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Danny Roth
Ms. Thompson
AP Lang, Block 1 Skinny A
September 7, 2014
I Just Want to Be Average Final Draft
Education Versus Society
How much does an education truly benefit people in life? Education is incontrovertibly
important; however, it can lead to conflicts within society. Through Roses experience in the
vocational education program he learned that within the educational system it is normal for
students to try to conform to what other students are doing around them. Baldwin says that
education is designed to allow people to make large decisions for himself. However, society does
not want people like that. They want people who keep their head down and accept the rules of
society. His statement is correct in saying that society wants a people of sheep, but not
completely correct in his statement on education.
As one can see, Rose and Baldwin do have some similarities in their ideas about
education. Rose talks about how he learned that students try to fit in, and he says that students
float to the mark set for them. One child in his essay said I just wanna be average. This shows
how the kids want to fit into the social norms set by adults and other kids around them. Kids that
are in upper level classes will want to do well to fit in with the others, but in lower level classes
kids will not try so that they fit in with the people around them. This creates a large disparity in
the effort levels of children. In lower level classes normally didactic exercises will not work as
there is little to no effort put in by the students. In the excerpt, Baldwin talks about how society
encourages students to conform and follow the rules. He says that society does not appreciate

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thinking and asking questions. This is similar to Roses point in that in both the students are
conforming to what is around them.
However, Rose and Baldwin do not agree on all topics. Rose is lucid in showing that his
education helped him succeed. He talks about how the vocational education system is supposed
to help less bright students succeed, but it is slightly flawed. He talks about Mr. MacFarland, a
teacher who taught him well and helped him get into college and succeed in life. Baldwin on the
other hand, states that education trains students to think and question, but that that is not what
society wants out of them. He claims that society wants rule-followers and not free-thinkers. This
is different from what Rose said in that Mr. MacFarland helped him think more broadly and it
helped Rose succeed in life. That goes against what Baldwin is saying. Baldwin says that the
education system goes against what society wants, and trying to resist society is very often futile.
Therefore, education is designed for students to be able to go on to college or to enter the
workforce and to be successful in life. Society cannot survive with only one type of person. It
needs a mixture of thinkers and followers. Baldwin said that society just wants people who can
follow rules, but he is only partially correct. Society needs people to follow rules, but it also
needs some people to think and do things that are not the normal. This is like the few students
who try to go above and beyond what the others do. These people are the thinkers, the ones who
invent ideas and lead society to change the rules.
Summarily, Rose and Baldwin both have unique views on the schooling system. Rose
believes that students try to conform to what others are doing. Baldwin believes that society
often rejects what education has taught students and instead wants them to just follow rules. Low
level education creates people who fit into Baldwins idea of what society wants. High level
education creates free thinkers, however, who do not fit this mold. These people are needed to

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continue to make advances for this society to follow. A society of followers needs someone to
follow, which is what high level education creates.