An education should be personalized and should be unique for everyone. Usually one method is used for everyone and that is school. This method then becomes universalized and a standard. However, not many understand that an education is not only found in school, but can also be received outside a school environment. With that idea in mind, it bring us to Malcolm X’s point that an education is different for everyone. An education is tailored to your own personal needs desires, capacity, and speed. Not everyone is the exact same, differentiating an education from individual to individual and each have different motivations to learn. To understand this, we will first look at Malcolm X’s life and the thing she did in his “educational” path. We will see certain things he had to do so that he could learn. After that, we will then look at Victor and Frankenstein from the novel “Frankenstein.” We will see how their own situations and experiences impacted their own method of learning and receiving an education. Which would in turn emphasize Malcolm X’s point.
Introduction Exercise #2
“The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest slavery, and my enslavers… As I writhed under the sting and torment of this knowledge, I almost envied my fellow slaves their stupid contentment. This knowledge opened my eyes to the horrible pit, and revealed the teeth of the frightful dragon that was ready to pounce upon me (My Bondage and My Freedom ch. XI).”
The gift and power of an education has the ability to free a man from the conformity he lives and shows him the true reality of his situation. It allows him to question the status quo and take steps towards change.
The passage My Bondage and My Freedom shows us that education is a tool that can free man from the conformity he lives and ignites him to take actions toward change. Ernest Gaines shares this idea and Using “A Lesson Before Dying” I will show how this literary text supports this claim. I will show this connection using parts of Chapter 11 from My Bondage and My Freedom to show the moment Douglass realized that his education had allowed him to perceive the world differently from his fellow slaves. Then I will describe the importance of the wood-cutting scene in chapter 8 of “A Lesson Before Dying” to show how the main character, Grant Wiggins, comes to the same realization.
Creating this connection between Frederick Douglass and the literary text is important because it will help us understand the impact a proper education had in allowing African-Americans to stand up against conformity and fight for the right to be equal in the South.
Education Through Experiences
Imagine a world with no school and you had to educate yourself? How would you live without this education? Is school mandatory to attain this education? A world without school would be different, but the education can still be acquired through different means. In Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, the monster illustrates the importance of what Rousseau calls an education through “other things.” Through handling and encountering objects and phenomenon and nature, the monster learns all he needs to survive on his own without even having to go to school and be taught by a teacher, which Rousseau believes isn’t necessary to attain education. As you go along you will witness the monster in Frankenstein who learned the benefit of fire along with the danger of fire through his experiences. Next you will encounter how Frankenstein copied and enacted the emotions of others just by observing them. Then you will see how his experiences push him to educate himself about humans which eventually results in the monster learning to read and write on his own without attending school.
Limited Potential: Introduction
All throughout school, students are taught to learn from books – but is it possible that books can actually hinder one’s true potential? Emerson believes so. He maintains that there is a certain extent to the benefits of books, and once that maximum has been reached, the self should be its own teacher instead. Emerson’s theory on books from his speech, “The American Scholar,” argues that while books are beneficial to foundational components of one’s education, they limit the mind from thinking further than the thoughts already presented to it. The education of Shelley’s the monster from Frankenstein echoes this theory, as the books he reads help him understand the world around him and himself but give him reason to justify his growing detestation for humans, therefore preventing him from looking past this hate. To demonstrate this claim, the paper will first discuss how the books from the woods were able to build up the foundation of the monster’s education. After this, there will be an analysis on specific examples of how some of the monster’s readings fueled his anger towards humans. Then, the consequences of the monster’s understanding and reliance on the books will be addressed as well as what could have happened if the monster had looked past the texts. Emerson’s theory will also be integrated among these discussions in order to defend the thesis.
You have to want it.
Is school the only place where you can receive an education or can you learn from studying on your own? Malcolm X testifies that with books you can not only expand your vocabulary but your way of thinking. Now, he did not go to school past the 8th grade but because of his self discipline and hard work he became one of the most articulate and powerful leaders of his time. This text is an affirmation that education can be self taught and that freedom is possible through your own studies. This “new world” that Malcolm X was exploring brought about many questions and answers. It became an essential knowledge that he was earning, which manifested into a tool and his motivation to enlighten his own people. In order to demonstrate this claim, we will first go through the people who had an influence on his pursue of education. Next, will be the beginning steps Malcolm X took to develop his stock of knowledge. Finally, how committed he was to understand everything he was reading to contribute to society.
Introduction Exercise #2
In modern terms, education is the primary obligation children are held accountable of fulfilling. Previously in history; however, education served as something only the privileged whites acquired. For colored men, it was the golden ticket towards freedom and a form of withdrawal from the injustices of race and discrimination. Not only was physical freedom possible then, but education just as well enlightened and led an individual towards mental liberty. In Immanuel Kant’s “An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?” Kant claims that for enlightenment, “…nothing is required but freedom, and… [the] freedom to make public use of one’s reason in all matters.” The character of Grant from Earnest Gaines’ A Lesson Before Dying, exemplifies Kant’s claim that once a man is physically free, the individual also unlocks free mentality and, therefore, is enlightened which allows him to reason and question the injustices of society. With physical and mental freedom both acquired through education, one should use it as the initiative to gather the courage to embrace and forgive the cruelties of fate in order to view the world in brighter colors.
