Preview

I Know Why The Caged Bird Cannot Read Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
774 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
I Know Why The Caged Bird Cannot Read Analysis
“ A human being is not attaining his full heights until he is educated.”. This quote was said by education reformer, Horace Mann. An education reformers was someone tasked with the goal of changing public education. Many believed that education needed to be different and better and that though has carried itself through generations to today where some may still believe that education still is not good enough. The quote above says that in order for a person to reach it's full ability they must be educated. What is does not mention is how they should be educated. Horace Mann was correct, education is the key to a human reaching their full height in life. Many passages have been written on the issues of the importance of proper education. One very relatable passage would be “ The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society” by Jonathan Kozol. This Passage is all about things that can not be done when you are not properly educated. Most understand that if you can not read …show more content…
This is discussed in Francine Prose essay, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read.” Prose explains how not only is education important and that we have good teachers to teach but also that the teachers are teaching good material. Prose says in her essay, “... I find myself, each September, increasingly appalled by the dismal list of texts that my sons are doomed to waste a school year reading.” ( Prose, 1). In this quote Prose very clear passion for proper education is shown. Prose helps to state the fact that we must not waste our time of education reading literature that is bland and bad for the education of students. It is most crucial that we instill a passion of wanting to read and learn into students. Without this passion then we cannot properly educate children. And without properly educating them then they can not attain their highest ability of functioning in

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Francine Prose, the author of “I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read”, develops her stance that present day literature is stunting student’s abilities when it comes to reading. Prose develops credibility on the subject as she is a mother of two sons in school and an active reader. Research has been done to support her claims as she supplies irrefutable evidence as tp why reading in school has declined. Overall, I agree with Prose’s point of view that literary standards are falling due to the fact that certain books appeal to the lazy teachers, and that present day literature does not develop enthusiastic readers. First off, teachers nowadays choose to teach their students about values through the reading rather than focusing on literary merit.…

    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Francine Prose explicitly shows her passion in her writing of “ I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read”. She states her point that students today fail to get the most out of literature that they are required to read in school clearly. This statement is not false, most students are uninterested in the texts that teachers assign and make the decision to not engage entirely when reading. Despite these students not engaging, they still are capable of understanding certain aspects of the text. The fact that even the least involved students can’t help but pick up on obvious values and lessons, gives Prose no reason to be skeptical about teaching values from literature.…

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In classrooms students are raised to become educated, to become good people, and to overall become a strong, integrated part of society. In our english classes more specifically, we are taught to be these people through the morals that are instilled in the pieces we study. In Francine Prose’s essay on education, I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read she inaccurately claims that the importance our teachers set upon those values squanders any appreciation built for the quality of an author’s diction and syntax. In english, much more than any other class, students are given invaluable opportunities to not only go over an author’s word choice, but to actually use their work as a way to build on their own values.…

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Francine Prose’s, I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read, proves many points about literature and the effect it has on students. I agree with Prose in such a sense that I believe students should read literature, not to get a better understanding of the “behind-the-scenes” of the story, or because it was assigned to them, but because they want to read it and that they will actually read the story thoroughly, understand it, and apply it to themselves and their life. I have taken English classes where the literature is taught effectively, in a annotative sense, and we have learned what to look for in a novel, story, or other piece of literature, to determine the position of point of view the author has on a certain topic. We studied the author and the history of the context more than the context itself.…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Atticus Vs Ewells

    • 685 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.” Martin Luther King, Jr. During the Great Depression, not everyone was given a decent education, and it most certainly was not the number one priority. You were pretty much fine if you were in a rich white family, but the further down the caste system you were, you harder it was. In Maycomb, the Finches, the Cunninghams, and the Ewells all have a different view of their education, inside and outside of the schoolhouse.…

    • 685 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Education allows people to learn more about themselves, and therefore, learn more about each other. Really, the only thing that makes sense in life is to strive for greater collective enlightenment. Plato shows how people become content with life’s delusions when they are not constantly seeking the truth and how experiencing new things will expand their mind to new thoughts and ideas that they were previously blind to. Frederick Douglass shows how humans can use the lack of education to keep others in the dark and only through education can those people break free. Thomas Newman presents the idea that once you are educated, you shouldn’t be satisfied and you should continue to seek out new forms of knowledge. These three author’s ideas collectively…

    • 163 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Francine Prose Analysis

