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Context: Information was gathered throughout his life, given as commencement address.
Main Idea:This literary piece provides insight on different types of Education and which style Emerson thinks is best.
Supporting Details:)
1."One Burns to tell a new fact, the other burns to hear it." (pg. 245)
2."Work Straight on in absolute duty, and you lend an arm and encouragement to all of the youth of the universe." (pg. 258)
3."Here are two capital facts, Genius and Drill." (pg. 251)

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Context: This article appeared in 2005 in the New Yorker.
Main Idea: This article compares the controversy on how valedictorians are chosen.
Supporting Details:
1) In the last two paragraphs, Talbot expresses that valedictorians should be chosen based on who deserves it most and who strives for it the most.
2) pg. 113 - In this part of the writing, an example is given where to break the tie if there is one, the amount of credits taken will break the tie. One of the students found this out, and took an extra credit to win Valedictorian. This is showing how competitive this is, and people are willing to 'cheat' to win.
3) pg. 116 - Tablot is explaining how at some school, children with a GPA of over 4.0 is considered the valedictorian. Later on, Talbot expresses the loss of programs like this.

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Context: This was published in Harper's Magazine, and written by Francine Pose who is a reporter, essayist, critic, and editor.
Main Idea: School today are not teaching quality and good enough literature.
Supporting Details:
1) She has personally experienced this with her own children going through school and with the literature they are given to read.
2) Students need to be exposed to better diction and language, therefore they will experience and appreciate greater literature.
3) Students need to look at the greater detail in the story, rather that just the main idea. They should ask "why" things are happening.

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Context: Native American tribe member, Alexie.
Main Idea: He discusses the conflict between Native American stereotypes, academic success of his parents, himself, and other Native Americans, and also his experience with education as an adult.
Supporting Details:
1) pg. 111 paragraph 6 - In this paragraph he is explaining the stereotypes regarding Native Americans and education. He is explaining how Native Americans are expected to fail in the non-Native American world.
2) pg. 110 paragraph 2- In this paragraph he is explaining his father's education and how it has impacted his future of education. By his father having a better education than most Native Americans, and by having all the books in the house, it caused Alexie to read more and strive to have a good education.
3) pg. 112 paragraph 8- In the last paragraph Alexie is explaining his experience of education as an adult. He is showing how there are still students who conform to the stereotype but there are also those who do not conform to the stereotype and exceed the expectations of them.

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Context: Speech by Baldwin, an African American equal rights activist, to a group of 1963 New York school-teachers.
Main Idea: Baldwin examines the negative relationship between race and society and how that relationship plays a part in the education of minorities.
1-Pg.125 "There is something else a Negro child can do, too. Every street boy...looking at the society which has produced him...understands that this structure is operated for someone else's benefit-not for his." This quote shows how the 1963 society was built for and with the purpose of educating the white race.
2-Pg.127 "...to change the curriculum in all the schools so that Negroes learned more about themselves and their real contribution to this culture, you would be liberating not only Negroes, you'd be liberating white people who know nothing about their own history." He explores the idea that the exclusion of black history from the curriculum of schools is a form of oppression in itself.
3-Pg.127 "What passes for identity in America is a series of myths about one's heroic ancestors." The ancestors of white Americans are not as great as what white people pretend they are.

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CONTEXT: Francine Prose has written many works, critiqued many works, and recieved many awards for her works. She was born in 1940 and this piece was written in 1999 as a critique of the quality of required readings in American schools.
MAIN IDEA: Prose claims that American literature is not complex enough for high school students to benefit from. The stories may have many different layers to the plots but the writing is lacking and therefore, our educated people are lacking. Students are not being taught how to think independently but instead, how to compromise effectively with what they believe and what they have been taught.
SUPPORTING EVIDENCE: 1.) pg. 90 " Much has been made of the lemming like fervor with which our universities have rushed to sacrifice complexity for adversity; for decades now, critics have decried our plummeting scholastic standards and mourned the death of cultural literacy without having done one appreciable thing to raise the educational bar or revive our moribund culture."
2.) pg. 90 "In fact, less and less attention os being paid to what has been written, let alone how; its become a rarity for a teacher to suggest that a book might be a work of art composed of words and sentences, or that the choice of these words can inform and delight us."
3.) pg. "the new-model english-class graduate - the one who has been force-fed the gross oversimplifications proffered by these lesson plans and teaching manuals - values empathy and imagination less than the ability to make quick and irreversible judgements, to entertain and maintain simplistic immovable opinions about guilt and innocence, about the possibilities and limitations of human nature."

