In Ta-Nehisi Coates memoir The Beautiful Struggle, he narrates his life and all the struggles he had to endure while growing up. Ta-Nehisi had parents who supported him, but sadly, the school and standardized tests were some of his biggest obstacles. It was eye opening to read because this is something I have never experienced myself. I have always been sheltered from this type of life. Yes, I have dealt with standardized tests but I never saw them as debilitating. My school had a high graduation rate; it was rare for someone not graduate. We also had a good support system at school. I can’t tell you how many times guidance counselors would pull kids out of class to discuss with them any issues that were occurring in their life and what they plan on doing with their future.
Unfortunately, it’s impossible to always have that support and in fifth grade I encountered a teacher who did not care about me. I did so poorly in her English class, they almost put me in remedial classes. My teacher never helped me, or sat me down one on one to assist me with the assignments, but instead I was left feeling stupid and not worth the effort. From then until sophomore year, I took all advanced classes except for in English because I thought I wouldn’t succeed in it. It
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TNC discuses this problem: “We were another country, fraying at our seams. All the old rules were crumbling around us. The statistics were dire and oft recited- 1 in 21 killed by 1 in 21, more of us in jail than college” (7). This statistic floors me. As someone who is planning on becoming an educator, I can’t imagine having one student out of every single one of my classes not graduating or even worse, being killed. Is this due to the school systems not creating an environment that encourages students to stay in school? What is the reason behind students not caring enough to
As a child raised in the hood, you grow up wanting a better life for yourself. As a parent, you want to provide a better life for your kids than you had for yourself. However, there is only so much a parent can do; only so much a parent can protect; only so much a parent has control over. This gap in control of providing your children a better life than you had frames the way Ta-Nehisi Coates writes his novel Between the World and Me. The book is written as a letter to his son. As Coates addresses the struggles out of his control that his son would face, he reveals the harsh reality of growing up black in America through his own personal narratives.
In 2015, the Atlantic magazine published, “Letter to Son” by social journalist, Ta Nehisi Coates. This essay, framed as a letter to his son, addresses social injustice towards black men in America, and how it affects their opportunities for a better life. Coates supports this claim by stating personal accounts and empathizing with black men. He also emphasizes the outcomes of slavery, and the lasting negative effects they continue to have on the black community. Its purpose was to cause the audience to feel a sense of sorrow toward the slaves. He adopts a solemn tone to get his primary audience, black men, to side with him. Coates also supports this claim by repeating phrases in order to highlight their importance. The purpose of his essay
Ta-Nehisi Coates, the author of Between the World and Me delves into the controversial topic of racism and white supremacy as Coates explains his take on the matter. This essay will analyze ‘The Dream’ repeatedly mentioned by Coates and determine what margin of people are applicable for the Dream and those who can never obtain it.
In Ta-Nehisi Coates’ essay, “Letter to My Son,” published by The Atlantic, he argues that in America it is customary to be oblivious to the suffering of black people due to people that believe they are white wanting a white America. He supports this claim by first describing how throughout history, people believing in white privilege regard themselves superior than those of color. An example that Coates used to show his son would be when a white woman pushed him and Coates recalled that, “There was the reaction of any parent when a stranger puts a hand on the body of their child. And there was my own insecurity in my ability to protect your black body. And more: There was my sense that this woman was pulling rank.” Another point Coates makes
Ta-Nehisi Coates addresses his son in this book, Samoi, who is fifteen years old. Coates recalls his memory of the atrocities and violence that he witnessed in the past against black people. He hopes that his experience will provide him better understanding of the present-day violence committed by white supremacist against the black body. From the beginning, Coates argues that the problem of many Americans is that they did not consider African Americans to be people. As a result, the dehumanization of black body will persist. Coates writes this as a response to the recent deaths of black people by the police officers. To him, the police are “endowed with the authority to destroy” blacks and they will never be safe from violence. When Coates
Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me talks about large portions of the issues confronting today's general public. Coates ponders his own particular life and voices his worries through his narrating. There were numerous takeaways from the novel and is an unquestionable obligation perused for everybody, not simply African Americans.
Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me has been compared favorably with James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time. The book begins with a letter to his nephew which Coats mimics in writing to his son. Themes of ‘Bodies’ related to racial identity, the experience of being black in America, and how to break down racial barriers are very prominent in both books however they vary slightly.
When people think of the education system, most can say that there are some problems, though they might not be able to pinpoint what needs to change first. If you ask most teachers, they will say that the first thing that needs to be changed in the schooling system to help the students more is the standardized testing. They will say that while it can be helpful it has a lot of faults and needs to be updated or changed to help its students. Standardized testing has often been a topic for discussion, between parents and people in the schooling system. It seems that a lot of people either hate standardized testing for not giving every child a chance to succeed, or love it for being a fair way to test whether a child knows what they need to know at their age. There have been many articles, books, and documentary’s debating on whether or not standardized testing is doing more harm then good. There was a comic made that shows the brutality and bluntness of what standardized testing is really like. Standardized Testing causes too much stress by putting unfair expectations on teens and doesn’t give every single student the chance to succeed.
Standardized testing has become a controversial topic in recent years, parents, students, teachers, principals and almost anyone who has a relationship with education is affected by this topic. People are either for or against standardized testing, some believe it is the only fair way to compare students others believe that the tests are too greatly stressed in school and are a nuisance to education. Standardized tests are stressed greatly, students learn testing material all year not focusing on anything else deemed unimportant by the test makers. Every student has the same amount of time and question on tests; they also are tested on the same subjects which the test makers believe are most important for children to learn. Standardized tests are used for many things such as ranking students on a national basis and government funding for schools.
Since Middle School, I was not opposed to standardized testing. I thought of it as a way of testing us of what we have learned. Although, after reading some articles about standardized testing I am re-thinking the pros and cons. From personal experience, I thought of it as a challenge to pass them. But now that reminisce about it, I noticed some of the cons of standardized testing. I remember having a week or two dedicated for testing, and in case of students failing they had to take time to redo it. It would take a while for all the students to finish their tests. And after remembering how it was back in those times I was more on the opposed side.
The standardized tests not only affect the students, but everyone else that is involved. It affects students by causing them stress and if they are unprivileged they do not get the tutoring and help that the privileged ones do (Reddell). Privileged children can get tutors to help teach them more about a topic. The unprivileged kids can get free tutoring at school but some are too embarrassed or scared to go ask for help. A kid should not be embarrassed about asking for help on a subject they are having troubles in they should be able to go to any teacher and not have other students around them making fun just because they are getting help because they do not know something. These tests have caused so much stress on not just students but also the teachers (Reddell). Students get more stressed over these tests than teachers do. They know that they need to try their best and it puts a ton of weight on them. Even though they can retake the test that does not mean a senior can. If a senior is to take these tests and fail then they have to come back either for summer school or back for a whole other year. It is not fair to a senior if they fail the test and have to come the next year or even during the summer just because he did not pass. A test should not be the reason he does not get to go to college that year and has to
Standardized testing is a down fall to many students but also an opportunity for many others. Standardized testing has its pros and its cons. It can be the make it or break it factor into getting into colleges you are hoping to attend or the scholarships you want to earn. Some people may have their opinions about the test, whether they hate it or not but the fact is that it’s here to stay.
Are you stressed out over standardized tests? Some say that the test are perfectly normal for the children. While others think that the children are too stressed over the tests. I believe that the standardized tests stress the students out too much because the children are too worried. I hope that when you are done reading this you will agree with me.