“What High School Is” and “Learning to Read”

Khuong Q Tran Professor Frauenholz English 100, Section NC03 October 15, 2009 What high School Is by Theodore Sizer and nurture to Read by Malcolm X Learning has an important role in human being society. By accomplishment a person can gain more knowledge and reasonableness in differentiate to contribute to the development of society. Learning can be per skeletal systemed in various ways. Specific eithery, there are two completely incompatible types of attainment that produce strength and impuissance based on prevalent cultureal figure. mansion, a Franklin high rail student, is described in What postgraduate School Is by Theodore Sizer.On the different hand, Malcolm X, who was convicted of robbery in 1946, came out of slammer with the knowledge of smuggled history and the enormous questionable of Elijah Muhammad, who was the leader of the people of Islam (1935-1975). By analyzing the weakness and strength of the facts of life of Mark and Malcolm, the educational ex perience of Malcolm is ascribed better, and it inspires those who really seek the benefit of larn. Mark, sixteen eld old and a genial grader, has both strength and weakness in his educational experience. First, he has better opportunity for well-rounded education. As a high school junior, Mark has to study various subjects.His obligation is to follow different kinfolkes much(prenominal) as English class, typing class, biology class, French class, history class and mathematics class. The approximate time spent for each class is slightly forty to fifty minutes. Moreover, Mark receives particularized guidance and particular body structure in every class in which he attends. For instance, Ms. Viola, the English teacher, has her students in turn take parts and read out loud (Sizer 20). In addition to the strong points, Mark has a chance to partake in social study group at his school. For example, at Biology class, Mr. Robbins, the teacher, requires his students to form a circle of three or so n order to study the specimen and to take notes about it (Sizer 22). However, there is also weakness in Marks educational experience. He mostly encounters a daily external distraction of walking from class to class. Therefore, his education is less(prenominal) profound effect since he has to do other things instead of steering on studying. Constantly, he has little desire to learn and has no specific polish. As an illustration, Mark touch sensations frustrated, uncomfortable and scared that he wont be able to complete his letter (Sizer 21), and that Tomorrow, and virtually every other tomorrow, bequeath be the same for Mark (Sizer 24).In contrast, Malcolm, who was imprisoned for s all the same years in Charlestown Prison, had totally different strengths in his education. One of the strengths was that Malcolm had a great desire to learn new knowledge. In Charlestown prison, he started his desire of learning from a feeling envy of stock of knowledge of Bimbi (X 78). M oreover, Malcolm kept book- edition motions even though he really ended up with little opinion of what the book said (X 78). Then he began copying into his tablet all words printed on the dictionarys pages in order to understand books (X 78-79).In addition to the strong points, Malcolm had few distractions during the time he studied in prison. The only distraction was from the night guards. At night (from 10pm to 4am), while Malcolm was study and learning in the dim glow of a light, he oft had to jump into his bed and feign sleep whenever he heard the glide path footsteps of the night guards (X 80). Therefore, studying had a profound effect on him because he spent almost fifteen hours studying without distraction. Malcolms education, known as homemade education, is a better form of educational experience.He had specific goal for his reading and learning although he spent seven years in prison. His goal was to serve the black man in term of Black and White separatism in the 1950s in United States. His pregnant goal led to great reading and learning of certain subjects, such as Black history, Genetics, slavery, Chinese world history and philosophy. Constantly, he says, You will never catch me with a free fifteen minutes in which Im not studying fewthing I feel superpower be able to help the black man (X 85). Moreover, Malcolms education is really an educational experience.Unlike Marks education, Malcolm had to begin his fundamental education by learning the vocabulary. Henceforth, he daily spent numerous hours on reading books to gain knowledge and understanding. He himself did that spectacular job without either specific guidance, except for his curiosity only. He said, I could spend the lie down of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity-because you can hardly mention anything Im not curious about (X 85). On the other hand, reading for the sake of knowledge was a significant way to help Malcolm feel a sense of freedom in spite of being in prison .Truly, the more he read, the freer he felt. He concludes that I dont think anybody ever got more out of going to prison than I did. In fact, prison enabled me to study far more intensely than I would have if my life had gone differently and I had attended some college. (X 85) In short, Mark represents students learning style. Meanwhile, Malcolm represents prisoners learning style. In fact, both Mark and Malcolm have strength and weakness in their educational experiences. Therefore, the best learning way is to eliminate the weakness and to develop strength in in-person skill and talent.A specific goal and a long-term purpose are successful keys of learning. Likewise, there is argument about studying unless it is applied to the portion of the society. Sizer, Theodore. What High School Is. Rereading America Cultural Contexts for diminutive Thinking and Writing, tertiary ed. Eds. Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Boston Bedford St. Martin, 1995. 20-29. X, Malcolm. L earning to Read Rereading America Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing, 3rd ed. Eds. Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Boston Bedford St. Martin, 1995. 78-85.