Lives on the Boundary

Lives on the Boundary was truly an informative read.  Much of what Mike Rose writes about sheds a new light on my own educational experiences.  I am his target audience: that group of people who assumed too much about the education of their peers and never thought twice about students who struggle in education.  "They aren't working hard enough," or, "They just don't seem to care."  Maybe even, "They just aren't smart enough to understand..."

Such were my experiences.  Rose points out the hard truths: these "working-class children, poorly educated Vietnam veterans, underprepared college students, adults in a literacy program...lived for many of their years in an educational underclass."  He tells stories of his own experiences growing up not learning much in school.  Going to college on that rocky foundation.  Aside from a handful of caring and insightful teachers and professors, he never would have made it.

But my use of the words "made it" are exactly what Rose is critiquing.  What has he "made it" to?  Yes, he graduated.  But that's not what I meant.  He is successful.  He wrote a book, with no grammatical errors found in a first read-through.  Despite growing up in an "educational underclass" of his own, he now teaches the struggling students.  Has he really "made it" somewhere?  Or is education just some special example of being socialized into another class--those with a liberal arts degree?

Rose argues that even these students in an educational underclass are intelligent.  He proves it by giving them an opportunity to write, to enjoy poetry, to read Shakespeare.  They might not get the syntax perfect, but those things will come with time.  He lets them enjoy their freedom before cracking the whip of the grammarian.

I really enjoyed reading Lives on the Boundary.  Rose has a special knack for seeing through another person's eyes, and understanding why they make the errors they make.  It shows up in his writing, as he relates story after story.  At times, I felt that I was reading fiction, only to turn the page and find an argument for educational reform.  If you can weave story and analysis this well, you've made it...somewhere.