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I walked into our school's library - full of books and Accelerated Reader (AR) points. Looking around at the tall stacks and endless aisles of books, I felt like a speck among a sea of words and, of course, AR points. When I was in 6th grade, we read AR books to earn points. We took tests, and the points were distributed according to the test result and the book's difficulty. At the end of the year, we traded our AR points for toys and candies. The year before, I had the 2nd most AR points in my entire school. The girl who won conveniently moved - her spot was mine!
That was six years ago. Two weeks ago, I signed up to be a Reading Buddy at my old intermediate school. Her name was Marissa, and she hated to read. No fair. Everybody else got the foreign child who wanted to learn, starved for a decent education. I was stuck with the preppy white girl who despised books.
"Why do people write books anyway?" she asked.
I couldn't believe she asked that. How ignorant can she be? It's not like she's dumb. She does not need a Reading Buddy; she needs a wake-up call. Does she know how good she has it? Non-appreciative little jerk.
"Some people have opinions and want to voice them." I answered. "Don't you have opinions?"
"I don't know," Marissa replied apathetically.
"You need to find your voice. What's your favorite class?" I asked.
"I don't know."
"What's your worst?"
"I don't know."
You get the gist. After ten more questions, she finally answered differently.
"Well, do you know if you’re a boy or a girl?"
"A girl," she replied impatiently.
"Are you sure?"
"I don't know." Interest was lost once again.
Unbelievable. Just unbelievable!
So I took her to the library, determined to make her read something. I stopped.
Did this place shrink? I asked myself. The sea of words was nothing but a puddle. The long and daunting aisles turned short and stubby. The towering stacks deformed into midget shelves. After years of high school and college library research, my broadened intellectual capacity actually shrunk an entire library! After years of classical literature and perplexing articles, the "great big novels" from my childhood turned into easy storybooks. After years of growing up, those that haven't were strangers.
I sighed and looked at Marissa. I saw something else. This one scared me a bit. The library shrinking was simply startling. This realization was scary. I saw a little of myself. The 6th grade Nancy who thirstily read the AR books wasn't a little girl who loved reading. To her, reading had no point either. She just wanted the points so she could win a trophy and get cool prizes at the end of the school year. She didn't understand. I thought I was beyond that because I could read fast, read well. I wasn't. Understanding that scared me - I am impatient and derisive towards the same fault I had before. I was no better.
What ignorance will I see in the 12th grade Nancy years from now? I want to be scared again. I need a place that fosters that growth.
I am ready.

****

Think I should write another one? The more I read this one the more I think it's not good enough.

By Xtoastx (Xtoastx) on Thursday, December 18, 2003 - 03:32 pm: Edit

i thinkt hats a really really cute essay. the shrinking thing is a bit unclear just clarify a bit but its so cute it made me smile

By Godis (Godis) on Thursday, December 18, 2003 - 04:15 pm: Edit

too haughty. i'm sensing some condescension when you write about your "increased" intellectual capacity. also, you don't develop your point very well (the whole nancy thing). write another one.

By Tkoplaya1 (Tkoplaya1) on Thursday, December 18, 2003 - 06:21 pm: Edit

"I get stuck with the preppy white girl wo despised books"
*********************************************
I hope You're white...

The whole foreign kid and white girl stereotype could be seen as offensive.

peace

By Gagner (Gagner) on Thursday, December 18, 2003 - 08:46 pm: Edit

Thanks you guys. I was worried nobody would read my post.

Yeah, I understand how the foreign child comes off now. I wasn't saying that foreigners are smarter than white people. In this tutor program, the majority of the kids who need help reading are foreigners who moved to USA recently - so they have trouble pronouncing words and desperately want to catch up. I didn't get one of those kids. I got the girl who just hated reading. It was frustrating - in case you couldn't tell by the tone of my essay.

anyways... here's a revised copy. I changed the stuff in bold - I HOPE my point came across better. One last shot before a new essay.

***

I walked into our school's library - full of books and Accelerated Reader (AR) points. Looking around at the tall stacks and endless aisles of books, I felt like a speck among a sea of words and, of course, AR points. When I was in 6th grade, we read AR books to earn points. We took tests, and the points were distributed according to the test result and the book's difficulty. At the end of the year, we traded our points for toys and candies. The year before, I had the 2nd most AR points in my entire school. The girl who won conveniently moved - her spot was mine!

That was six years ago. Two weeks ago, I signed up to be a Reading Buddy at my old intermediate school. Her name was Marissa, and she hated to read. No fair. Everybody else got a child who wanted to learn, starved for a decent education. I was stuck with the preppy princess who despised books.

"Why do people write books anyway?" she asked.

I couldn't believe she asked that. How ignorant can she be? It's not like she's dumb. She does not need a Reading Buddy; she needs a wake-up call. Does she know how good she has it? Non-appreciative little jerk.

"Some people have opinions and want to voice them." I answered. "Don't you have opinions?"

"I don't know," Marissa replied apathetically.

"You need to find your voice, and use it to voice your own opinions. What's your favorite class?" I asked.

"I don't know."

"What's your worst?"

"I don't know."

You get the gist. After ten more questions, she finally answered differently.

"Well, do you know if you’re a boy or a girl?"

"A girl," she replied impatiently.

"Are you sure?"

"I don't know." Interest was lost once again.

Unbelievable. Just unbelievable!

So I took her to the library, determined to make her read something. I stopped.

Did this place shrink? I asked myself. The sea of words was nothing but a puddle. The long and daunting aisles turned short and stubby. The towering stacks deformed into midget shelves. After years of high school and college library research, my hard work and academic growth actually shrunk an entire library! After years of classical literature and perplexing articles, the "great big novels" from my childhood turned into easy storybooks. After years of growing up, those that haven't were strangers.

I sighed and looked at Marissa. I saw something else. This one scared me a bit. The library shrinking was simply startling. This realization was scary. I saw a little of myself. The 6th grade Nancy who thirstily read the AR books wasn't a little girl who loved reading. To her, reading had no point either. She just wanted the points so she could win a trophy and get cool prizes at the end of the school year. I thought I was beyond that because I could read fast, read well. I wasn't. Understanding that scared me - I am impatient and derisive towards the same fault I had before. I was no better.

What ignorance will I see in the 12th grade Nancy years from now? Realizing how much I've changed, how much I've grown, makes me want to change even more, to learn even more. I want to keep reaching for that enlightened horizon that is always just beyond the next mountain. I want to I want to be scared again. I need a place that fosters that growth.

I am ready.

By Godis (Godis) on Thursday, December 18, 2003 - 10:52 pm: Edit

much better.

By Greendice (Greendice) on Friday, December 19, 2003 - 02:52 pm: Edit

Gagner,

The idea is good and the story flow pretty good except the conversation between you and the girl seems to be too long. I don't think you need that many words to get that idea across.