Article Review “a Talk to Teachers” by James Baldwin

“A Talk to Teachers” By James Baldwin
(Delivered October 16, 1963, as “The Negro Child – His Self –Image” originally published in The Saturday Review, December 21, 1963, reprinted in The Price of the Ticket, Collected Non Fiction 1948-1985, Saint Martins 1985.)
Introduction:
This article discussed about the point of view of the author regarding the effect of education and educators on the truth that affects the life and the truth regarding the past which affects the future of an individual which I come to agree with as I analyze the idea and message he wants to convey to his readers.
“The author stated what he thinks to be the entire purpose of education in the first place. According to him when a child is born, if he’s the child’s parent, it is his obligation and high duty to civilize that child. Man is a social animal. He cannot exist without a society. A society, in turn, depends on certain things which everyone within that society takes for granted. He added that the crucial paradox which confronts them is that the whole process of education occurs within a social framework and is designed to perpetuate the aims of society. Thus, given an example, the boys and girls who were born during the era of the Third Reich, when educated to the purposes of the Third Reich, became barbarians. The paradox of education is precisely this - that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated. The purpose of education, finally, is to create in a person the ability to look at the world for himself, to make his own decisions, to say to himself this is black or this is white, to decide for himself whether there is a God in heaven or not. To ask questions of the universe, and then learn to live with those questions, is the way he achieves his own identity. But no society is really anxious to have that kind of person around. What societies really, ideally, want is a citizenry which will simply obey the rules of society. If a society succeeds in this, that society is about to perish. The obligation of anyone who thinks of himself as responsible is to examine society and try to change it and to fight it – at no matter what risk. This is the only hope society has. This is the only way societies change.”
Article Content: The article focused on the idea in which the author/speaker takes note on the effect of the current teaching method, the manner the ideas and even the truth was suppressed to maintain the supremacy of a certain race which affected the existence of so many individuals. The author conveyed that in those times that the “cold war” (communist threat) is still evident, it was not the real threat for the American society but it is the lie which made the American Society is hanging into. In this article it focused mainly on the reality on which there is the conspiracy on the truth regarding the life and history of the Negro people in the manner they suppressed the truth to maintain their status in the community. It was also noted in the article the extent of the concern that if a Black child will be educated using the American Educational system of that time, it will result chaos to the personality of the student. This statement showed the authors sentiments on the effect of education and educators in forming the society. In this article the author added to the discussion some of his childhood memories as he grew some of the experiences and his observations of his environment on how his kind of people is being treated and the possible thoughts they may have as they exist. His discontentment is felt on how he delivered his message to his reader/ audience. Several examples has been given and discussed by the author to express his thoughts and disappointments which boils only to one thing… Education is a great tool to shape a society but the education system and the educator is not careful it will greatly affect the outcome of the knowledge and ideas being imparted.
Relevance to the Chosen Discipline: The relevance of the article to my chosen discipline is that being an educator myself I must be aware on the effect of my teaching, the knowledge that I impart to my students will help shape them up in the society in which they would be a part of. It has shown me that if the Education system is not properly controlled and taught it will not be effective in attaining the desired goal.

Personal Views and Reflections: Based from the article I have read, I can sense that the author has many disappointments regarding the way the black community is being treated during his time. Though his article is somewhat full of angst regarding the black people has been treated and how the American society kept them from growing, I agree to his idea on the effect of education in shaping the outcome of the Society but knowing that there is more freedom on the expression of the people, the grievances he has been highlighting is not likely to happen. The people will not allow the government to control the education system in making a curriculum that will inject false information that will affect the growing minds of our future generations.

Verna D. Ambat
Ph.D. Educational Management