About the Novel A Hope in the Unseen- Teacher Prompted

A high school experience is different for people in the same school, let alone for two very different people, in two very different schools, and in two very different cities.  My personal experiences are incredibly different from the experiences, portrayed in A Hope in the Unseen, of Cedric Jennings.

The author, of A Hope in the Unseen, explains that Cedric long ago learn the lesson that at his school "distinctiveness can be dangerous, so it's best to develop an attitude for not being noticed."  At his school, good academics are not something that is accepted or something that you would want noticed by other students. The school does not offer very many harder courses or extracurricular academic activities. Cedric in spite of that wants to get the top grades and to go to an Ivy League school.

 Cedric’s school is filled with drugs and violence. This allows the school to become unsafe and a darker environment for the students. It also pushes the students to become more street smart, than they normally would be.  Ballou Senior High, Cedric’s school, also does not have much diversity in its student population, which is mainly of the poorer class African American.  Cedric has had a difficult high school experience.

My high school experience is filled with trying to do the best that I can in the classes that I take. At my high school, getting good grades is not a bad thing as it is at Cedric’s school. Most people, including myself, want to be able to go to college, wherever that might be. My school offers many extracurricular activities and many hard courses to take throughout your high school experience.

While Cedric’s school is filled with crime, my school is not being overrun with it.  My school has had issues with violence but nothing compared to Cedric’s experiences with it. It is not something that happens regularly. We have a greater diversity at my school with many religious beliefs and many ethnicities. I have had a hard academic experience but have not had the major crime issues that consumed Ballou Senior High.

Cedric’s high school experience was very different from mine. While we both placed an importance on getting good grades and getting into college that is as far as our similarities go. He has a harder background then I do.