the best of her ability at school. What motivated her to learn English was the challenge and…
Richard Rodriguez is a great example of what it is like to be part of the students who belong to the schooled category. Rodriguez himself is one of the many students that lacked the ability to critically think. Rodriguez read and read books that his teacher once mentioned, but still didn’t feel smart. Being a "scholarship boy" Rodriguez was unable to critically think for himself and was unable to capture and completely understand what he was reading. "I lacked a point of view when I read." (Rodriguez 202) Not only did this make him feel like he wasn’t smart but also made him feel insecure about himself.So insecure that many times, after reading a book, he would look up reviews and comments on what people thought of the book because he believed…
Malcom little, known as Malcom X was human rights activist and Muslim minister, Malcom x, autobiography tittle “Learning to Read,” recounts his self-education and his endeavors to learn how to read and write while he was prison in Charlestown prison for a robbery he committed in 1946. Malcolm X’s purpose was to illustrate the struggle to educate his mind and his people from the pervasive racist ideology of the 1960’s. He experience and emotions of African Americans engaged in struggle of the civil rights. Malcom X begins his excerpt by acknowledging the frustration he felt trying to convey his own thoughts and feelings in letters to friends while in prison. He was not only physically imprisoned but a prisoner of his own mind as well. Malcom…
In Malcom X’s short biography Literacy behind bars Malcom X, talks about how he learned to read and how prison help him expand his knowledge and how he learns to read. That “Where else but in a prison, could I have attacked my ignorance by being able to study intensely sometimes as much as fifteen hours a day. He shows how because he was in prisoned and had nothing else to do he could focus on reading and able to read the whole dictionary. Then he continues to say that if he wasn’t locked up most likely he wouldn’t have gained the knowledge he did while in prison. Malcom X purpose is to show people that you don’t have to go to some expensive private school to be able to gain knowledge you just need a book and the surroundings in were you can…
In "A Homemade Education", Malcolm X admits his frustration about his inability to express himself the way he'd like to. It can be said that Malcolm X was discouraged as he mentioned that he "wasn’t even functional" (Malcolm X 134) and though he did feel this way he turned the negative feelings into something to strive for. In the Charlestown prison Malcolm X was in there was another inmate named Bimbi who he envied because of his ability to use words and his knowledge. Malcolm X's envy of Bimbi drove and inspired him to seek and ultimately further his own education in a sense in deciding to read and copy out of the dictionary. Malcolm X gained a hunger for the knowledge he was obtaining as exemplified in the following quotation: " I could for the first time pick up a book and read and now begin to understand what the book was saying... in every free moment I had, if I was not reading in the library, I was reading in my bunk... In fact, up to then, I never had been so truly free in my life." (Malcolm X 135). Malcolm X used his time as way to learn everything he possibly could so that he wouldn’t have to be envious of the knowledge someone else possessed. In Maya Angelou's "Graduation", Angelou also showed her discouragement by the words of Edward Donleavy at her graduation who told the congregation of how many more opportunities whites had over blacks. Angelou's graduation was an occasion that had so many excited because they had worked so hard to accomplish the feat of gaining an education and they were also excited for what their future had in store for them; however, many of them including Angelou felt in the moment that those hopes and…
“ By any means nessary.” These are the words of one of the greatest Human rughts activit of U.S. history. Malcom X. He advocated justice for blacks who were unjustly treated by legal and social authority. He showed us that black people could be articulate, and highly intellectual. Many stated that “ since he had been a thug, an addict and a theif, and an ex- convict he had made no contributions whatever to society,- the big book pg. 11” But in reality, Malcom X cannot be summed up in a few conventient pharses, beacause during his life he went through distinct changes in his philosophies and convictions- 246 contemporary black biography. Even though he went threw trials an tribuations Malcom X was signifance to us history because one, he…
Mike Rose and Richard Rodriguez both support education and the success it brings for an individual, but they support them in different ways and for different reasons. In Mike Rose’s essay he explains how he was an average person in his vocational classes. He says that his intelligence was not on a low level, but rather he thought of his intelligence to be low because of his teachers and the fact he was in vocational classes, but he soon realizes that pushing to the next level was the key to his success. In contrast, Richard Rodriguez explains in his essay about education throughout his life which included his teachers, family background and how it affected his upbringing and success. Mike Rose’s attitude about education and success and Richard Rodriguez attitude both have similarities but also have differences.…
