress teachers and administrators. Some of them took this as permission to stop trying, since they weren’t being expected to excel. At my high school, if you weren’t in the advanced classes, you generally treated your coursework like a joke. What students need are teachers who can reach through the fog of disinterest, bad experiences, and discouragement to connect to students and inspire them.

At the Writing Center, we need to appreciate how challenging the writing process can be for individuals who have been labeled in the manner Rose describes. If you are told often enough that you aren’t good at something, you start to believe it yourself. This reading reinforces the importance of being supportive and encouraging to the students who come to us for help. As writing consultants, we can’t change the way classes are split or students are labeled, but we can make a difference with individual students.

(I realize after writing this how discursive it sounds, and how far it strays from the subject of the Writing Center. This happens to be something I feel strongly about, so I apologize if I rambled a bit.)