Faking Literacy–Question on Rose Narrative

In Rose’s literacy narrative, he discusses his experiences growing up the son of two immigrant parents in a rough and violent neighborhood. As a child, he strived to educate himself, soon being able to do things his parents couldn’t. He had a passion for learning, and reading, even going as far as to state that “Reading opened up the world.” (23) However, later in his schooling–when he was put in the vocational track, specifically–he dumbed himself down. He says that “You have you shut down, have to reject intellectual stimuli or diffuse them with sarcasm, have to cultivate stupidity…”(29). Do you think that educational tracks sometimes force kids to fake their level of abilities and intelligence, for better or worse? Why? Do you think that, depending on your environment or even your age, there is a certain stigma that surrounds literacy/intelligence? Or, is it just a different type of literacy that you must apply?