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One of Us by Fridelle Maynard

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I find four great classes of students. The dumb who stay dumb. The dumb who become wise. The wise who go dumb. The wise who remain wise. ~ Martin H. Fischer. This quote refers to one of the advocate character, Tevya, who is introduced in a story entitled “One of Us” written by Fridelle Maynard. The irony in this story is that, Tevya starts off being a “slacking off student” also known as a student who always procrastinates when it comes to school work and attending class regularly. According to Maynard, “Tevya had missed most of his philosophical lectures and was reputed to be in the professor’s bad books” (156). His attitude and personality states that he falls into the category of “The dumb who stay dumb” (referred back to the top quote), which means he is not going to improve in his education because of the attitude he depicts in education. It’s like a high school student or any student entering Ms. Ladas’s English class, expecting to get above 90 percent as an overall mark without trying. There is no way; Ms. Ladas will give the student a 90 percent without the student achieving it. Achieving a goal requires time and full commitment. Attending class regularly would be a great way to show the teacher that you are willing to learn. You have to be prepared to learn and do well in the course to deserve the mark you want. As a wise man said, “You cannot open a book without learning something," ~ Confucius. In this story, Tevya believes that he is the niftiest student compared to his colleagues in his Philosophy class. Moishe, the agent of epiphany, questions Tevya about the philosophy of Kant. Tevya without doubt stumbles, not knowing what to say. I personally think that, Tevya is so full of himself, thinking he is the niftiest of all colleagues, thinking that it is alright to not show up to his lectures; Moishe proved him wrong by questioning him continuously about Kant. What Moishe portrays towards Tevya, is what I call, K.A.R.M.A. Proving someone wrong is a great way of making someone feel dumb. I know that Moishe is clever enough to realize that Tevya did not show up to any of the lectures, thus, asking him questions about Kant, is be the best thing to do, to shut him up. Going into a clas

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