What Really Counts as Learning :: Russell Thomas Essays

What Really Counts as LearningLearning happens in so more places and in so many ways. Maybe it is at the mall, or at home, or even in a classroom. For Russell Thomas it was in the poor town of das Island. In mouse hare Island, Russell has to learn many hard lessons in life. He learns that you cant change everything and that life isnt fair. Russell is forced to realize that failure is part of life and that it happens to all of us. These atomic number 18 all teachings that are irreplaceable and valuable. The lessons that Russell learns are ones that he will use for the rest of his life in his experiences. It is something that you can use on more than on the nose a test for school. That is what real life learning is about and in one way or another we have all experienced it.Russell is the master(prenominal) focus in Darcy Freys article about three basketball prodigies from Coney Island. Russell is a tremendous basketball player and hopes to get out of Coney Island on a b asketball scholarship. He has the skill to get that scholarship, but even with all that talent he has a major obstacle stop him. In order to attend college on a scholarship, a score of 700 is required on the SAT. Russell, on his first attempt, only gets a 500 when a 400 is earned just for signing your name. So in order to get that scholarship and 700, Russell dedicates large amounts of time to studying. If he wasnt working on basketball then he was working on his academics. After all that work Russell never gets his 700, or the scholarship. So therein lies the first lesson that Russell learns life isnt fair. Russell tries his hardest to bring up his grades and earn that 700, but when it comes down to it he has grown up in a low class area, without many opportunities. Frey described Coney Island as a place where there are no stores, no trees, no police just block after block of gray cementum projects (Frey 38). Russell had what can hardly be called an education. It is a p lace where most of the good basketball players with any chance at a scholarship never prepare it, they either end up dead or back in Coney Island dealing drugs.