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Comparing Sherman Alexie's The Joy Of Reading And Writing

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Sal Khan, the creator of Khan Academy, creates a beautiful metaphor during a Ted Talk to explain how the current system of school education works; he tells his listeners that he just gave them a bike, and loans it to them for two weeks. He will come back after the time has elapsed and will grade them on how skilled they are at riding the bike. Maybe they have a hard time making left turns or cannot stop quick enough, so he concludes that they are an 80 percent bicyclist, and stamps a big “C” on their forehead. Then he will give them a unicycle (Khan). He explains that as crazy as this sounds, many teachers and curriculums move too fast for students to fully understand the material, and when they move on to the next unit they will fall behind on their understanding of the previous material. Given the lower efficiency of in-school education, the experiences outlined in Sherman Alexie’s essay, “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me,” the non-fiction novel On Writing, authored by Stephen King, and the play Fences, fashioned by August Wilson, are all cornerstones to the fact that education gained as a result of life experiences is paramount to the education picked up in school. Alexie uses his experiences …show more content…

This experience in writing stems from teaching himself how to read as a kid, just like Alexie had done as a child. King’s persistence to try and publish his novels and stories, along with the positive encouragement given by Algis Budrys, displays that he is aware of the creativity of his stories, and that he has to target his audience accordingly. All in all, King’s recognition of his time missing school and his persistence on getting his stories published are solid facts that prove that self-education and life experiences are more important to the mind of children compared to school

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Walter Dean Myers dropped out of school at the age of 15, due to family problems. He loved school, and he loved literature. Being unconnected to the world of learning, and becoming tired of not being able to read, he decided to visit the public library. Until he could no longer bear the fact that he was not getting an education(his one and only dream), he silently cried in his bedroom every night. He needed help and seeked attention from others until one day, a “do-good” counselor called his house and got him put back into the school system.

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454 Words | 2 Pages

Through trial and error, college students are having to figure out what constitutes as acceptable writing for every one of their separate classes all on their own without their ethnic backgrounds taken into consideration. While although Dave was considered privileged because of his years of experience in classrooms that consisted of teachers and students who shared similar social backgrounds, “students from diverse communities may need… teachers in the disciplines… [to] provide them with assignments and instructional support appropriate for first steps in using the language of their community” (262) McCarthy’s findings contribute to the notion, “learning to write… is not only a developmental process that occurs within an individual student, but also as a social process, that occurs in response to particular situations” (236). Although McCarthy only documents Dave as he takes this “journey across the curriculum”, her study is addressing the college student body as a whole. She declares that the success of a student is determined not only by their intelligence, but also their ability to adapt to a wide range of social and academic settings without any negative interference towards their

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178 Words | 1 Pages

This is what pushed Alexie to go in school because he did not want to fail. As Sherman Alexie became a successful writer, due to him knowing the way to success was reading and education, he would speak at schools and tell his story. The students wouldn’t listen but that why its crucial that he first learned to read with a comic book so it can relate to students

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647 Words | 3 Pages

That school doesn’t only teach you how to read and write, it also teaches you social skills (Rawls p.g. 113-114). Billy’s mom says “A gold one and a silver one. Who would have thought anything so wonderful could have happened to us. I’m so proud; so very proud” (Rawls p.g. 113). This all happened in the book.

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1132 Words | 5 Pages

“Teachers of English and literature have either submitted, or are expected to submit, along with teachers of the more "practical" disciplines, to the doctrine that the purpose of education is the mass production of producers and consumers” (Berry). Berry uses the word practical to describe the way in which we produce students as though they were massed produced. School systems today demonstrate specialization, and with that follows oversimplification. “In our society, which exists in an atmosphere of prepared, public language-language that is either written or being read illiteracy is both a personal and a public danger” (Berry). While schools relax their education standards and primarily focus on profitability, we become vulnerable to loss of literacy through

