This article discusses the comparison from the way the poor
is taught, and the way the rich is taught. It states that many circumstances such as
hunger, violence, and abuse, can overcome the poor and set them back. It them
defines “politics” as the activity with other people at every level, from the family
to the neighborhood to the community and city. This was the basis around the
author’s theory. He took a group of people who were labeled “poor” and
explained this theory to them. He told them that they had been cheated when it
came to education, that the rich were taught humanities and they were not. He
then explained the purpose of his project, the Clemente Course. He explained to
them that it would be rough, and they would have to do it because they wanted a
better life, and to learn what they deserve to learn. The author was writing a book, and this was
the test of his theory of the humanities. Fifty people showed up at the
Clemente Center for personal interviews, however, some were too rich, too
young, and even some could not read. He was able to learn about each student’s
life, and the unfortunate circumstances they were currently living in. Some of
the situations were pretty heartbreaking, but I believe that the author knew
that he could give these people a better life. After the few days dedicated to
interviews, he slowly began to create a class. He had no certainty of who would
make it through the year, he took in homeless, pregnant, and abused. H wondered
how the course would affect each of them. They had an intense orientation,
leaving the author worried of how many students would return to the first class.
Surprisingly, double what he had expected showed up. He then went into detail
about a few students, and how they were interacting with the new experience.
Each student was pushing themselves to learn and grow in different classes.
They were grasping concepts and analyzing readings. They were learning about
the humanities. They understood the work of Socrates and Aristotle. The author’s
goal had been accomplished. Upon graduation, ten of the sixteen graduates were
attending universities; four of them had received scholarships to a college who
accepted the credit of the Clemente Course, and the others were attending
community college or working full time.
This
whole article is documentation of an argument between how different classes of
people are taught. I feel as if the author was trying to make a point about how
different the rich were being treated in school. They were taught about the humanities because
they had grown up in very comfortable lives. The author wanted to prove that by
teaching the same material to the poor, they would be successful. However, he
made them work for their achievements. They recognized that they had been
chested because of their circumstances, and worked hard for their right to
education. His argument was proven to be true after studying the students after
they left the Clemente Course. The majority of them took the experience and
used it to further their education
I do
agree with the author’s argument. I believe that the poor are cheated on their
education, and not given the same opportunities as the rich. The poor are
taught to be prepared for college or universities. This is what the author
proved throughout the article. Everyone can make a better life for themselves
if they really try, such as these sixteen graduates did. They did not let their
past stop them from the amazing opportunity the author was giving them.
The
golden line I chose from the article was where the author stated “Will the
humanities make you rich? Yes. Absolutely. But not in terms of money. In terms of
life”. This statement really stuck out to me because it was the base logic of
the whole experiment. He was more focused on bettering these people’s lives,
not making them rich. He was teaching them things that would greatly increase their
success in the future. It was important for them to know that knowing the
humanities was not what was making the rich, rich. In fact, not many of them
knew at all. The few who did chose to live better and enjoy life more. I think
that was the purpose of the Clemente Course.
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