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Context: James Baldwin, a novelist and Civil Rights Activist, delivered a speech to New York City teachers in 1963.
Main Idea: There cannot be quality education without the acceptance of past inequality and a willingness to educate for the purpose of preparing students for their societal responsibilities.
Supporting Details:
1. There is a great divide between the black and white races, and the way a student grows up directly impacts their success in education.
2. Inequality in history has been completely erased from textbooks. As Baldwin said in paragraph 15, "What passes for identity in America is a series of myths about one's heroic ancestors."
3. It is the responsibility of teachers to prepare students for life after school (in the real world), and to educate on how society forces people to conform.
4. To save society, which asks for conformity, it is their responsibility to not conform. "... one of the paradoxes of education... it is your responsibility to change society if you think of yourself as an educated citizen," (P. 19)

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Context: Francine Prose is an accomplished author, critic, and editor, but what possibly makes her most authorized to argue her issue is her background in teaching and her two high-school educated children.
Main Idea: By forcing high-school students to read ethics-based books instead of rhetorically-challenging and complex books, schools are not preparing students properly.
Supporting Details
1. Classics such as I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou focus solely on morals, and not on rhetorical comprehension.
2. Schools teach black-and-white lessons instead of having free discussion on how the syntax and diction of the novel may have impacting the meaning of the piece.
3. Society purposely holds back students so that the generation can be one of ready acceptance and conformity. Prose stated in paragraph 41, "... our best hope of awakening (the students)... making them love and respect the language.." and then in paragraph 42, "... it's not what's occuring, perhaps that's because our culture wants it less urgently than we do."

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Context: Strong believer in the transcendentalist club, excerpts from this essay are from were published in the The American Soldier.

Main Idea: Emerson argues that students should teach themselves with an open mind for learning, through his learning ways of nature.

Supporting Details:

1.) " Nature provided for the communication of thought by planting with in it the receiving mind a fury to impart it" (pg. 104)

2.) He uses his experiences with nature and students at that time to experiment the ways of learning with and open mind through nature.

3.) "Happy the natural college thus self-instituted around every natural teacher" (pg. 104

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Context: A publication in the 'New Yorker' in 2005 where Talbot examines the idea of valedictorian(s).
Main Idea: Mainly focuses on the conflicts of naming one or more or even no valedictorian(s). Talbot is obviously for naming a valedictorian for their hard work.
Sources:
1. "'My advice to other principals is...do not name a valedictorian. Any principal who does is facing peril'"(pg115 p11)
2. "...Hornstine's home instruction had given her an unfair advantage and that she should share the valedictorian title..."(pg117 p18)
3. "'... there are some kids who what they're good at is studying. That's what they do. They deserve something special to strive for. They do'"(pg122 p34)

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Context: In the 'Los Angeles Times', Alexie's essay that described how reading impacted his life was published. He was an activist for Native American rights and culture.
Main Idea: Native American's should be held to a higher standard that the stereotype sets for them. People of any race should not assume the stereotype and they should not conform to their own stereotypes. Alexie just wanted to help them understand that.
Sources:
1. Alexie starts by stating why he never conformed to his stereotype because of his father and love for reading, to show that there were some who got out of going with the crowd and that "If he'd been anything but an Indian boy living on the reservation, he might have been called a prodigy"(pg111 p5)
2. "They wanted me to stay quiet when the non-Indian teacher asked for answers, for volunteers, for help. We were Indian children who were expected to be stupid. Most lived up to those expectations...(pg111 p6)
3. Alexie shows his effort to help the children when he states "I throw my weight against their locked doors. The door holds. I am smart. I am arrogant. I am lucky. I am trying to save our lives"(pg112 p8)

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Context: A member of the Spokane and Coeur d'Alene tribes. He is an activist for Native American rights and culture.
Main Idea: Alexie is very blatantly stating that he is out of the ordinary in the society he come from. He also explains that those who are "normal," actively tried not to succeed in education. Whereas he wanted to be successful in school, but that was only because he wished to survive.
Supporting Details: 1. Pg 111, "If he'd been anything but an Indian boy living on the reservation, he might have been called a prodigy. But he is an Indian boy living on the reservation and is simply an oddity." 2. Pg 111, "We were Indian children who were expected to be stupid." 3. Pg 112, "I am trying to save our lives."

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Context:Essays and addresses throughout Emerson's life.

Main Idea:Emerson believes that an open minded student is much better than a closed minded student. He argues that a strict curriculum does not help his belief of a child free to think on his own interests.

