Articulating Projects
In this essay, I aim to identify the relationship between socioeconomic status and education. I will apply this relationship to the situations presented by Rita and to my own observations of students who struggle in the education system. (Kelsey)
Throughout this essay, I will elaborate on how persistence learned in the classroom can be used to work through hardships in other areas of life, leading to new freedoms, strength, and a transformation of the self. (Hayley)
I aim to represent how Tara takes this lesson from her education and applies it to her relationships, regarding the abuse she endured from her brother and the negligence of her mother. I also address the limit of her growth, as she fails to understand that her family’s perspective will never change for the better, not will they accept the world she sees through her “educated” perspective. (Peyton)
Despite having a different interpretation than Frank, Rita sticks to her own understanding of the poem until the end of their dispute, refusing to give up her perspective on the poem. Through this moment of perseverance and resoluteness, I saw Rita in a different light—as a prosperous and successful student. . . . If I could go back in time, I would not have abandoned my interpretation of the poem “My Papa’s Waltz.” (Zubia)
Materials (A): Reading Beneath the Surface
When Precious says “Ate” instead of “At”, Ms. Rain does not tell her she’s wrong. Instead, she says, “Good! Almost! The word is at,” (54). This tells Precious it is ok to make mistakes. Additionally, Precious finishes reading the sentenceand says, “A Day at the Beach” instead of “A Day at the Shore”, and again, instead of ridiculing Precious for her mistake, Ms. Rain says good job and in response, Precious feels a surge of encouragement and passion to learn. (Elise)
This journal may have been an assignment, but Ms. Rain’s dedication to reviewing Precious’s writing is also an act of kindness. Only someone who wanted to help Precious would take so much time to interpret her confusing language. Ms. Rain desired to understand Precious and her troubles in order to help. At the same time, she was still her teacher. (Morgan)
After this, she again repeats that she feels like she is drowning when asked to write her thoughts down. “…I feel like my blood a giant river swell up inside me and I’m drowning. My head all dark inside. Feel like giant river I never cross in front me now”(96). She feels everything at once and in her frustration, yells at Miz Rain, who calmly tells her to write those bottled sensations down. All her steam slowly dissipates when Precious begins to write. (Nidhi)
As Zubia Malik discusses in her essay, “The Hidden Meaning,” “students start off with different interpretations of a poem, but they may readily adapt their teacher’s perspective of the poem since it seems “right”” (Malik, 2), indicating that she has also experienced classmates being too afraid to share their true thoughts on a reading. Like Zubia and her classmates, I was always too shy to contribute to class discussions because I feared that I would “incorrectly” analyze our class readings, which is a realization that I had not made until I read Educating Rita. (Amita)
Materials (B): Reading Against the Grain
While reading the book with the class, Ms. Rain makes a comment that the book The Color Purple “has a fairy tale ending”. . . . Ms. Rain’s criticism was not right, in that she was witnessing someone work through the same issues as Celie. She was seeing someone overcome what seemed impossible to the rest of the world. (Hannah)
After exploring how students lose their sense of self when focusing on their grades on impersonal formal essays, I conclude with how an “educated” Rita is a superficial student that excels on exams but has lost her individuality at the hands of the education system’s misguided values. (Lauren)
Frank and I see her transformation from the opposite perspective. . . . With these perspectives in mind, I believe that a more in-depth analysis of the play offers a more layered, perhaps cynical story about how Rita simultaneously becomes educated but lose herself in the process. (Nathan)
I already struggle greatly with simple things such as reading the ingredients on my favorite cereal or writing my own signature for a legal document. Things such as writing an essay and reading a novel would be impossible without my resources
Now, although both Rita and I go through academic struggle sin our lives. They are in different ways and areas. While Rita’s struggles are mostly social and emotional, mine are mostly physical. (Ryan)
Voice, Style, Parallelism—and the M-Dash
Tara Westover, on the other hand, had a family who is supportive of her, so long as she was doing exactly what she was told. (Maddie)
For example, Precious originally describes Jermaine as “some kinda freak” (44) because she dresses like a boy. After getting to know people better at Each One Teach One, she realizes Miss Rain is also homosexual. She also realizes that their sexuality does not matter, and she even calls them her family. (David)
At the start of her college experience, Tara asked her professor what the Holocaust was—because she genuinely did not know—and was shunned, forcing her into thinking: “Of course I was a freak, and I knew it, but I didn’t understand how they knew it” (157). (Jimmy)
Ms. Rain’s classroom is a place designated for learning—not group therapy. Therefore, any storytelling takes place in the form of writing or reading. (Maggie)
However, these standard lessons were not the only—or most important—lessons that Ms. Rain used to elevate Precious’s chances at a G.E.D. and a prosperous future: Ms. Rain also taught Precious the essential life lesson of perseverance. (AJ)
She wanted a PhD, she wanted a job, she wanted to learn how to effectively communicate with her peers. With a change of language came a change of culture. (Mike M)
The first question on her exam was about Peer Gynt, and if Rita was taking that exam, she would have used her original response – “Do it on the radio” (80)–but Rita was not taking the final exam. Susan was taking the final exam and Susan chose to take the necessary active steps forward. Susan chose to change forherself, and not anyone else. Susan chose knowing the grade could be meaningless, but the purpose is far from meaningless. Susan chose. (Anaya)
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude for my father, who has paid for my education, so I can slander education. (Mike M)
E110: Seminar in Composition 