I Just Want to be Average

A] Rose's learned in a selective way, so his intelligence is really only coming from what interested him enough to learn about. Though learning from literature is the most educational in my opinion, after I started reading i was able to learn so much easier because i had a larger vocabulary and could better picture situations. Rose in particular came out more of a anti-hero for kids who don't conform to the American Educational system. It poses the fact that you don't always have to learn in the class room you are always able to read books and do your own research in things that interest you. This goes without saying you need to first learn the basics in school before you can go off on your own. However, Rose was able to show that its never to late to start building knowledge and understanding the world around you.

B] We have social 'cues' that help us fit in to a certain group in high school otherwise we would really never survive the hostile environment, but as far as learning goes the cues are all about learning for a grade. Only learn so much that you can pass the exam and go about your life without further investigating the subject so that full understanding is reached. As far as self-percption goes, we feel like we can only judge people's intelligence in school by the grades they receive and not by their intellectual knowledge. People are often judged as 'dumb' when they receive low grades but are really just not being challenged by the information that school is teaching. When kid's like that are told over and over again that they wont be useful in a career, or get into college it become part of their own perception of their ability to learn.