- Original:
Alexander defines child prodigies as someone who “excels in reading and writing from an early age and is put on display for others to see his or hers brilliance” (615). From accelerated math courses, to skipping grades, child prodigies are extremely smart and they know it. They can set an example for other students, as usually child prodigies are model students. Furthermore, Alexander claims that “Child prodigy narratives reinforce the notion that literacy leads to success.”(619). I have to disagree with this statement. I believe that while a child prodigy has literacy success during childhood, they either transition into two different literacy narratives. From parents to teachers, to their own influence,child prodigies deal with an extraordinarily amount of pressure to be the best. This pressure and stress can make it or break it in some people. The countless nights studies until the early hours of the morning, the pressure to have the highest grade in the class, personally I pity child prodigies. Growing up, I have seen dozens of child prodigies have complete breakdowns from all the stress. On the contrary, you always hear on the news about a child prodigy who has started college at the age of 12, or has solved a math problem not even the most esteemed math professors could solve. Child prodigies are beneficial to growing a passion for literacy and the english discourse, however, outside and personal influences and shape if a child prodigy turns into a literacy success or a victim.
- Revised:
Alexander defines child prodigies as someone who “excels in reading and writing from an early age and is put on display for others to see his or hers brilliance” (615). As Alexander explains it, child prodigies are accelerated in math courses and skip grades, they are extremely smart and they know it. They can set an example for other students, as usually child prodigies are model students. Furthermore, Alexander claims that “Child prodigy narratives reinforce the notion that literacy leads to success.”(619). Through this quote, Alexander states the relationship between child prodigy and literacy success. I have to disagree with this statement. I believe that while a child prodigy has literacy success during childhood, they either transition into two different literacy narratives. From parents to teachers, to their own influence, child prodigies deal with an extraordinary amount of pressure to be the best. This pressure and stress can make it or break it in some people. The countless nights studies until the early hours of the morning, the pressure to have the highest grade in the class, personally I pity child prodigies. Growing up, I have seen dozens of child prodigies have complete breakdowns from all the stress. On the contrary, you always hear on the news about a child prodigy who has started college at the age of 12 or has solved a math problem not even the most esteemed math professors could solve. Child prodigies are beneficial to growing a passion for literacy and the english discourse, however, outside and personal influences and shape if a child prodigy turns into a literacy success or a victim.
2. Original
The victim narrative is sadly one that is greatly explored in the student academic community. A shocking amount of students can think about a negative literacy experience. “Many students gravitate towards the victim narrative: over 80% of students incorporated it at least once”(Alexander 617). The number of students who have experienced a negative literacy experience is shocking. Alexander claims that “ the popularity of the victim narrative in students indicates students associate school based literacy practices with oppression and even cruelty”(618). Cruelty and oppression? Where does this come from? Kayla Farrell from Raising Carn shares her experience of a poor literacy experience that shaped her life in “Turn Around?”. She talks about how she use to love reading and writing. How Her parents use to read to her, and that she could read book after book. It was not until middle school that Kayla started to lose interest in reading after she was “forced” to read books she had no interest in. While Kayla had to read books with little fascination, she still had a interest for writing. Teachers would always praise her essays and give positive feedback. Until she got to high school, and met Mr. Stritch. A bad teacher can ruin someone’s love for a certain subject and that is exactly what happened to Kayla in Mr. Strich’s english class. No matter how hard Kayla seemed to work, she would always get back a 70% with her paper covered in red marks. Mr. Strich covered he paper with vague “helpful hints”, “bad word choice” and “explain more”, how was Kayla going to learn what to change is he isn’t specific on what he wants her to fix? This problem seeped past Kayla’s english grade. “It just seemed to slowly eat away at any of my confidence in writing that I had leftover”(Farrell 2). This negative experience with a teacher was more than receiving a bad test grade, it completely ruined Kayla’s confidence as a writer. Kayla’s literacy narrative in the beginning was that of a child prodigy. She loved school, and learning, Kayla loved get positive criticism and work harder. Yet, this all changed after a negative experience with one teacher. This is so impactful, and as Kayla said “This was an important moment in my life because this is when my views on reading and writing changed and unfortunately it has never been turned back around. Teachers have bigger impacts on students then they think they do” (2). One teacher causes someone who was on track to be a child prodigy and who loved literacy to become a victim of it. It was one teacher who made someone lose their confidence as a writer. Kayla is truly right when she says that teachers have a bigger impact than they think they do.
2. Revised
The victim narrative is sadly one that is greatly explored in the student academic community. A shocking amount of students can think about a negative literacy experience. “Many students gravitate towards the victim narrative: over 80% of students incorporated it at least once”(Alexander 617). The number of students who have gone through a negative literacy experience is shocking. Alexander claims that “ the popularity of the victim narrative in students indicates students associate school-based literacy practices with oppression and even cruelty”(618). “Cruelty and oppression”, this is a bold statement about the education system. Kayla Farrell from Raising Carn shares her experience of a poor literacy experience that shaped her life in “Turn Around?”. She talks about how she used to love reading and writing. How her parents use to read to her, and that she could read book after book. It was not until middle school that Kayla started to lose interest in reading after she was “forced” to read books she had no interest in. While Kayla had to read books with little fascination, she still had an interest in writing. Teachers would always praise her essays and give positive feedback. This all changed when she got to high school and met Mr. Stritch. A bad teacher can ruin someone’s love for a certain subject and that is exactly what happened to Kayla in Mr. Strich’s english class. No matter how hard Kayla seemed to work, she would always get back a 70% with her paper covered in red marks. Mr. Strich covered the paper with vague “helpful hints”, “bad word choice” and “explain more”, how was Kayla going to learn what to change is he isn’t specific on what he wants her to fix? This problem seeped past Kayla’s english grade. “It just seemed to slowly eat away at any of my confidence in writing that I had leftover”(Farrell 2). Kayla had such a negative experience with a teacher was more than receiving a bad test grade, it completely ruined Kayla’s confidence as a writer. Her literacy narrative, in the beginning, was that of a child prodigy. She loved school, and learning, Kayla loved to get positive criticism and work harder. Yet, this all changed after a negative experience with one teacher. This is so impactful, and as Kayla said “This was an important moment in my life because this is when my views on reading and writing changed and unfortunately it has never been turned back around. Teachers have bigger impacts on students then they think they do” (2). One teacher causes someone who was on track to be a child prodigy and who loved literacy to become a victim of it. It was one teacher who made someone lose their confidence as a writer. Kayla is truly right when she says that teachers have a bigger impact than they think they do.
