Education Essay, Research Paper

Everyday a middle class child goes to school. They are taught to read and write. This child is also taught that they will play sports in high school, have a perfect GPA and attend a good college. From kindergarten through a child’s senior year in high school they are told taught what to want from their future. It is not always the books and the curriculum that shape these childens lives. It is the teachers who tell these children to study hard because college is going to be much harder. From the first day of school every child is shaped to the mold of what their parents, teachers, and society want.

Coming home from the hospital every baby is introduced to their first form of institution. Each child’s outlook on life is shaped by its parents. Parents teach child certain morals that are vital to live in society. Morals such as trust, virtue, humility, affection, honor, and respect. Morals are taught, but their are also things that are learned in a latent aspect. The parents of a child create a base for future learning that the child will encounter. If the parents install good morals such as the one mentioned above then their child has a good chance of becoming a active member of society. In the case of Bell Hooks, her “Mama” does a great job of instilling morals (Hooks 86). Bell goes to college and is able to be active within her social sphere. Although she did not feel comfortable, she was able to thrive within this small scale society of Stanford. Her ability to live within a society is proof that her mother instilled enough morals so that Bell is an diligent member of her college community. Hooks does well in a college atmosphere because of her upbringing and her educational back round. Hooks is from a working class home and attended public schools throughout her life. She has a humble backround, yet a great work ethic, and that work ethic enabled her to gain exceptance to Stanford.

Hooks parents were the reason she excelled, but for Mike Rose, it was a teacher named Jack MacFarland. “He [Jack] sparked an interest in writing”(Rose 98). Inspiration can come form many different places. For Rose, MacFarland was what he needed to ignite an interest in literature. Rose feed on this relationship with MacFarland, and used it as a way to propel himself into his destiny. He learned to love literature and went onto to study it at UCLA. Rose’s interest was found by a teacher and nourished by the same teacher. Parents do the same for their children. In very similar methods, Rose and Hooks were imprinted with what their parents and their teachers taught them.

One common factor between Hooks and Rose is society. Hooks looks at her enviroment at Stanford in a sceptical sence. She feels as though the “differences in class created boudaries”(Hooks 87). In order to learn in some situations a person needs obstacles. For Hooks, her obstacles were having to hide how different her backround was from her class mates, fitting in with the new life style she was surrouned by, and also keeping a relationship with her parents. Hooks’ parents raised her well, Hooks studied hard and achieved high honor academicly, and also met societies standards om her way to becoming the person she eventually became. Rose’s backround is a little different. Rose’s parents did not seem to push his education on him. he seemed to be more motivated by his teachers. This does not mean his parents did a bad job of instilling morals. It means that his inspiration came from another area. Rose is heavily influence by society. His belief that a “democratic vision of knowledge and social structure would honor this complexity[cultural traditions]” is a great example of societies influence on Rose(109). Rose grew up in a democratic society, therefore he thinks that democracy could help other cultures with their problems. He worries about the repercautions of a canonical outlook on education. If we sucummb to a canonical way of learning then we will lose the ability to think for ourselves. If we remain in a Democratic society, we will continue to be “vibrant and dynamic”(Rose 109).