In the various pieces of text that we have read for class, these text often elaborated on how to learn or what is a real education. James Bach brings the point that learning doesn’t stop or come from school. Locke and Emerson bring the point that books and information for others can only offer so much. However, Ernest Gaines’ A Lesson Before Dying, brings a slightly different idea. The protagonist, Grant, taught Jefferson how to be a man, a person, and a way to live life. Which is far different from the other pieces of text that we have looked at.

I believe a changing point in the novel was when Grant says this line:  “I don’t know when I’m going to die, Jefferson. Maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, maybe today. That’s why I try to live as well as I can every day and not hurt people” (Gaines 105). I understood that future is a mystery, a person can be here today and gone tomorrow. An individual should be nice to whoever, because it might be the last time they will converse and you want to end it with something nice. In a sense, not take people for granted. Grant was a very harsh and short-tempered teacher and he always lashed out on the students. Jefferson was really cruel to Miss Emma despite her hospitality. Miss Emma was a sick elderly and any day could be her last. While she was very supportive of Jefferson, it broke her heart how Jefferson was treating her. Grant’s application of the lifestyle, he started to be nicer to the students. More importantly, he has more active to Jefferson. He tried his best to get to him to make him a “man.” Grant also began to be more understand of Vivian. With regards to Jefferson, he started to talk more and socialize. He became a “nicer” and more “human.” Eventually he was able to become a “man” and die as one. Instead of teaching us how to learn, through Grant and Jefferson Gaines taught the reader how to live life. It is a harder lesson to learn, and if one to learn this from experience, it may have been too late for the individual like it was for Jefferson.

Within Earnest J. Gaines’ novel A Lesson Before Dying, education was emphasized to be a source of hope and possibility to make a difference for the colored race. Grant, a teacher who has obtained a higher education, demonstrates an alternate tier in which he stands when compared with his equals. Upon leaving for the university, his aunt assured him that it was unnecessary for him to come through the back door of Henri Pichot’s house where the family served for the whites anymore (Gaines 18). Through these words, Grant’s aunt is portraying the notion that with an education, Grant will no longer be the same as those who stay back in the fields and can finally move on from the restrictions of a colored man. Education has granted him the ticket towards the freedom many others didn’t have the access to and the opportunities of. As Grant explains it, he was “too educated for [his white master] Henri Pichot” and so “he [Pichot] had no use for [him] at all anymore (Gaines 21). But even so, education is only a path towards, but not to, freedom and as described in the novel, “…it’ll take more than five and a half months to wipe away—peel—scrape away the blanket of ignorance that has been plastered and replastered over those brains in the past three hundred years…” because skin tone is binding and it will always serve as the root to discrimination and inferiority for colored men (Gaines 64).

In an alternate scenario, Emma’s somewhat indirect but similarly direct persistence to have Grant help her greatly exceeds just giving Jefferson back his innocence and is instead, an offensive move to defend their race. Emma states that she is not “begging for his life no more” but all she wants is for Jefferson to die a man (Gaines 22). This makes it clear that she is certain that no matter what evidence or truth arises, Jefferson is guilty regardless and nothing would reverse the predetermined verdict. The emphasis Emma tries to make that Jefferson is not a hog is essential to how colored men would be treated after Jefferson’s execution. It is apparent that she is trying to take the initial step to stand up for justice and the race of her people. If she successfully proves that Jefferson is not a hog but instead a man, colored men will essentially be treated more or less differently than before because they’ve made it clear that they are no longer going to remain submissive to the white race and is daring to speak up and have a stand in their position. Just like many other causes and movements, it always takes one courageous change to make a universal difference, and in this novel, Jefferson’s transformation from a hog to a man, is that ultimate turning point to a new chapter in the history of race.

It is quite a journey what Malcolm X has been through. He has transformed from a street hustler to one of the most prominent figures and speaker for black separatisms in the seven years that he has spent in prison. I believe it is safe to say that his time served in prisons is one of the most beneficial things that could have happened to him. While we know the starting point and his final destination, I would like to focus a little on his thought process and the steps he took to reach his destination.

Malcolm X was very committed to learning. He did not stop at an obstacle, but instead overcame and conquered it. At first he was unable to understand books, “But every book I picked up had … words that might as well have been in Chinese” (Malcolm 3). Not know many words, Malcolm first began to familiarize himself with a dictionary where he copied it. Here he expanded his vocabulary. While it was tough, he finished copying the dictionary and that opened the door to reading for Malcolm. As he begun to read, it opened a world of thought and creativity, this was knowledge. To obtain this knowledge he had to keep reading and that became an addiction for him. To satisfy this craving, he snuck reading time in and cut back on sleep in order to read more. Because of his risks and actions he became education which led to his success later.

While many individuals may have the tools to succeed, like the other inmates who also have access the library. Learning and education needs motivation and a huge driving force. Malcolm could have given up when he first thought that words were gibberish, but he strived to learn and improve and because of that he was able to learn. Whether it is a homemade education, traditional education, reading, or practice your own willingness to learn to improve is a huge deciding factor on your ability to learn. You could be given the best teachers, books and resources, but if you have no interest you will not learn. On the contrary, you could have nothing but with hard work and perseverance, you can make a difference in your education.

