Me Talk Pretty One Day

In America, a child normally goes through at least twelve years of public school to be prepared and knowledgeable for college and the real world. However, a question about the schools is being raised –– are students truly learning in the education system? The system seems to be straying from its purpose. Nowadays, students aren’t enjoying the journey to learn and only goes through the motions of being a student. This takes away from them by not having in-depth learning, making them not as prepared and not as ready to master new challenges as they should be. To allow students to have true, deep learning, schools should grant students time to explore passions, lessen competition between peers, and give opportunities to experiment to find best
Deresiewicz references Harry R. Lewis, a former Harvard dean, who wrote how all the college students refuse to take a chance on a new class that they might not do well in because they are afraid of failure. They are unable to venture into the unknown because if they fail, other students will judge them and deem them as inferior because of the competition in the environment. In David Sedaris’ Me Talk Pretty One Day, the narrator recounts his experience at a language school in France. He had a harsh teacher, who would shame and insult her students as they tried to speak and understand French. This lead to feelings of confidence and fear in the students because they constantly felt like they were failing. However, at the end of the passage, the narrator realises that through all the failures in class, he is finally able to understand everything the teacher said and became hungry for more knowledge about the French language. Sedaris’ story demonstrates the benefits of failing because if there is failure, there is effort to improve, to explore uncharted territory, and to discover more knowledge