Shame by. Dick Gregory and the Professor is a Dropout'' by. Beth Jonhson - Assignment Example

Response to “Shame” by Dick Gregory and “the is a Dropout” by Beth Johnson Introduction “Shame” issad account that explicitly identifies certain people as inconsiderate and extremely unfair in their utterances. For instance, remarks Richard’s utterances as a teacher were very hurtful and shameful to him, which consequently killed the morale he had for going to school despite his poverty. The account distinctively proves that shame is learned though not from home but from school or somewhere else and at the same time despite all that one can find motivation from someone they respect.

“The professor is a dropout” conversely acts as an encouragement account, which relays young girl’s chronicle that based on the author learnt to read by the aid of her grandfather from childhood (Johnson). This culture of reading would later lay a foundation for her when everyone thought she was retarded thus unable to read. The love for her children and desire to see them succeed in life pushed to go back and improve her English. This account demonstrates that, with motivation and reading skill, anyone can drive his life to great success.

From Shame, Richard was from a poor background and attracted to her classmate Helene Tucker (Gregory). The respect he felt for her greatly motivated her continually go to school despite numerous hardships he then experienced. His determination’s was evident by unequaled willingness in continually attempting to please through emulating her cleanliness even though he had only one pair of cloths. He would even brush his hair, which clearly shows that through admiration and respect to the people we look up to we, can change positively and strive ahead.

Richard shame was for having no dad, being in the relief program and for being poor. This was worsened by his teacher’s comments that he had no dad while the whole class was listening. The teacher’s irresponsibility of not caring to find out why he was not concentrating in class but just termed him as stupid made the situation even more worse. This clearly shows how some people teach others to feel shameful through their words. This shameful feeling made Richards to lack the motivation he initially had to go to school.

Contrary to this, the professor is a dropout is a story of encouragement where Quadalupe Quintanilla strived to be successful in life even when people termed as retarded. When we are motivated to give a little push in life we can achieve whatever we want. Her motivation was her children and with the skills for reading she acquired at a young age really helped her a lot. Hard work is yet another aspect that is very important for any person to succeed. Quadalupe combined being a mother, a husband and caretaker of her grandparents with college and it took a lot of hard work and late night hours for her to succeed.

We must plan ourselves and take one day at time and with a goal in mind to succeed. She took one day at a time and knowing that she was doing it for her children never deterred her.Conclusion So many things in our lives can subject us to a great deal of shame but can be made even worse when the people who we thought cared for us make comments that put us into even more shame. Guadalupe’s story is a testimony that with hard work, Motivation and read skills any person can pursue his education goals and succeed.

Work CitedGregory, Dick. “Shame”. Fort bend ISD schools, n.d .Web. 2009.Johnson, Beth. “The professor is a dropout”. Camden County College, n.d. Web, 10th August 2012.