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Unforgettable Miss Bessie Essay

589 Words3 Pages

Education from teachers is a valuable part of life that can have a lasting impact. While the classroom curriculum is important, the life lessons learned can help shape an individual. In “Unforgettable Miss Bessie,” by Carl T. Rowan, the essay discusses the importance of teachers based on the narrator's experience in school. Still discussing education, “intelligence,” by Isaac Asimov, displays the difference between being educated and being smart. While both essays discuss this topic, they do so in very different ways, and each displays aspects from different perspectives. Aspects of educational values are demonstrated effectively throughout both essays while still maintaining the same thematic ideas. The narrator throughout “Unforgettable Miss …show more content…

But do you know what really takes guts? Refusing to lower your standards to those of the crowd.” This amplifies the stance she takes on school education. Rather than pressuring the narrator to focus on football, his teacher recognizes the importance of learning school topics in order to become smart in ways that can be used for years to come. The essay also discusses the teacher's knowledge of broad school material including political matters, literature, and history which adds to the strength of her position as these are topics typically taught from school books. Not only does the essay show the importance of this kind of material, but it also shows how Miss Bessie was pushing students to achieve great things. In contrast to this, “Intelligence,” strives in the opposite direction by recognizing that school topics that Miss Bessie was so passionate about are rather not of value to hands-on curriculum. This compares strongly to “Intelligence,” as the essay explores how being intelligent does not define you as smart. This differs greatly from Rowan as he stresses the importance of education from what his teacher taught

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