While reading about Jose I realized his life was all about overcoming poverty through education. I can relate myself to Jose because his grandma sent him to school so that he didn’t have to deal with poverty or work on the fields just like parents decided to send me to school. She wanted Jose to have a better life so she chose to educate him no matter what. This is my situation too because my family comes from a poor background and my parents always just had one dream which was to send me to school so I can become successful and not go through the struggles they went through. One similarity I see between these two situations for Jose’s grandma and my parent’s is that education is the so called ‘escape’ from poverty for them. Just like Jose, education became a very important part of my life. People take school for granted and don’t appreciate or ever realize that there are others in the world who never got the opportunity to go to school because of various reasons and for Jose’s grandma and my parents it was poverty. So only because someone who doesn’t have a college degree or doesn’t work in an office has nothing to do with how smart that person is. Its all about opportunity’s which not all are lucky to get. Jose at first didn’t realize how lucky he was to be in school and didn’t do well, but later on he took advantage and did really well in school as well. Many people don’t appreciate school, but school for people like my parents and Jose’s grandma is their ticket out of poverty.

In his attempt to try to achieve moral perfection, Benjamin Franklin was able to pinpoint some of the many virtues needed to achieve the ability of  living “life without committing any fault at any time;” However, one of the virtues suggested by Franklin are only possible to some and not something that should be held as a stepping stone for moral perfection

In the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin he suggests that “order” is essential to meeting higher virtues. He defines order as having all things have their place in the day, with everything in your business having its own time. However, this is not always possible and may sometimes interfere with other important goals one may have.

This is the main focus of analysis of this post. Franklin acknowledges that this is one of the harder tasks to accomplish from the 13 when he writes: “My scheme of ORDER gave me the most trouble.” He goes on to acknowledge that for some professions like a journeyman printer this virtue would be nearly impossible to achieve. But I want to focus on another aspect that makes ORDER so hard. To have order one must have his time planned out and organized, without making any alterations to what was set. But when we talk about the artist or the thinker, he or she does not control when to be inspired or how long it will take to accomplish their masterpiece or theory. In today’s world, this virtue may be possible for those who have a 9-5 job today but what about those who don’t go by a certain schedule everyday? Sometimes you may find yourself in situations where one task is more important then another and requires more of your time.  Placing constraints and specific times for specific activities limits the possibilities and the creativity one is able to achieve when they are able to think and do at erratic moments.

In many ways, Benjamin Franklin relates to many of us as students. Students or people in general are always looking for ways to essentially meet perfection. We try to organize our lives and come up with plans to follow by eliminating bad habits and creating good ones. In the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin he “conceived the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection (Franklin, 64).” He comes up with 13 virtues that one may follow to become flawless and admits that it will be difficult and tiring.

A few virtues that I find myself trying to follow are order, frugality and industry. He explains order as “letting all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time (64).” This is where many people start their journey to “perfection.” We try to create order in our lives and follow precise schedules like Franklin who thought order “would allow [him] more time for attending to [his] project and my studies (65).” However, when he tried to follow all his virtues, he found that “order gave [him] the most trouble (68).” Even organizing his papers and things he found “difficult to acquire (68).” Though order may seem easy to follow at first, it is probably the most difficult follow through with.

For frugality, Benjamin describes it as “making no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e,. waste nothing (64).” College students are all about saving money, however, for as long as I have been a student, one of the hardest things to do is save my money. I found myself spending on things that had no use to me or only had use for that moment. Franklin believed that this was one piece to “freeing [him] from [his] remaining debt (65),” which is true. He didn’t have many issues with being frugal, but as for myself this would be the category I would often mark as one of my faults.

Lastly, industry that he expresses as “losing no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions (64).” This was the second piece he believed could “free [him] from [his] remaining debt (65).” Like Franklin, I wouldn’t mark this category as one of my greatest flaws. In the end, everyone wants to earn a living somehow and this can only be gained through working and filling in empty hours with progress.

By the end of his project, Benjamin Franklin “had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish (68).” However, he didn’t reach perfection in each virtue and found that it was difficult to be flawless. Though he couldn’t fulfill his project he was happy with how far he has gotten. He believes that one can reach perfection if “he first forms a good plan, and, cutting off all amusements or other employments that would divert his attention (72).” You learn from Benjamin that becoming “perfect” doesn’t always lead to a happy life, if anything you’d have to eliminate happiness in order to reach perfection.

Benjamin Franklin like many of the theorists we read about came up with plans of how to be the best or gain the most knowledge, however it is difficult to follow each way perfectly. Benjamin Franklin expresses that though arriving at moral perfection is great, it cannot easily be reached. I think if anyone were to read his autobiography, they would easily be able to relate to trying to become perfect, but not succeeding.