Introduction/1st Paragraph
Finding ones path is a journey that requires a sense of direction and a goal to strive for happiness is usually the best case scenario. Direction can be decided from a place of inspiration and bliss or from a place of despair and darkness, from either spectrum a path is chosen. Life presents challenges to all of us, some are subjected to harsh conditions because of poor decisions made while others are placed in into situations that are beyond there control. Frederick Douglas did not ask to be a slave he unfortunately was born into a harsh lifestyle that was was forced upon him. It was only through a moment of enlightenment he experience as a child, that he decided to continue learning which ultimately lead to his freedom. The monster in the book Frankenstein was not asked to be created he was forced to survive and educate himself by any means. In a moment of enlightenment he decided that he wanted a mate to love him and needed to exclude himself from a society that will never accept him. Both searched for education in a means for survive which in time lead to there moments on enlightenment. These moments of enlightenment were important because it help them realize that they wanted better for them selves, wanted to be happy. In the pursuit for happiness both share different stores since one is fictional and the other is true but both share similar components which lead both on there paths.
Don’t Count Anyone Out ‘Til The End
In A Lesson Before Dying, Grant gets the opportunity to go to college unlike the others in his family. Grant was able to attend college because of the hard efforts of his aunt. When he goes to college he finally is able to understand the extent of racism going on in his community. He wants to make a change.
He hears a speech from the Reverend who said that black people aren’t ignorant. They know what’s going on but they must lie and cheat themselves and their loved ones in order to survive. We see an example of this when Grant’s aunt tells him that she was fine and everything was okay when in reality, she was working like an animal and things were extremely tough. She had to take the role of a leader in that situation in order to have her nephew happily go to college. This type of lying isn’t necessarily bad. The situation they are in forces them to lie and in fact is more constructive than harmful. If they were to admit to themselves that they were living a life of hardship and pain, they may have all given up.
Grant is now a professor trying to pass down his knowledge to his students although he sees it as useless. Slavery has been going on way too long and he feels like he’s getting nowhere in his efforts to make a difference.
“I wish I could just run away from this place.” Vivian shook her head. “You know you can’t.” ”Why not?” [. . .] ”You know the answer yourself, Grant. You love them more than you hate this place (Chapter 12: 88-92).”
We see his frustration and pessimism throughout the novel but by the end of the novel he makes a lot of progress with his students and with Jefferson as we see he cries when Jefferson gets killed. This novel may be trying to teach us that no matter ones personality don’t count them out as they may have much to offer. Grant didn’t count Jefferson out and I’m sure he doesn’t regret that decision.
Education has a very broad meaning but the common variable is that education ALWAYS gives one the potential to come out successful and make a difference in whatever they do.
Motivation is the means to Success
This is in response to Belissa Velasquez,
The fact that Malcolm X was able to become educated in a prison really fascinated me. I really liked how you shifted the focus from Malcolm to Bimbi, telling us his role in the story. You also ended your post by saying “Everyone should share their own knowledge because you never know who will be inspired and motivated to take things to the next level”. This is completely true, any one person can teach another no matter what their social status or situation is. But I would like to take the reading in a different perspective.
I see this excerpt not only as an act of perseverance and heroism by Malcolm, but rather as a way to convey his motivation and how far it took him. He says, “ Many who today hear me somewhere in person, or on television, or those who read something I’ve said, will think I went to school far beyond the eighth grade. This impression is due entirely to my prison studies.” That’s how far he got from- “I not only wasn’t articulate, I wasn’t even functional.” Malcolm dropped out of school in eighth grade. That’s eight years less schooling than all of us and he still became great. This comes to teach us that school isn’t what makes you educated its about the individuals drive and passion to learn. Malcolm couldn’t live with the fact that he could barely read and write so he did something about it with his motivation coming from a stranger he met in prison.
The details of how he became educated aren’t important, what’s important is his accomplishment. We all are in school and have the choice to work hard and educate ourselves, or we can sit back and let that opportunity pass. The thing that distinguishes those two is motivation. Who has the motivation? Do you?
Introduction Exercise 2
Known to many, having an education is a key factor in becoming successful. This accordance among most people may diverge based on the means of the varying methods in obtaining education. The preconceived notion is that people should attend an institutionalized setting (i.e. college) in order to achieve knowledge. However, an increasing number of students disagree and feel that other methods (such as experience of their surroundings) can maximize the potential benefits they can receive. Therefore although education is one of the main ways to achieve knowledge, it is certainly not the only (effective) method. Knowledge is obtained through sensations and reflections, specifically the accompaniment of various thoughts and various sensations with a perception of delight, as stated by John Locke’s paper, An Essay concerning Human Understanding (Book II), which is displayed through Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, where the monster learns through experiences and how to make decisions, such as murdering Victor’s loved ones, based on the perception of delight, with the absence of any preconceived ideas and innate principles.