Yao 1

Jerry Yao
Ms. Thompson
AP Language Block 2 Skinny B
31 January 2015
I Just Want to Be Average Response
Publish Ready
A Response to A Talk to Teachers
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world
(Mandela). In our world, education should be the guide for an individuals success; it acts like
the force that connects a person with their surroundings. In James Baldwins A Talk to
Teachers, the cogent essay describes the repercussions, the racial inequality, and the propaganda
germane to the American education during the 1960s. Baldwin emphasizes individual thinking
as a solution to the racial inequality and propaganda. He states that the purpose of education is to
recognize the world around them and make decisions on their own. Baldwin uses the case of
African Americans and their suffering in society as the paragon of the menace that debilitates
American society, by stating that an African American that is born in the American society that
guarantees liberties still continues to suffer through racial disparity from to the white Americans
who consider themselves more superior. Societies feed off of conformity and people who follow
the rules. However, upon further examination of Roses own vocational track course experience
and his educational journey to be more open to his surroundings in his essay, it can be asserted
that students are being conformed to society, but the rationale of education acts as a bonding
agent between individuals and society, and allows them to understand themselves better and
broaden their views within the confines of society.

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In schools across the nation, students are often polarized into different levels of courses
based on their academic prowess. Students that are more academically equipped take more
challenging courses while other students that are academically inept are required to take courses
that on considered on-level. From Roses essay, students that are in a lower skilled course often
accept their fate in society; their lives are guided by society and they accept their position
because the vocational track students feel that they are unable to achieve high goals, such as the
high school students taking college level courses. The vocational students are suppressed within
their education courses. In high schools, there is evidence that people who lack the tenacity to
succeed in school end up accepting their fate and leading bleak lives. The suppressed students
have a narrow view on life rather than a sophisticated, worldly view, and they feel that they fail
to belong with the world. At the beginning of Roses essay, he believes that he is affected by his
surrounding students in the vocational track by becoming another student in society that lacks
ambition and determination to make it out of the vocational track. The students all fall at the
hands of society.
However, when students are presented with a spark of knowledge, their whole perception
is incontrovertibly changed for the better due to the rationale of education. Even in Roses essay,
he perceives the purpose of education as a guide for ones success in society. Education plays a
huge impact in an individuals life by changing his or her perspective on the world around them.
Rose describes Jack MacFarland, a teacher and a mentor, who helped Rose improve his outlook
on education and the world around him. Other students in the vocational track were unable to
succeed because the vocational track and the environment limited their potential. Throughout the
essay, Rose explains how his personal experiences helped signify the purpose of education as a
guide to become successful. Unfortunately, other students, much like Ken Harvey, in the

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vocational track have similar expressions as Ken because they lack the teachers to help them
succeed. Rose was presented a silver lining in his academics in the form of a mentor. His mentor
allowed Rose to escape the bounds of the vocational track and achieve higher ends in life. At the
end of the essay, Rose states that education enabled him to do things in the world.
From our two pieces of evidence, the purpose of education is clear in that it provides new
insight for an individual to make crucial decisions in the world. Education has the power to
change the way a person thinks and acts in society and disregards conformity. It can allow a
person to think individually and rationally and realize the wrongs of society. The power of
education can be described as the key that unlocks the chains that hold people within the
conformity of society.

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Works Cited
""A Talk to Teachers" James Baldwin, 1963." "A Talk to Teachers" James Baldwin, 1963. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2015.
Mandela, Nelson. "Nelson Mandela Quote." BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2015.
Rose, Mike. "I Just Wanna Be Average." Lives on the Boundary (1989): n. pag. Web. 31 Jan.
2015.