Bailey Hendricks

11/17/14
Comp I
Mrs. Diana Watkins
A Small Experience in a Big World
The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change. The only
educational experience I have had or witnessed is my own. I come from a small school and a small town.
The only drugs I have seen are those that cure headaches. The only gun violence I have seen is who shot
the biggest deer. Ive never worried about dying by age 18 or becoming a mother at 14. Ive never
worried about being attacked by a gang on my way home from school just because of the color of my
skin. Ive never worried about being evicted from my home, where my next meal would come from, or if
I would have new clothes to wear to school. Ive never considered dropping out of school or that college
would not be available to me. I have lived a sheltered life. I am very fortunate that my parents have
provided so well for me that I have never had to worry about anything, except maybe what I would wear
the next day.
So many young people around the world worry about things I will never be able to understand.
Reading Freedom Writers has opened my eyes to the fact that not everyone has it as easy as me. Sure, I
knew people struggled, but not to extent that the students in the book did. Reading their stories has
changed the way I view things. I dont want to take for granted anything that I have because i could be
living a very different life in someone elses shoes.
These kids had a rough start to life. They were born into situations where their parents were
addicted to drugs or illegal immigrants. Most students had to grow up without fathers. They lived in the
projects and raised themselves because their single mothers worked every hour they can just to barely
scrape by. Thats something I have never experienced. I have had a dad my whole life that has lived with
me and was there for all my activities through school, church plays, homecomings, proms, and all the
important moments in my life. I have never had to worry about if he was coming home because I knew he

would. I knew he would be there for holidays and birthdays. These kids didnt have that reassurance.
They grew up feeling abandoned because they were. From the beginning they felt as if since their own
father didnt care enough about them to stay with them, then why would anyone care if they received an
education. They felt as if the only way they would ever be accepted or be a part of a family was to be in
a gang. It is hard for me to understand this because to be in a gang you must be initiated. In these
initiations most of the time an individual is beaten almost to death. I dont understand why these students
would go to such lengths and be hurt so badly just to be accepted when families are supposed to pick you
up when youre down and love you unconditionally but I see now why they do it. Pain and heartache is
the only way they knew. They didnt know anything other than they did the things because that was just
the way they did them. They did anything they could to be a part of something that made them feel
accepted that it didnt matter how badly it hurt them.
Not only had these kids been hurt and abandoned many times in their personal lives they were
also abandoned in their academic lives as well. They were put into classes with other failing students
because the teachers simply didnt expect anything from them and didnt care whether they graduated or
even made it through their freshman year of high school. When Erin Gruwell, the white, pearl wearing
teacher showed up in their classroom they gave her a month before she would quit. Little did they know
Mrs. Gruwell would change their lives forever.
Mrs. Gruwell was a person who truly wanted to make a difference in the world. She started
making a difference by taking on a group of kids that were thought to be stupid and not worth the time.
Racial tensions were high due to the Rodney King Riots. During her first day of teaching she made the
discovery that these kids didnt know what the Holocaust was. She asked how many people had heard of
the Holocaust and not a single person raised their hand. She then asked how many students had been shot
at and almost everyone raised their hand. She made it her mission to teach these kids. She worked other
jobs outside of the classroom to help support the many things she did with these kids. Mrs. Gruwell was
able to unite these kids with books that depicted similar situations they were in. She became a sort of

mother figure. She was a stable and constant person in these students lives. By challenging her students
to write journal entries she allowed the world to better understand these kids situations as well as for the
kids to understand and believe in themselves.
I have had my own experience with a teacher like Mrs. Gruwell. At my former high school I was
assigned an English teacher that would be my teacher every year until the day I graduated. Many would
think that this would be a bad idea because my classmates and I wouldnt be exposed to different teaching
styles for English. If my teacher would have been bad I would have agreed. My teacher was one of the
best teachers Ive ever had. She pushed me to do the best I could and wouldnt take any less. She helped
me get a poem published and accomplish many things throughout my high school career. I want to be the
kind of person someone looks up to. Eventually when I become a nurse I want to be influential to the
people around me. Just like Mrs. Gruwell, my teacher expected us to do the very best we could. Oddly
enough, my teacher looks like that actress that plays Mrs. Gruwell in the Freedom Writers movie.
Although many journal entries stood out to me I read one in particular that really stuck with me.
In diary 135 it talks about teen pregnancy. Although I have never experienced it personally I have been
around people that have. The girl in this diary comes to the scary realization that she is pregnant.
However this was not her first pregnancy. She was pregnant before at age 14. She had an abortion because
she thought that was the only thing she could do. After it happened she said it felt like a part of her had
died too. After she finds out she is pregnant for the second times she fears that all the things he wanted to
accomplish would not be possible but she was not going to let that stop her from achieving them. My
sister was pregnant in high school. Although she wasnt 14, having a baby at 18 right after she graduated
was terrifying. Luckily for my sister she had a good support system and was able to take care of herself
and provide for her daughter.
Through the journal entries these kids were able to find a voice they never had until Mrs. Gruwell
gave them the opportunity to find it. I believe that is true for everyone. Everyone has a voice and a story

to tell they might just need someone to believe in them like Mrs. Gruwell believed in her students. These
kids felt like they were worthless and that they would never amount to anything. They had been told that
by their teachers, parents, and peers. Im very thankful that I had people who told me I could accomplish
anything. I have always had a strong support system that I could count on for anything. These students
didnt have that until Mrs. Gruwell came in and changed their lives forever. She gave them the confidence
to believe in themselves and believe that they could do anything they set their minds to.
Reading this book has opened my eyes to the very diverse world I live in. I believe diversity is a
good thing, without it what a boring place we would live in. I believe that things need to change now in
order to ensure a better future for the generations to come. Change starts with one person. Like a ripple in
a pond is small at first but then grows bigger, someone just has to start it.

Works Cited

Gruwell, Erin. The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change
Themselves and the World around Them. New York: Doubleday, 1999. Print
Rogers, Carl. "Education Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore. Web. 20 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_education.html>