Making connections between Rose and Tobias

     Mike Rose wrote a passage called "I just want to be average" and there is a moment where his experience becomes consistent with the information in Shelia Tobias's passage; "Symptoms of math Anxiety." Reading paragraphs 21-23 of Rose's passage I was able to aknowledge that there were some similarities between the two pieces. " A good teacher, to allay this myth, brings in the scratch paper he used in working out the problem, to share with the class the many false starts he had to make before solving it,"(Tobias, 151) is the one quote that struck me to make a comparison to the experiences Rose was having in English with Jack MacFarland. Rose makes it clear that all of the students had given MacFarland respect for the amount of hours that was put into his work. Jack MacFarland was the "good teacher" that Tobias talks about in her piece. Tobias also makes a discussion that states that most students are likely to quit when they don't understand. In Rose's piece he was given many assignments throughout the school year, which "startled" him and his classmates, but Rose never quit because of the way Jack MacFarland taught. The teaching process of MacFarlane was no doubt that of a good teacher, which explains why most of his students didn't quit. Those who did quit, however, were the troublemakers that "would look foolish rather than daring."(Rose, 140) Throughout Roses pieces we see him transform from a student that is really anxious to start a new education path, but who soon become devoured by the "good teacher" and the material of the class.