By the end of the “Achievement” chapter, Rodriguez has some very profound things to say about his views on educational reform and personal evolution. The things that he says in the ending pages of the chapter do not really seem like they are the tale of a “happy ending” but more so, a large pun or an ironic statement made about how our desires entail such influential consequences. On pages 72-73, Rodriguez basically states that education is a tough process, a changing process even, and if one wants to become educated, one must be willing to embody some type of mental and/or spiritual change. He makes the point that some people, which would most likely be hippies or democrats –but he refers to them as “Radical educationalists”, are quick to…
Education has always been a part of our way of life since the beginning of time. Not every person is the same; hence the reason everyone learns differently. It all begins at childhood of course; from that parent, parent-like figure or school teacher. However, at a point in one’s life that sense of independence takes over and one finds his or her will to learn more and in their own way. Frederick Douglass and Richard Rodriguez are two great examples of people whose process of learning impacted their lives from childhood to adulthood. Who dares to compare the two? Between these two great men are some similarities even though they grew up in different times and being minorities. From reading the two reading pieces one could focus on how Douglass and Rodriguez’s upbringing, learning methods and their lives were affected by education.…
With many different views it is difficult to remember Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were both fighting the same war for the same people. King and Malcolm X fought the same battle using different methods. Both wanted to end racism and discrimination. King agreed with Malcolm X that Blacks had to love themselves. Both were instilled with a hope for a better day, society and world. King dreamed of a society of peace, freedom, justice, and equality. They became role models for African-American youth and achieved much with their efforts. They introduced self-pride to their people. Both methods were effective. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were both great men who died trying to make their home and country better but in the end both men’s…
When Malcom attended school. he was asked what he wanted to be. He replied that he wished to be a lawyer, but the teacher said, considering his race, to think realistically. This incident was the turning point of Malcom’s life and influenced his future actions. From that point forward Malcolm felt like the class pet rather than a student. Feeling this way, he dropped out of school and moved to Boston to like with his sister. Although when Malcolm moved to Boston, he was arrested due to theft, and was forced to take a light sentence. While in prison, he joined the Nation of Islam and devoured books in order to make up for the education he lost out on. When he left prison, Malcolm had brewed a strong hatred for the white race and their oppressing powers. Subsequently, when Malcolm X decided that the hour of liberation had arrived for his oppressed brothers, he was determined to show them how deceitful, rotten, and disrespectful the white race…
Where does the desire to not just live, but strive come from? To not just succeed but exceed? To not just be great but be the only thing acceptable in one’s heart, the best. In “You Should Have Been a Boy,” Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s determination to make her father proud, drove her to do what most women of her time never did: earn a higher education or speak out against injustice. In the essay, “Superman and Me,” Sherman Alexie’s unrelenting passion for reading allowed him to turn a blind eye to the ridicule that his peers endowed upon him and helped him push pass the limitations that had been placed on his people. Malcolm X describes in “Learning to Read,” how his illiteracy prevented him from expressing his beliefs but his…
and understand which allowed him to build a rapport and gain their trust also led to the connection with Dr King and the audience. The audience members felt like they knew him even though they did not recognize him personally all these traits combined with the powerfulness in the compassion of his voice you could literally feel the Holy Spirit. All of these things combined allow Dr King the ability to move the audience in a way no one has ever been able to manage it.…
Education is in its general sense is a kind of learning in which various skills, knowledge and habits of a person or a group are transformed from one generation to another. However, this subject is of one of the main subjects of many scholar and writers of various periods. Mike Rose and Maya Angelou are two persons within the educational field whom are highly known for their work within the educational fields. This analytical article, however, demonstrates a comparative study of the works of Mike Rose and Maya Angelou. Primarily, the essays which are used in comparison to each other are “I Just Wanna Be Average by Mike Rose” and “Graduation by Maya Angelou”. All in all; the subject involved in both of this work is related to each other in many regards. Thus, this essay intends to present an overhaul of each of works. However, from an analytical point of view, their impact, connection and complements support each other.…
Literacy is the ability to read and write and allows people to become influential speakers and powerful leaders. Strictly defined, literacy is the quality or state of being literate, having possession of education, and a person's knowledge of a particular subject or field. Literacy is not having or involving ignorance; it is having knowledge or competence. The term literacy is derived from the Middle English and Latin term literate meaning marked with letters. In the story Malcom X Literacy Behind Bars, Malcom X defines how literacy changed his life by introducing new things such as, oral communication, freedom, and helped to become an independent spokesman.…