A recent study released by Pearson that questioned over 400,000 students in grades 6-12 shows that only “48% of students think their teachers care about them…and only 45% of students think teachers care if they are absent from school” (Hare, 2015). This shocking statistic demonstrates what American students think about their teachers. Most students are under the impression that their teachers don’t care about them. When teachers don’t care about their students and allow them to fail, many students with unrealized potential give up on education.
Mike Rose’s “I Just Wanna Be Average” describes his journey through high school on the vocational track after the results of his “tests got confused with those of another student named Rose” (Rose, 1989, p. 2). He spent two years of high school with teachers who smacked and paddled their students in a feeble effort to control them. The students he was surrounded by enjoyed partying, dealing drugs, and getting into fights. Rose didn’t fit in, but stayed enrolled in the vocational classes. One day in his religion class, his classmate Ken Harvey remarked “I just wanna be
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In his article “I Just Wanna Be Average”, Rose makes the statement: “students will float to the mark you set” (Rose, 1989, p. 3). This remark is one of the truest I have ever read. When teachers have high expectations, students tend to rise up and meet those expectations. Students want to please their teachers and be praised by them. Rose describes: “I loved getting good grades from MacFarland…I had made something of value” (Rose, 1989, p. 9). He had met his teacher’s expectation and that made him feel accomplished. On the other hand, if a teacher expects very little from their students, the students will slack on their assignments and tests and become lazy, knowing they will not be