Supporting Ideas
1)Pg 103 P 4. Emerson talks about a man who found a monument but could not piece it together. He talks about the man seeking others to help understand this marvel. Genius seeks Genius.
2)Pg 105 P 11. Emerson suggests that the common way of forming classes where many students are taught at once is restricting to the student's freedom. He suggests the students be taught as individuals.
3)Pg 107 P 12. Emerson tells teachers to have a poetic eye for students and that they must see a students potential to grow in class and outside of class.

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Context:Written in a 2005 issue of the New Yorker. Talks about the Valedictorian Issue.

Main Idea: Valedictorians have a major issue with how they are chosen. Talbot educates her readers on the effects of 1 valedictorian 2,3,etc. or maybe none. Near the end of the section she addresses her points and finally decides that having a valedictorian is something for children to strive for.

Supporting Ideas
1)Pg: 113. Talbot interviews a girl who got cheated out of her valedictorian place because a rule in place of the school said that if there was a tie the winner would be given the award based on overall credits. The girl feels that her running mate used this to their advantage and won because of it.
2)Pg 116 P 16. Talbot talks about schools that give the valedictorian prize to students above a certain GPA. Later on she talks about the lost value of programs like these.
3)Pg 122. The last two paragraphs emphasize that a valedictorian award should be given to those who strive for it every day. The award must be given to the student most deserving of it, not students.

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Context: Alexie, a Native American part of the Spokane tribe, published this essay in the Los Angeles Times in 1998.
Main Idea: Alexie discusses the conflict between embracing Native American culture, Native American stereotypes, and academic success and his person experience with this conflict.
Supporting Ideas:
1. pg 110 -- Alexie describes his life, which is vastly different from many people's lives. The poverty Alexie describes, without invoking pity, allows the reader a brief glimpse into his personal life and forces the reader to acknowledge the differences between Native American culture and non-Native culture.
2. pg 111 -- In paragraph 6 Alexie describes the cultural divide between Native and non-Native culture. Native Americans are expected to fail in education and keep their mouth shut when confronted by non-Natives. However, Alexie strives to break these stereotypes as he describes with his persistence in school and his love of books.
3. pg 112 -- In the last paragraph, Alexie describes his experiences as an adult with education. He describes his experience as a traveling teacher in the classrooms and how though many students are keeping an open mind and eager to learn, Alexie still encounters just as many students who have already given up on school.

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Context: This essay was originally published in the Los Angeles Times in 1998 when Alexie was 32 years old. Alexie is a member of two tribes and grew up on the Spokane Reservation in Washington.

Main Idea: Alexie addresses native american stereotypes and creates a story of his childhood to represent the importance of reading.

Supports: He show his family breaking stereotypes in just the second paragraph saying that his father was one of the very few Indian who went to a catholic school by choice. He addresses stereotypes again in the 6th paragraph when he talks about smart indians, “A smart indian a dangerous person, widely feared and ridiculed by indians and non indians alike” He considered himself smart at a young ages, considering how fast and well he read. Finally he breaks stereotype by succeeding. He read seemingly at all times of the day and improved his studies, breaking the stereotype that, “As Indian children, we were expected to fail in the non-Indian world.”

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Context: Best in class was in the New Yorker in 2005, at the time Talbot was 44 years old. Talbot is also a member of the New America Foundation.

Main Idea: The tradition of appointing a valedictorian in high school is very controversial and can be highly discussed. Talbot comes to the conclusion in her essay although there are negative components of appointing a valedictorian, it is still beneficial for high schoolers.

Supports: In one of the last paragraphs (paragraph 31) she speaks about how losing a valedictorian would mean losing tradition and that honoring everyone with 4.0’s would be ridiculous. Before this, in paragraph 18, Talbot talks about a girl named Blair Hornstine who lost everything (sixty thousand dollars, her acceptance to harvard, her honor and respectability) because she changed the valedictorian system. Lastly, In paragraph 19 Talbot makes the point that the valedictorian system isn't worth being challenged. She quotes Jennifer Wu, a valedictorian at Plano West Senior High School in 2003 saying, “Nobody in college cares about your having been valedictorian...My roommate has no idea I am valedictorian. It doesn't come up, and I don’t think about it.”

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Context: Multiple stories ranging in the 1800's throughout his life.

Main Idea: What a student takes out of their education and experience rather than what is being forced upon them.

Supporting Ideas:
1) Interests create motivations and motivations are a need or desire to complete a task or action.
2) Every student learns at a different level as others. In a school environment students are designed to be on the same academic level as peers.
3) pg (108) "By your own act you teach the beholder how to do the practicable."

