Pretty Good (Poem)
Read the poem below and then answer the questions that follow.
“Pretty Good” by Charles Osgood
There once was a pretty good student 1
Who sat in a pretty good class
And was taught by a pretty good teacher
Who always let pretty good pass.
He wasn’t terrific at reading, 5
He wasn’t a whiz-bang at math,
But for him, education was leading
Straight down a pretty good path.
He didn’t find school too exciting,
But he wanted to do pretty well, 10
And he did have some trouble with writing
Since nobody taught him to spell.
When doing arithmetic problems,
Pretty good was regarded as fine.
5+5 needn’t always add up to be 10; 15
A pretty good answer was 9.
The pretty good class that he sat in
Was part of a pretty good school,
And the student was not an exception:
On the contrary, he was the rule. 20
The pretty good school that he went to
Was there in a pretty good town,
And nobody there seemed to notice
He could not tell a verb from a noun.
The pretty good student in fact was 25
Part of a pretty good mob.
And the first time he knew what he lacked was
When he looked for a pretty good job.
It was then, when he sought a position,
He discovered that life could be tough, 30
And he soon had a sneaking suspicion
Pretty good might not be good enough.
The pretty good town in our story
Was part of a pretty good state
Which had pretty good aspirations 35
And prayed for a pretty good fate.
There once was a pretty good nation
Pretty proud of the greatness it had,
Which learned much too late,
If you want to be great, 40
Pretty good is, in fact, pretty bad.
Osgood, Charles. “Pretty Good.” The Chicago Tribune. N. p. 21 February 1998. Web. 21 August 2012.
Answer these questions with profound thought and insight.
1. Write a 2-3 sentence summary of this poem that answers this question: “What is the author saying”?
2. Identify the line number in the poem when you realized that the student was not receiving the best education possible.
3. In the entire poem, which specific example best communicates that there’s a problem with this student’s education? Provide an explanation for why you picked that specific example.
4. Everything you read poses some kind of argument. What point is the author of this poem arguing?
5. If you were to call the author and ask him who he thinks is responsible for this child’s educational failures, who do you think the author would identify?
6. If you were to call the student and ask him for his opinion on this subject, who do you think he would identify? Defend your answer by explaining why you believe he would make that comment.
7. The author of this poem is a mature, older adult. How do you think his age influences his opinion on the topic of public education?
8. Since the author is a mature, older adult, do you think he is more or less reliable on the topic of education?
9. Poems are typically written to reflect a poet’s feelings and emotions on a lighthearted topic. Do you think this author made a good choice when he decided to write a poem about education? How else could he have expressed his thoughts and opinions?
10. Do you agree with the author’s statement that “pretty good” is not good enough? Explain your answer by citing one specific example from the poem.