Malcolm X and Mike Rose

Malcolm X and Mike Rose

Both articles I read, "I just Wanna be Average" by Mike Rose and "Learning to Read" by Malcolm X are both so different yet so similar. They both have to do with education and their journey through learning something. 

Mike Rose is put into vocational school yet is accidentally put into lower level classes yet he chooses to stay. During his educational journey, Rose observes other students and teachers and notices specific traits about them. Someone who really stands out to me is Ken Harvey. Rose proceeds to tell us that Harvey just wants to be average. The reasoning Rose goes on with Harvey's "Common Joe" theory is quite interesting. Rose says, "What Ken and so many others do is protect themselves from such suffocating madness by taking on with a vengeance the identity implied in the vocational track. Reject the confusion and frustration by openly defining yourself as the Common Joe. Champion the average. Rely on your own good sense." This really stood out to me because it's basically saying that you don't need to stand out and that it's okay to just seep through the cracks.It's like all motivation has been lost for him. 

Malcolm X's story on the other hand seems very motivational. Malcolm is uneducated yet decides to educate himself in prison. He works hard every day copying from a dictionary and copying it onto his tablet, which he requested from the prison school. Eventually Malcolm gets to where he wants to be and is able to express himself in ways he wouldn't of thought possible. Learning new words is like walking into a whole new world to him. 

Both articles are different and similar in many ways. While Rose starts to lose motivation and "go with the flow," Malcolm goes against the flow and is so motivated to learn. They're similar in the ways that they both struggle during their educational journey.