James Baldwin's Essay: The Paradox Of Education

“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.”
-James Baldwin

Mr. Baldwin is correct in his stating that an educated man will begin to critically observe his own society, but the aforementioned quote can hardly be called a paradox. Reasonably, any person of formal, or informal, education is expected to examine the society in which he is being educated for reasons having much to do with social realization, personal growth, and ultimately a desire to further his educational repertoire. The formal definition of a paradox is “a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth”, which, in this context, is not an appropriate description of education in the least. Contrarily, to examine one’s upbringing and community is commonplace for an intellectual person. Being that the goal of true education is intelligence plus character, as said by Dr. Martin Luther King, it would seem absurd for a learned person not to pursue a broader
understanding of his surroundings by questioning the society in which he was educated. It is the norm for children to follow their parents or guardians in their respective religions and practice as their parents.
This is mostly due to the fact that a child of a certain age, or at least the average child, is unaware of the particulars of any one religious affiliation; and also because the scolding from the parent for not doing so usually isn’t worth the trouble of resisting. Now, as the same child ages into his late teens and early twenties, he will at some point begin to question his faith, even if only for a brief period. Although some might say the reason for this is partially due to a teen’s natural tendency to rebel. However, the flip side of that statistic is that the young adults who aren’t acting on rebellious inclinations are keenly observing their educational environment. It has been said that a person is not of any particular faith until he can
truly

question his affiliation. Now of course, most, if not all, religions would require an answer to this question, but the point of the matter lies in the roots of the fact that a person of any teaching will innately, or should innately, examine the origins of his teachings. For in doing so, he may just find out more about himself than he would had he not critically observed his surroundings. The story of unfortunate children of pauper parents who live to break free of their society’s limitations and far exceed the expectations of the bystanders around them is a classic and timeless tale told and remembered all around the world. People such as Dr. Ben Carson would fit this archetype. One would think that if a person were to mentally grasp the situation around him and the educational limitations of his present community, he would be eager to reach out unto the rest of the world and soak up that knowledge in which his community could not provide. Dr Ben Carson spent his youngster days a low socioeconomic area in Detroit, Michigan. As he developed as a man and student, with the help of his mother, he became increasingly more aware of his disadvantageous situation at home; he became more aware of what was beyond the borders of Michigan waiting for him. It can be said that the education he received promoted his curiosity in learning, and that ultimately never stopped. Dr. Carson graduated from Yale University and studied medicine at the University of Michigan. He now has a successful practice at John Hopkins Hospital. All this really is to show that the personal growth and educational curiosity of a person comes, in large part, from his formal education. That being said, there is also another valid point worthy of consideration. There is no apparent paradox in that an educated person examines, critiques, and questions his native society. The paradox isn’t even in the notion that an educated man has the curiosity to ask the “right” questions when it come to his education and society. The paradox of the statement by James

Baldwin lies in the fact that, in order to question, or even realize that you need to question, one has to first have the education. Education isn’t only just the day to day books one reads in a formal setting. Once the formal education has taken its course, the informal learning takes place, largely through experience. One has to have the formal education to first realize that there is something to question. In order to attain more education, one must question the stances on which one was given that knowledge, or upon which the knowledge was obtained, and where it came from. Thus, questions lead to more questions, alas bringing about true education.