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Context: Article appeared in 2005 in the New Yorker
Main Idea: This article describes the impact of naming one valedictorian, multiple valedictorians, or none at all, and strongly urges for the system to be eliminated due to the detrimental consequences.
Supporting Details:
1. Parents, students, and faculty are so invested in the debate for the title that they will bring the other side to court
2. Students are cheating to try for the title
3. Schools that have eliminated the titles have had success and have majorly improved the lives of their students

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Context: Wrote in 2005 in the New Yorker.
Main Idea: Shows the good ideas and the bad ideas when it comes to choosing a class valedictorian.
Supporting Details:
1. (pg 133 - 134) - this shows the 1997 valedictorian in Saratosa, Florida. This shows that one child had taken all of the classes possible, but one child beat them because they took an online class to earn an extra credit.
2.  Eighty-one valedictorians identified by researchers, who found that they were less likely to pursue their interests after high school.
3. Becoming a valedictorian requires a lot of hard word and dedication, so it helps people to get in the positive habit of working hard.

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Context- A member of the Spokane and the Coeur d'Alene tribes, grew up on the reservation, Sherman Alexie, wrote this essay for the Los Angeles Times in 1998.
Main Idea- Reading should improve your life and help you become a better person.
Support 1- Defying stereotypes can be a good thing. "A smart Indian is a dangerous person.." Sometimes being smart is different , but it is a good thing.
Support 2- Teaching others what you have learned for the better is beneficial to them, and you.
Support 3- Reading can save you, being smart can go a long way.

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Context: This was published in Harper's 1999 september issue when the author, Francine Prose, was in her early 50's.

Main Idea: The books that schools are having high schoolers read "trash and semi trash," and are focused more on morals than literature, which is what is supposed to be taught in an English class.

Supporting Details: In paragraph 15 proses talks about how the books highschoolers are reading don't leave enough open for opinion or discussion. She talks about how the high schoolers are learning what they need to from these stories in paragraph 17, “many are nearly incapable of doing the close line to line reading necessary to disclose the most basic information in the story a story by Henry James or a seemingly more straightforward one by Katherine Mansfield or Paul Bowles.” She gives another example of this in paragraph 27 with her topic sentence, “no wonder students are rarely asked to consider what was actually written by these hopeless racists and sociopaths.

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Context -- Compilation of speeches and writings in The American Scholar assembled posthumously.
Main Idea -- Emerson argues that the focus on education should be creating a generation of learners, not a generation of students uninspired by the curriculum shoved down their throats causing them to dislike learning, no matter the subject.
Supporting Ideas --
1. pg 102-103 -- Emerson opens with a bold idea, that education should respect the student as person, rather than just a body attending school. He argues that if you attempt to mold the student into someone they are not, that causes the fantastic person the student could be to become hidden in his forced academic persona. He continues to expand upon and add to this idea throughout the essay, but especially in paragraphs three and four where he gives specific examples of how individual each person is.
2. pg 105-106 -- Emerson speaks about standardized curriculum and excessive testing and how this causes teachers to be too stressed to teach with passion, rather than monotony. He also talks about how the entire school system will not fit everyone, no matter the style of teaching. Instead he argues for a more individualized approach, though it takes more time and effort to create.
3. pg. 107 "smuggle in a little bit of contraband wit, fancy, imagination, thought" -- Here Emerson is telling teachers to break the rules and make learning fun, while teaching with passion in order to inspire those students. Teach those students to love learning and be unafraid to let the students show what they know, even if it is off topic slightly.

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Context: Alexie is an author and Native-American's rights activist. He grew up on a reservation in Washington state. He now goes to schools and encourages kids to pursue their education.
Main Idea: The stereotype that Native-American children are less literate than other children is enforced onto students so much that they tend to abide to it. Alexie is an exception to this rule, and encourages others to diminish the idea.
Supporting Text:
1. Alexie came from a family that defied Native-American stereotypes. His father, "... one of the few Indians that went to Catholic school on purpose, was an avid reader..." (P.
2.
3.

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Context: Alexie grew up on an Indian reservation in Washington, an area that was significantly less well-off than most of the US. This piece was published in 1998. Alexie is a writer and Native American rights activist.
Main Idea: Alexie overcome stereotypes and a childhood in poverty through the help of reading to become a successful writer.
Supporting Detail 1: Alexie's description of how Indian children are expected to act. "We were Indian children who were expected to be stupid." (111)
Supporting Detail 2: Alexie's description of how he tries to inspire Indian children to explore the world of literature. "They refuse and resist. 'Books,' I say. I throw my weight behind their locked doors. The door holds." (112)
Supporting Detail 3: Alexie's description of how he learned to read. "Because he is breaking down the door, I assume that he says, 'I am breaking down the door.' Once again, I pretend to read the words and say aloud, 'I am breaking down the door.' In this way, I learned to read." (111)

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Context: Prose's piece was written in 1999. It was published in a magazine about literature.

