First Grader Themes
The First Grader is a British film that takes place in a mountain village of Kenya. After Kenya received its independence, citizens were promised a free education. With the hopes of learning to read, Maruge, an 84–year–old man, seeks to cash in on this benefit. During the film, one can recognize some similarities and differences to our culture. Kenya culture, like American, has a tendency to disrespect its elders. Additionally, education is held in high value. Finally, Kenyan conditions highly contrast that of America. The first theme I noticed in this film is ageism. Kenyan culture, like American, has a tendency to disrespect its elders. This is defiantly a theme of this film. This is clearly displayed by Maruge's treatment from the children's parents. This is conveyed in many places of the film, but is best displayed by the parents of the children from the school Maruge attempts to attend. "Such a valuable place should not be wasted on an old man." This quote, from the parents on the news, clearly conveys the ageism of the citizens of Kenya. Though such a harsh quote would not be published on American media, as it was in Kenya, the existence of ageism is abundant in...show more content...
Though Kenya's impoverished and underdeveloped conditions were certainly not highlighted in the film, I believe it is important to observe. These conditions are best displayed by the state of the primary school. In the film, students were forced to sit 5 students to a desk and were crammed into a tiny room. Moreover, the Kenyans were highly grateful for the concept of free education. This highly contrasts the state of American schools, which are typically well funded. Americans are used to the concept of free education, so much so, that people now desire free higher education. I believe this theme is important to note because it is the key difference between the Kenyan and American
8th Grade Essay
8th Grade Summary Essay
8th grade has been a hell of a ride, I went through ups and downs, met new people, learned new things, and finally finished middle school. But along this hellish ride I encountered many challenges (and sorta solved them). I learned life lessons and had people help me along the way, I achieved goals that I set for myself. Most importantly, I learned many methods from AVID that I hope I will always use and take advantage of. Without AVID I would probably not care about my grades so much as much as I do now.
This year I would say was one of the toughest for me to go through. I went through a lot of challenges this year in 8th grade both academically and socially. A few of my academic challenges were passing classes, keeping up with all the work that was given to us, and turning in all the work that was given to us on time. Which was hard for me only because I like to take a long time to think through things and try to do thing the best of my ability. Not to mention, my social life is...show more content...
When I was failing my reading class I tried to do as much as I possibly could. I went to tutoring to do missing work. Although, I only had a C in that class for like the entire year, that's all that matter to me because I was passing. I tried to turn things on time, which I mostly did expect when I was gone for the day. When I didn't understand something I'd ask for help, which I had a big problem with asking for help in the beginning of the year because it made me feel dense. But now I know, it's okay to ask for help because it doesn't mean you're dull it means you actually want to learn. I never really got over my fear of public speaking, but I have been working on it. Which I feel is better than not doing anything about my public speaking phobia. Instead of letting myself get a bad grade, I actually try to speak in front of the class, and I feel like I've a huge improvement doing