Yao 1

Jerry Yao
Ms. Thompson
AP Language Block 2 Skinny B
12 November 2014
IJWBA Response
Draft Two
A Response to A Talk to Teachers
Although Baldwin introduces A Talk to Teachers that the purpose of education is to
allow one to become independent in ones own society (Lines 1-2), Rose perceives the purpose
of education as a guide for one for success in society. Rose describes of Jack MacFarland, a
teacher and a mentor, who helped Rose improve his outlook on education. Rose states, Jack
MacFarland couldnt have come into my life at a better time (Paragraph 2, Page 5. Other
students in the vocational track were unable to succeed because the vocational track and the
environment limited their potential. Upon further examination of the purpose of education in
guiding and impacting students academically and mentally, Rose signifies the importance of the
purpose of education throughout his essay, I Just Wanna Be Average , rather than how Baldwin
perceives as not noteworthy and futile.
Throughout the essay, Rose explains how his personal experiences helped signify the
purpose of education as a guide to become successful. In a response to Ken Harvey, Rose states,
Who wants to be average? (Paragraph 2, Page 3). Rose poses that question after a fellow
student in the vocational track, Ken Harvey, stated that he wanted to be average.
Unfortunately, other students, much like Ken Harvey, in the vocational track have similar
expressions as Ken because they lack the teachers to help them succeed academically because
The vocational track, however, is most often a place for those who are just not making it, a

Yao 2
dumping ground for the disaffected (Paragraph 6, Page 2). The teachers seem to have an
incentive to teach well and motivate the students rather than actually taking their time out, like
how MacFarland personally connected with Rose, to make an influence on the students. In this
case, Rose met Jack MacFarland, a teacher who not only had better style of teacher but also
made an impact in Roses educational career. For example, MacFarland advised Rose to apply to
college when no one else in Roses family could help Rose at that period of time; in the future,
Rose reflects on MacFarlands influence in his position in society.
Roses voice characterized the impact of education on a student in his statement: Reject
the confusion and frustration by openly defining yourself as the Common Joe (Paragraph 3,
Page 3). Education can influence a persons life both negatively and positively. On the negative
side, in the essay, Rose clearly pointed out that the vocational track had a negative influence on
the students such as the academically-inept teachers including Brother Dill (Paragraph 3, Page
1). However, some teachers impacts the education positively on students much like
MacFarlands style of teaching. MacFarland opened Roses insight towards education.
From our two pieces of evidence, the purpose of education in Roses essay is to inform
the students about how to experience society in a successful way because he states his future as
a time during which I absorbed an awful lot of information: long lists of titles, images from
expressionist paintings, new wave shibboleths, snippets of philosophy, and names that read like
Steve Fusco's misspellings - Goethe, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard (Paragraph 2, Page 7). As Rose
reflected at the end, the purpose of education from a teacher was to allow the student open their
perspective on the world around them rather than develop their own independence in society.