Main Idea: Schools aren't teaching enough serious language and literature.

Supporting Ideas:
1) Students will be able to identify better literature when exposed to more serious language and diction.
2) Her experience compared to her children experiences greatly differ. Her children are forced to read instead of simply enjoying a book and its diction inside it.
3) Look for detail and what the author stands for; why did they write it. This is all being overlooked by just understanding the plot of the book not the deeper question of "why?"

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Context: Excerpts taken from Emerson's essay "Education" and his commencement addresses targeting education professionals such as teachers or school board representatives.
Main Idea: Students should learn by teaching themselves as well as by the examples of others.
Sources:
1. "Fellows scraped away the dirt, was struck with the beauty of the sculptured ornaments, and, looking about him, observed more blocks and fragments like this. He returned to the spot, procured laborers and uncovered many blocks. He went back to England, bought a Greek grammar and learned the language..."(pg103 p2)
2. "Always genius seeks genius, desires nothing so much as to be a pupil and to find those who can lend it aid to perfect itself"(pg103 p3)
3. "Teach them to hold their tongues by holding your own. Say little; do not snarl; do not chide; but govern by the eye"(pg107 p13)

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CONTEXT: he is a critic of race issues and sexual identity, promoting his ethos and arguably his other appeals. He has published many works and believes he is no better or worse than the average person, "Baldwin considered himself a "commuter" rather than an expatriate." This speech was delivered to New York City school teachers in 1963.
MAIN IDEA: He explains the purpose of education in his own words though he does tie it back to the majority of students by bringing attention to the minorities. He questions whether the facts of privilege and race can determine and foretell a persons future.
SUPPORTING IDEAS: 1.)Pg. 125"what I'm trying to get at is that by the time the Negro child has had, effectively, almost all the doors of opportunity slammed in his face, and there are very few things he can do about it."
2.)Pg. 123 "The paradox of education is percisley this-that as one begins to become consciuos one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated. The purpose of education, finally, is to create in a person the ability to look at the world for himself, to make hos own decisions, to say to himself this is black or this is white."
3.) pg.128 "What i am trying to suggest here is that in the doing of all this for 100 years or more, it is the American white man who has long since lost his grip on reality."

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Context: A past editor at Lingua Franca and the New Republic and she has received a Whiting Writers' award. Written in 2005 this piece was in a magazine named the New Yorker, which is read by better educated, wealthier people.

Main Idea: Talbolt discuses on if having a class valedictorian is a beneficiary award to have in high schools. At times it produces healthy completion but at other times it can produce unhealthy completion.

Supporting Details:
1.) She uses an example at a Florida high school that shows how the unhealthy competition can play out. A young man played 100% by the rules and took an extra credit class because the race was tied for valedictorian and he won with the most amount of credits. The community was in a divide.

2.)  The rigor of AP classes which are weighted differently sometimes have a negative effect on the race of valedictorians because the race for valedictorians are so close.

3.) " Like spelling bees, the contest for valedictorians offers a pleasing image of a purer meritocracy, in which learning and preforming by the rules leave one hard-working person standing." (pg. 121)

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Context: Article from 2005 in the New Yorker. Talbot only has one paragraph written from personal experience of her high school career, the rest is anecdotes.
Main Idea: In her two concluding paragraphs, Talbot establishes that there should be valedictorians and leaves the reader with this as the most recent thought of her piece in their memory.
Supporting Details: 1. Pg 114, "But Kennedy,..., concluded that it was time to get rid of valedictorians at Sarasota High." 2. Pg 116, "Some schools, responding to the critique that competition has got too bruising, have decided that naming a single valedictorian is part of the reason that today's students have become so anxious." 3. Pg 122, "But, [Cheryl Barker] added, 'there are some kids who what they're good at is studying. That's what they do. They deserve something special to strive for. They do.'"