    • 258 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Francine Prose makes several key arguments about the role and impact of reading literary works in high school. Early in the writing she said that the early encounters that people have with literature leave impressions that affect their interest for books as an adult. This puts a lot of pressure on teachers to help students discover rich literature. It is interesting to see the numerous books that are listed in regards to required books at various high schools and to see how Prose responds to them. In general she did not approve many of the books, which is similar to students responses. This is due partly to teachers not presenting the books in the right manner. In often cases classes are rushing through the books to get the curriculum done…

    • 258 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    First of all, education increases long term economic, social and personal gain for individuals, families, friends, communities and the development of a nation. How you ask? Well to achieve this there must be a minimum standard of education and enough levels of literacy, numeracy and life skills to enable people to lift themselves out of absolute poverty and start a happier, better life knowing that they are able to provide food, water, shelter, clothing and yes, even education for their families thanks to the hard earn money they received from their full-time jobs.…

    • 887 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Not a lot of students enjoy the readings because they cannot relate to the stories. We are given books that may have been popular in the 20th century, but mind numbing in the 21st century. In “I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read”, by Francine Prose, she shares her opinions on the books that are currently being read at school and how they are being taught. Francine states that “high school is where literary tastes and allegiance are formed; what we read in adolescence is imprinted on our brains as the dreamy notions of childhood crystallize into hard data” (pg. 90) The texts we read in high school are not challenging enough.…

    • 1102 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    How can one fight against racism? Martin Luther King, Jr. created an invigorating speech about his dream to end racism, Rosa Parks refused to give her seat up on a bus to a white passenger, and Nelson Mandela created equal voting rights. Fighting against racism and other significant social injustices are highly important and are successfully conveyed more in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou than in A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry.…

    • 859 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Literacy and education plays an important role in America. More than 4 percent of the adult population does not know how to read or write. (Literacy Partners.) Education is the basis of all jobs, governmental structure, and even society itself. Recent events and documents state the emphasis on the importance of a basic education. The rate of illiteracy is growing at an alarming rate, and nothing is being done about it. Illiteracy is a big problem today because it is directly associated with poverty, crime, and costs the government more money than budgeted.…

    • 817 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I think students should know about different styles of writing and great writers such as Shakespeare but it is a different time. There are tons of great modern authors and books that students can be learning about and reading (The Huffington Post). Shakespeare should be taught so that students can understand the language and provide students with background to the history of the language. More relatable stories will keep the students from falling asleep in their seats. Some of the scenarios and language in older texts can be hard to grasp and the modern books are better at appealing to the newer generations. The scenarios are almost unrealistic for this day and age but books that deal with suicide, rape, LGBTQ people which all hold a greater presence in young teens lives can be the ones that keep students reading. The ones that students won’t look up on spark notes and the ones they don’t want to put down. Texts about social, economic and political issues that will help students become more aware are great as well, but for the most part students should have a choice. The more teachers interfere with what students read the less and less they will read. Assigned texts in the classroom can be dreadful and at time most if not all students are engaged in the reading. Academic achievements and even doing well on tests can be tied to students who like to read. Giving students the…

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is important for teachers to motivate students to develop literate lives both in the classroom and in society. For some children the desire and importance of literacy is not instilled within the home so teachers need to be prepared to handle this job on their own. In my opinion students need to understand the importance of being literate. They need to understand that reading, writing, listening and speaking are essential to functioning in society. Everyday our lives revolve around our literacy. It seems nearly impossible to live a functional and successful life as an illiterate individual. If students do not understand the significance of literacy…

    • 597 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Nowadays reading and writing is not a privilege or a status, it is a way of communication and a significant part of our everyday life. Time when most of literate and educated people were from wealthy and privileged families is long gone. It is no longer the case when people from less fortunate families would be bound to do a hard labor and never get a chance to get a proper education.…

    • 1164 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    American Public Education

    • 1564 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Today, education enables us to enlarge our knowledge and open doors for opportunities to the path of having a good future. In the five readings, each written by a different author, there was a lesson learned and something to take away from each one. Reading through the passages by Mann, Moore, Malcolm X, Gatto, Rose, and Anyon, each author contributed his or her point of view on general public education. This topic can be very argumentative depending on the quality of education people receive. Education today is the single most important mean for individuals to achieve their personal goals in the workforce.…

    • 1564 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays