"I Just Wanna Be Average" Response

I have definitely come across teachers like those that Rose discusses in “I Just Wanna Be Average”. The teachers that have little interest in making education meaningful, and instead make it continuously dull. My high school history teacher, Mr. Banwart is a good example. None of us had the mental stamina to pay attention as he’d turn off the lights everyday and turn on the meaningless daily flow of usually sixty powerpoint slides that he admitted he stole from some other teacher on the internet. He was sort of a funny guy but was extremely conceited. He found enjoyment in listening to our ideas of activities to do in class and then shooting them down with a demeaning smile. Since he couldn’t understand that we were so bored and didn’t have the mental stamina to pay attention to his lectures, we’d get poor grades and skim by anyway we could. It was sad that we were craving enthusiasm that he wouldn't give, leaving us to believe that we just weren’t disciplined enough to follow our “grade-level curriculum”. We easily could of learned all he taught but his mindset wasn’t on what’s most effective, but what takes the least amount of effort for him. If he wasn’t going to try, why should we? Teachers don’t always care about how they teach or who they’re teaching to, even though it’s their job.

Students like Ken Harvey cope with the pressures of high school by ignoring them like they don’t care and it’s not important. Because they have never been able to make that connection with what they’re learning they are left in the dust, year after year. After so many failed attempts at learning, they feel like the don’t belong or don’t have a reason to be there and stop caring. They begin to just plan out getting a mediocre job and living an average lifestyle. They become so content with that and teachers misjudge all of it as laziness or carelessness. There is always reasoning behind everything people think about themselves and teachers like Mr. Banwart, that you encounter since first grade, don’t realize that they are the ones to blame!