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Context: A Spokane and Coeur d'Alene Indian who grew up on the Spokane Indian reservation and published this piece in 1998. College graduate, screenplay writer, and author, Alexie is an activist for Native American rights and culture.
Main Idea: Reading and having an reliable role model is crucial to learning and succeeding.
1) In the last paragraph Alexie makes the comments "They look at me with bright eyes and arrogant wonder. They are trying to save their lives." ( Line 11+12) This along with his previous statements earlier in the paragraph state that many young Native American students find wonder in example and instruction when it comes from someone who truly understands them and their culture.
2) In the very beginning of this piece, Alexie talks profusely about his father and the impact that he left on Alexie. Alexie's father was his role model. His devotion to his father led Alexie to be the odd Indian out in school, the person that taught him to cherish education. This, along with the fact that Alexie wanted to and eventually learned to read because of his fathers example shows that Alexies dedication to education and reading saved his life.
3) Also in the last paragraph, Alexie refers to the children who "sit in the back rows and ignore me with theatrical precision." In this thought Alexie reminisces in a way about the children that he went to school with, the ones that didn't want him to act like a 'white kid'. He sees these same attitudes in the children whose schools he visits and continues to push them toward education. "Books I say to them. Books I say. I throw my weight against their locked doors. The door holds. i am samrt. I am arrogant. I am lucky. I am trying to save our lives." (Last three lines in the last paragraph). By doing this, Alexie is trying to give these children a role model who understands their situation, their culture, their lives. In this way, Alexie hopes to help them save their lives as reading and education saved his.

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Context: Wrote this based on the impact of reading in his life. Published in the Los Angeles Times in 1998.
Main Idea: Alexie showed how his perspective on reading differed than the stereotypical Native American. He also showed the pressure of being a Native American, because they are "supposed to be unable to read".
Supporting Details:
1. (pg. 111, p. 3) - This talks about the stereotypical Native American and how they should be acting in and out of the classroom.
2. (pg 110 - 111) - Personal anecdotes showing his perspective on reading.
3. (pg. 111 p. 4 - pg. 112) - This helped give the reader an idea on how he was not going to let a stereotype ruin his education and his chances on becoming something that he ended up being; a writer.

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Context- A 1999 published piece in Harper's
Main Idea- Reading "classics" for the sake of reading them and reading only for the ideas and difficult testing is not what reading in high school is supposed to be.
Support 1- Personal Experience as a mother, has reading lists form children and from high schools around the country.
Support 2- Schools should be teaching about what makes literature good, not just the ideas in the books. Examples on page 98, paragraphs 39 and 40.
Support 3- Reading books just because of the author and his/her race and not because of the book itself is not reason enough to put a book on a reading list.

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Context: An influential figure in American literature, a social critic of race relations and identity, involved in the Civil Rights Movement
Main Idea: Education does not simply begin and end in the classroom, rather it occurs in everything, at home, out in the streets, other people's reactions toward you; education is apparent everywhere.
1)(Paragraph 4 sentences 7- the end) Baldwin gives the examples of a black child becoming educated without knowing how or knowing how to verbalize what he sees, rather he learns things like body movement, tone of voice and tension. Through these means a child is able to learn, what hurts my parents, why my mom is working so hard, why I can't sit in the front of the bus, etc.
2) (Paragraph 5) Baldwin explains how a child realizes that where he lives ( the ghetto) is not a desirable place to live. He may not know what pimps, or whores, or junkies are, but he knows that they are bad and dangerous. What seven year old learns that in a classroom?
3)Most of all, Baldwin discusses the feelings of white people towards black and the feelings of black people towards white. In paragraph 7 he discusses how if a black person were to approach a friends apartment building they are asked "Where's your package?" or when they are delivering papers for their job they are told "Go to the back door." In this way, black children were educated on their 'proper' role in society- that they were unequal. This often led, when and if they became maids and butlers, to hatred towards their employers, because their (white) employers are "what stand between them and life."

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Context: Article published in the Los Angeles Times in 1998
Main Idea: The stereotype of Native Americans tending to be uninterested and unmotivated for learning in the classroom because they have taught to be so is becoming true.
Supporting Details:
1. In the author's memories from his childhood, he was very different from everyone else because he enjoyed learning and reading and was isolated because of it.
2. The author has attempted to guest-teach a class and has had children throwing fits and refusing to pay attention and even try to learn, despite the differences Alexie is trying to make to better their future. "In all my years in the reservation school system, I was never taught how to write poetry, short stories or novels I was certainly never taught that Indians wrote poetry, short stories and novels. Writing was something beyond Indians" (Paragraph 8).
3. Alexie believes he was mistreated because of his willingness to learn. "If he'd been anything but an Indian boy living on the reservation, he might have been called a prodigy. But he is an Indian boy living on the reservation and is simply called an oddity. He grows into a man who often speaks of his childhood in the third-person, as if it will somehow dull the pain..." (Paragraph 5).

