Comparing and Contrasting the Backgrounds of Authors Mike Rose and Richard Rodriguez

Education is a commonly discussed in personal essays . Some focus on the underlying problems of the educational system Others focus on the difference in educational experiences that people from different backgrounds have . Still , there are those who attempt to tackle the experience of learning through the classroom and how this learning affects their development as individuals . Mike Rose , in his essay , I Just Wanna be Average ' and Richard Rodriguez , in his work The Achievement of Desire ' focus on two prominent issues of education in society . The former tackles the problem of underachievement

br while the latter speaks of the cultural differences between the home and the school most especially for the working class children

Both use their personal experiences as an example of the they are pursuing . Mike Rose recounts his experiences in vocational education in to elaborate on the problems of such system . He uses his own underachievement to highlight how the system fails to inculcate and teach the students the proper skills and knowledge that will prepare them for working . Rose (2007 ) stated

Vocational education has aimed at increasing the economic opportunities of students who do not do well in our schools . Some serious programs succeed in doing that , and through exceptional teachers .students learn to develop hypotheses and troubleshoot , reason through a problem , and communicate effectively - the true job skills . The vocational track however , is most often a place for those who are just not making it , a dumping ground for the disaffected

He points out that vocational education has been used in the way for which it was created but as a place to put students who seem to not have what it takes to pursue further studies
On the other hand , Rodriguez