Mike Rose Case

The saying that everything a person says, does, thinks about, remembers or forgets is connected to something in a person's life, either in their past or present. Mike Rose in Lives on the Boundary by Mike Rose, Rose gives his elementary students an assignment to write stories on five words. Out of those words paranoid is one of the words that relates the most with Rose's early life. Rose's experienced this with teachers who have imprinted many kinds of things in his life some imprints more positive than others. The negative imprints teachers left was something he struggled wit but he was able to stop the cycle and help his kids so that maybe they wouldn't go through what he did.

Rose's parents thought a catholic school west of his neighborhood, would give him a better education. He took series of test for entrance into the school. Unfortunately this school that had what Rose's parents saw as "better education" messed up his scores so Rose was placed in a vocational track. This type of ignorance on behalf of the school could have been something that sparked up Rose's paranoia that the faculties at school were not helping him improve himself academically and want him to fail. Rose's parent expected the school to be doing their job and trusted the schools faculty to be making the right decisions in their child's education. But when schools fail to catch these mistakes like Rose's case the one who suffers is the child, and the blame cannot be put on a parent for not being involved. The neglect from the school right from the start really changed Rose's life maybe his academics would have been a lot better if it wasn't for this mistake that wasn't detected until two years after being in the vocational track. This is something that can bring a lot confusion to a student and maybe even anger towards faculty for Rose to enhance his idea that they don't really care about his education.

Mistakes were not only made outside of class but maybe inside the class is where he was really adding on to this paranoia that his teachers were conspiring against his education. Rose talks about Brother Dill and his physical education teacher who used corporal punishment to get control of the children. Mr. Mitropetros an English teacher was describe by Rose as a teacher with very little training. His teaching lacked many qualities students need in order to really learn and stay focused. He had them memorize Julius Caesar rather than really have they understand the text. All these teachers seemed to have a negative effect on his life and probably why he went on to believe that teachers were not looking for his best interest. I can sympathize with Rose being so paranoid that his teachers were not allowing him to be successful. Just look at the way he was treated by people who are supposed to be teaching him, instead they neglect him and treat him poorly. Anybody would have the right to question whether or not these teachers have the right knowledge in the subjects they taught. His teachers were not getting any real teaching done since there (their) students were probably not listening.(;) And this is because his teachers failed to really engage there students in the subjects instead they intimidated them with corporal punishment.

Rose in the vocational track was really suffering. He says, "I and others in the vocational classes were bobbing in pretty shallow water." (Rose,26) This tells us that his academics in the vocational track were not improving but suffering compared to those in a regular course. Why if he needed the most help was he getting worse academically? This thought might have passed through Rose's mind and could have added on to his idea that his teachers wanted him to fail. He was probably told that everybody was getting treated the same that it was standard operation at a school. When I was in high school I approached my councilor and asked her why if I'm in group that needs more help why do I still not get the material and why I'm I still behind? She told me what they would have probably told Rose that its "standard procedure" that teachers who teach in lower groups take longer to teach you the material. Maybe Rose felt as though his teachers were not going through standard procedures maybe he felt like they were doing it on purpose they weren't being lazy they really wanted him to fail. This is why his paranoia idea started to induce as time went by because he was going through all these negative situations that led him to conclude that teachers didn't want him to prove his capabilities as a student.

Rose being "accidently" put into a vocational track might have been the reason for his realization that there needed to be a change in