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Context: This piece was written in 2005 and appeared in the New Yorker, a magazine whose readers are likely to be more wealthy and better educated than the average person.
Main Idea: Having a class valedictorian for high schools is controversial. Some people think that it promotes unhealthy competition, while others think that it provides opportunity and recognizes those that might not otherwise be recognized.
Supporting Detail 1: Sarasota High School and the intense competition for valedictorian that eventually led to it being abolished there
Supporting Detail 2:  The following of the lives of eighty-one valedictorians by researchers, who found that they were less likely to pursue their interests, such as music, after high school.
Supporting Detail 3: Stories of several people who fought to be named valedictorian, such as Stephanie Klotz, Blair Hornstine, and Sarah Bird.

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Context: Excerpts from numerous essays and commencement addresses presented by Emerson throughout his life. (1803-1882)
Main Idea: There are two main ways to educate a child; to keep his naturel and train off everything else, or to keep his naturel and arm it with knowledge for everything he may need in life.
1. Emerson states that a person can learn anything which is important to him, once he has the tools for learning.
2.He also states that people, especially young people, need to be able to come to their own conclusions. If you train off all of his whimsy and set into place a regimented curriculum without any wiggle room, the child will grow up to be the same as his teacher without any room to grow on his own.
3. On the other hand, a child cannot be left to go wild. As stated in #1, Emerson realizes the need for structure. He believes however, that there can still be structure and still allow the child to grow in his own way. (Paragraph 14)

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Context: A combination of his texts. His texts were written in the 1800s, him being a transcendentalist.
Main Idea: Emerson described multiple ways of teaching from going into the real world to being in an environment that is surrounding one "master." All of these methods he discusses, he encourages education through Nature.
Supporting Details: 1. Pg 102, "Wait and see the new product of Nature."
2. Pg 104, "Happy the natural college thus self-instituted around every natural teacher;..." 3. Pg 103, "But mark that in the task he had achieved an excellent education, and become associated with distinguished scholars whom he had interested in his pursuit; the masters, whom he sought."

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CONTEXT: He grew up on the Spokane reservation and his cultural differences give a different perspective on issues. He was also a Native American rights activist. Written in 1983, published 1998.
MAIN IDEA: Alexie describes his perspective of reading and how his views differed from most of the people around him. He also writes about the affect of peer pressure and how stereotypes have an effect without people realizing their impact.
SUPPORTING DETAILS: 1.)Pg 111, "a smart Indian is a dangerous person, widely feared and ridiculed by Indians and non-Indians alike." 2.)Pg. 111 "he grew into a man who often speaks of his childhood in the third-person, as of it will somehow dull the pain and make him sound more modest about his talents."
3.)Pg. 112 "then there are the sullen and already defeated Indian kids who sit in the back rows and ignore me with theatrical precision...I throw myself against their locked doors. The door holds. I am smart. I am arrogant. I am lucky. I am trying to save our lives."

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Context: 2005 New Yorker selection
Main Idea: The branding of a student as number one in a class is justified after the rigorous work he or she tackled throughout his or her high school career.
Supporting Details:
1- Pg. 121"...the contest for valedictorian offers a pleasing image of a purer meritocracy, in which learning and performing by the rules leave one hard-working person standing." The 'hard-working person" Talbot describes is the model for what she believes the valedictorian stands for. Earlier in the page she describes the story of Audrey Lin, a valedictorian who admitted to cheating to obtain her valedictorian status and later admitted to her misconduct. Lin then returned her valedictorian plaque, an honorable thing to do considering that there was a low likelihood of anyone finding out. Doesn't this new information mean that Lin did indeed deserve to win the valedictorian position?
2- Pg.120 "The valedictorian prize also celebrated people who weren't often publicly recognized: studious girls." Talbot's point in this quote is that without the valedictorian award, intelligent girls would often go unrecognized.
3- Pg.121 "It seems sad to abolish tradition-and faintly ridiculous to honor too large a group." In Talbot's point of view, the valedictorian position is a winner takes all scenario and the crowning of too many students isn't special at all.

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Context: Grew up on Spokane Reservation, Impact of reading in life, personal background.

Main Idea: Reading must be a given in any school, children who have maybe given up they must read.

Supporting Ideas
1: Pg 110: In the first few paragraphs Sherman talks about his first experience reading and about why he loved books. His father is the main reason that he decided to read books; he idolized him and thought that reading might be a good experience.
2:Pg 111 P 5:Sherman recalls that in his life he was never praised in or out of school and that he never had anyone to help him either.
3:Pg 112: In the last paragraph He talks about his experience with books and how they shaped his life, at the end he talks about teaching children and how much he wants himself to save other children .

