Chambers 1

Sabrina Chambers

ENG 402

September 24, 2019

Literacy in Southern West Virginia

In high school, I frequently had difficulty with my English classes. Although I always

had a love for reading, and found that I excelled when it came to the literature part of English

Language Arts. In fact, the only subject I found myself struggling with was grammar mechanics.

Throughout my education, grammar was a subject that was overlooked by teachers, which

caused me to struggle on important tests like the ACT. Of course, I knew the basics like a

comma before conjunctions or a colon in between time. However, when grammar went past the

basic understanding, I was lost. My teachers would always just assume we were taught grammar

in previous grades and would never review it with us. A lot of people that I went to school with

struggled with English due to our lack of a proper education.

Growing up in southern West Virginia has hurt my educational growth because I was

denied opportunites to learn. The board of education was not provided with funds to give the

students the material that it takes to teach in a 21st century classroom. Funding was a problem

with the school districts and a majority of the staff was laid off due to lack of money. Which left

the students with teachers who were old and wasn’t capable of giving their students the

education that they desperately needed. All of the teachers that were young was either math or

history teachers, and I excelled in those subjects when in came to standardized testing. Our

education worsened as I grew and the county lost funding, which resulted in 84 Boone County

employees to lose their job. Therefore, my education was practically nonexistent, and I relied on

online classes to teach me anything I needed to know for the ACT.

 Chambers 2

After taking the ACT I realized that I would not get the promise scholarship because I

was not provided with the opportunity or access to a tutor whom would help me with my scoring.

I took the ACT twice before I eventually gave up, but I wasn’t the only person who had this

problem. A girl from my graduating class received 25’s and above on every subject but had to

get a tutor after receiving a 13 on her English. My score wasn’t as bad as hers’, but it showed me

just how poor our education system was due to the lack of opportunities we were presented with.

It wasn’t until I arrived at college that I was able to see a difference in my writing. After

having two wonderful professors, who started with the basics and worked their way up, I was

able to understand English. With the opportunity college presented me with, my love for English

flourished the more that I wrote. My English 201 professor told me I was one of the best writers

in her class and would often have me help other students. It was then that I decided to pursue a

career in teaching English. To this day, it is the best decision I have ever made. I feel like it is my

duty to help students who are in the same predicament that I was in. All students should be

provided with the opportunity to have a solid foundation and knowledge of ELA once they leave

high school. Students should not leave high school only to turn around and relearn a subject that

they should been taught during their 14 years of schooling. I plan to end this cycle that I see with

a lot of West Virginia students and try to create a love for English within my future students.