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261 Words | 2 Pages

Gerald Graff’s argument on how educational systems are missing a great opportunity to tap into “street smarts” and focus them into a path of academic work is indeed convincing (Graff, 198). After all, anyone who’s been through the American educational system knows odds are often stacked against the “street smarts.” This is especially true in english classes, where one is often required to read boring and somewhat heartless books like, 1984, Beowulf, and the majority of Shakespeare’s classics. This is not to say these books are bad or shouldn’t be read during one’s schooling years, instead, the problem is one of apathy. For instance, in my high school years I never even remotely liked to read books Othello, but I loved to read magazines and

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511 Words | 3 Pages

The essay “In Praise of the ‘F’ Word” by Mary Sherry explains some flaws Sherry has noticed in our education system. These observations are from her teaching perspective, and from her son’s own experience in high school. Sherry claims that some students that have earned a high school degree should not have because they are “semi literate.” She starts out her essay by stating this bluntly, but further explains herself as it goes on. Sherry is an adult literacy grammar teacher, and often faces students that wish they could have had a more beneficial experience in high school.

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550 Words | 3 Pages

Drury did not know how to either read or write and that he only goes to school once a week. He is surely not the only child who hasn 't been educated and this can be said to other children as well. This evidence of the worker 's perspective is also more believable than an owner 's perspective because it is a primary source of how much this boy learned from school or his

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1011 Words | 5 Pages

In the “Against Schools” article, author John Gatto describes the modern day schooling system and its flaws. He uses several rhetorical strategies in trying to prove his point. He successfully uses all three types of rhetoric in writing this article, which includes ethos, pathos, and logos. He establishes these strategies very early, and often throughout the article. He believes one issues with today’s schooling system is boredom, and that there is a distinct difference between what it means to be educated and schooled.

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The main argument is that perceived throughout the reading is that the schools itself is failing students. They see a student who may not have the greatest test scores or the best grades, and degrade them from the idea of being intellectual. Graff states, “We associate the educated life, the life of the mind, too narrowly and exclusively with subjects and texts that we consider inherently weighty and academic” (Graff 244). Schools need to channel the minds of street smart students and turn their work into something academic.

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295 Words | 2 Pages

Richard Rodriguez wrote “Scholarship Boy” to explain the range of conflicting emotions he felt over receiving an education while growing up at home with his immigrant parents. He enjoyed school and learned quickly, but soon he knew more than his parents could comprehend. He was ashamed of his parents for not knowing as much as he did and this drove him away from them and more towards his instructors and his books. Though his parents were proud of him, he struggled to feel anything but embarrassed of them and this affected how he viewed himself and the education he was blessed to have. When Gerald Gaff was young, he did not feel that books related to his life and that they, therefore, were not worth reading.

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929 Words | 4 Pages

Sherman Alexie writes the story “Indian Education” using a deadpan tone to build and connect the years of the narrator 's life together in an ironic way. Alexie is able to utilize irony through the use of separate, short sections within the story. The rapid presentation of events, simple thoughts, and poetic points made within the story enable the reader to make quick connections about the narrator’s life to draw more complex realizations. The art that Alexie uses to write this very short story is poetic in nature through the meaning and structure of his writing. By the fact that the reader can draw deeper conclusions about the narrator 's life from Alexie’s writing is evident that his writing is poetic.

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626 Words | 3 Pages

In the essay “Superman and Me”, the author, Sherman Alexie recalls the time he first learned to read. He talks about his Indian culture and the perception of people like himself. He also discusses his childhood and the outcome of learning to read. The reoccurring theme of the essay is the love of reading. The author used various literacy devices to express the feelings of empowerment, happiness and the necessity that came with learning to read.

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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.

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807 Words | 4 Pages

Some may say that educational systems are superior, however, some can argue that the educational system needs a change. Francine Prose’s purpose in “I Know Why The Caged Bird Cannot Read” stood out clearly, to inform parents on how the current system of education is ineffective to young learners. Her use of words, ethos, logos and pathos appeals to educators and students to inspire change in their education standards. Prose wittingly begins her essay with a shocking opening paragraph; her strong language in which attacks the various works of literature.

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