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Context -- Written 2005 in the New Yorker.
Main Idea --  Talbot argues that though many controversial valedictorians have been named, the valedictorian title should not be scrapped altogether.
Supporting Ideas --
1. pg. 118-119 -- Personal anecdote from Stephanie Klotz showing how dedicated and motivated she was to receive that valedictorian title. "So much of classroom experience is focused on these kids who are lacking. There's nothing to reward the kids who are self-motivated and are working hard" (119).
2. pg. 120-121 -- Reference to a professional study done on how valedictorians did after high school, in both academic and extracurricular areas. Study, with a small sample size, shows valedictorians were financially and socially secure, but often "relegated" their high-school extracurriculars to hobbies rather than careers.
3. pg. 121-122 -- Several personal anecdotes from researchers and students on why abolishing the valedictorian title is not a wise choice, simply because giving a goal to strive for academically gives those students a sense of accomplishment.

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Context: Was a collection of his writings published in The American Scholar and his commencement address. These writings were published in the 1800s.
Main Idea: The idea of a "normal education" is robotic; so here are three different ways to get a more hands on education.
Supporting Ideas:
1. Genius and Drill (pg. 102-103) - this is the "normal schooling", where there are the non-explainable (Genius) and the known facts (Drill).
2. Charles Fellows (pg. 103-104) - this is a different kind of schooling, as Charles Fellows wanted to learn about the Greek Culture, so he traveled to Greece and learned about it.
3. Individuality/Nature (pg. 106-108)- this style of education shows the reader that authority does not help problems; problems should be showed at an individual level.

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Context: Context: An Indian writer who deified social cues, and stereotypical theories as a Native American. He published eighteen books, starting in 1983.

Main Idea: Alexie Sherman played against the stereotypical theory that Native Americans were supposed to be uneducated. His internal division was effected; Alexie wanted to learn but his peers created is divided world inside him by making a choice of who he was supposed to become.

Supporting Ideas:
1) pg (111) " If he'd been anything but an Indian boy living on the reservation, he might have been a prodigy. But he is an Indian boy living on the reservation and is simply an oddity."
2) Fellow peers wanted Alexie to be quite and uneducated simply because he is not following the social cue that Indians were not made to be smart.
3) pg (112) "I am smart. I am arrogant. I am lucky. I am trying to save our lives."

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Context- Selection from the New Yorker in 2005
Main Idea- Valedictorians are an essential part of the school system because academics are the central foundation of school.
Support 1- Competing for the Valedictorian title encourage well-roundedness within students. It requires good grades as well as participation in athletics and activities.
Support 2- Being a valedictorian requires immense work, therefore creating people who will work hard.
Support 3- By making the rules clear, students have a bette understanding of what it means to work honestly.

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Prose- "I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read"

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Prose- "I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read"

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Context: Article published in Harper's magazine in September 1999
Main Idea: Schools aren't teaching enough decent literature
Supporting Ideas:
1. Her personal memories and those of her children's- they aren't getting the same quality education that she did
2. "The question is no longer what the writer has written but rather who the writer is- specifically, what ethnic group or gender identity an author represents" (Paragraph 19). Essentially, books about minorities or from minority author's are chosen over whites' simply because of this and not their quality of writing.
3. Teachers choose "easy" books and don't challenge their students enough, so they can't really learn. They also don't provide models of good writing so students have nothing to learn from looking at.

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Context: Grew up own the Spokane Reservation in Washington state. Alexie was also a Native American rights activist. Cultural differences giving a different perspective on issues. Written in 1983, published 1998.

Main Idea: His passion to be successful in school and to excel in reading and writing was not typical of the typical Native American Indian and he makes sure through his experience to try to bring a solid base of education to the Native American schools today.

Supporting Ideas:
1.) He visits schools to teach the young Indian kids creative writing.

2.) " I am smart. I am arrogant. I am lucky. I am trying to save our lives." (Pg. 112) He explains to the readers the struggle he has trying to fix the kids' morals when it comes to education.

3.) Alexie's experience with his father really sparks his passion to be a strong role model for kids today.

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Context: Prose's piece was written in 1999, and addresses modern English literature education techniques in American high schools. It was published in a magazine about literature.
Main Idea: Prose argues that the ways most high school teachers teach literature is not a good way to teach. She argues that many of the books that are taught are too dumbed down for high schoolers. Additionally, many teachers try to teach morals through literature, which Prose claims is a terrible teaching method.
Supporting Detail 1: The text she found on the internet, A "Collaborative Program Planning Record of Learning Experience"
Supporting Detail 2: Lists of the most common books found in high school English classrooms
Supporting Detail 3: Her own personal experience of high school English classes, both being in them, and being the parent of children in them

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Main Idea: Yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada
Supporting details: 1. yada yada yada yada; 2. yada yada yada yada; 3. yada yada yada yada