A Talk On The Paradox Of Education By James Baldwin

Whereas Frederick Douglass may have seemed like a minority in opposition to institutional racism at his time, there was much criticism against institutional racism during the Civil Rights Movement. James Baldwin, in a statement that echoes Frederick Douglass’s speech, states “[a black person] pledges allegiance to that flag which guarantees ‘liberty and justice for all…’ but on the other hand he is also assured by his country…that he has never contributed anything to civilization.” Baldwin believed that the American Dream is a beautiful lie because there was not truly “liberty and justice for all.” Conflicting messages seep into a black person’s everyday life—that he or she is a free citizen with no freedom, or that he or she is living in the land of liberty without actually living in liberty. Baldwin also states that “it isn’t long—in fact it begins when [a black child] is in school—before [a black person] discovers the shape of his oppression.” Baldwin openly criticizes the spread of the detrimental and conflicting messages in America’s educational institutions, which are supposed to guide innocent children to success in life, and not to look down upon them. Baldwin’s pleas are echoed in Robert F. Kennedy’s speech, who stated “[institutional racism] is the breaking of a man’s spirit by denying him the

Racial formation is a vast sum of signifying actions and social structures that clash in the creation of complex relationships and identities that is a labeled race. Throughout the history of the United States, a large array of strategies was engaged in regarding education that took advantage of nonwhites. Since policies by those who supposedly “protect our rights” attempted to eradicate social, economic and cultural aspirations, dominated groups were more often than not suspicious of the school 's interests. According to John Ogby, “children from dominated cultures often failed school because they considered the school to be representative of the dominant white culture” (Spring, 101). This portrays racial formation having an effect on equality. “Acting white” meant to attempt to do well in school because

1. In the opening paragraph, Baldwin establishes his ethos by connecting himself to his audience as a fellow citizen and fellow American, someone who loves his country and wants it to be whole and healthy. Though he identifies the chief fear of his audience as the fear of Communist, he proposes that the ore fearful aspect of American society of the early 1960s is the “bad faith and cruelty” of generations. Baldwin builds credibility with his audience by recognizing teachers as powerful people who “deal with the minds and hearts of young people.” His audience senses that he as a deep respect for what teachers do each day. He

The turning point in the essay is when Baldwin states “Because if I am no what I’ve told I am, then it means that you’re not what you thought you were either! And that is the crisis.” By stating this it recognizes the faults in the education system, and leaves the audience intrigued wanting him to elaborate on his point. This statement also unfolds the truth about education which is “if you lie about one aspect of anybody’s history, you must lie about it all.”

James Baldwin was a prominent African American writer, social critic, and racial justice advocate in the 1960’s and 70’s. In his 1963 Talk to Teachers he aimed to persuade an audience of teachers that education must exist to challenge systems and structures of power and that when it does not, it only serves to reinforce them and amplify their injustice. He specifically focuses on racial hierarchies and white supremacy in the United States. He achieves his persuasive purpose through the strategic use of first, second, and third person pronouns and the use of evocative language, and emphasizes the actionability of his message with anaphora.

Why do we hate? Why do we lie? Why do we forget? Three questions provide a strong explanation of how African Americans were treated, whether it was the use of verbal or physical abuse. These questions also describes how African Americans were implied into education. Authors wrote many issues regarding the ignorance and abolishment of slavery in more of a “Whites” perspective to teach the American society what they want to hear and not what actually happened. And further more, forgotten sources. Some want to forget was has happened over the course of our time, some want to hide the truth of how this has affected society and the race around us. Three documents were discussed with hidden facts and deep recognition of what is the truth behind

Incorporating topics of the violence and racial tension we see everyday can be difficult when it comes to certain class subjects. If a teacher is having trouble, Pitts takes the time to recommend various units teachers can use to inform students of what actually happened during times of trouble. This includes teaching about a revolutionary book in literature, what propelled the civil rights movement in history, and the black scientists who have contributed greatly to advance medical fields. Although the “black bodies have too often been used” and manipulated, she does not forget to acknowledge the fact that not all white people are bad and not all African Americans are saints. She asks educators to “be on guard against false narratives” and to teach about the white people who had

The school system in the country districts of the South is a disgrace and in few towns and cities are Negro schools what ought to be...and...when we call for education we mean real education,” he effectively made his audience view the logic in his claim about racial equality with a specific emphasis on the education of adults and more specifically children (DuBois 2). Mr. DuBois, being the well-educated man that he was, understood that by presenting his claim of educational importance in a logically and sound way, his audience would be exponentially more likely to agree with his view and act on his cause, which is exactly what transpired after his speech. In Mr. Washington’s attempt to persuade his audience in favor of educating the African American population, he chose to appeal to his perverse audience 's sense of desire and ambition. He stated that by “casting down [their] bucket among many people, helping and encouraging them as [they] are doing on these grounds, and to education of head, hand, and heart, [they] will find that [African Americans] will buy [their] surplus land, make blossom the waste of places in [their] fields, and run [their] factories” (Washington 2). In stating his claim the way he did, he hoped that his audience, which was comprised primarily of white, land-owning southerners, would realize the possible economic benefits that would result from educating the black population, and that their innate desire for material wealth would drive them to

Education is meant to broaden the minds of incoming generations to the diverse cultures and aspects of the world. While its purpose is meant to open up horizons, it has also held up the task of oppressing opposing thoughts and judgments. Author James Baldwin exposes this truth in his article, “A Talk to Teachers,” as he chastises the education system’s contradicting actions inasmuch as the support of an all-encompassing education while scorning unconventional thinking. Baldwin’s purpose to confront the antithetical activity to hopefully change the system’s ways is attempted by persuading teachers who “deal with the minds and hearts of young people” that a paradox of education occurs when students develop a conscience--they become “at war” with society--is valid in that education should allow development for individual thoughts and varied opinions to challenge for the reconstruction of society’s oppressive nature.

James W. Loewen wrote the book “Lies My Teacher Told Me” to help students understand the past of the United States, and how it is effecting the present time. “Lies My Teacher Told Me” looks at 12 different American history textbooks, and points out the different lies, flaws, and sugar coated stories the textbooks present. Lowen explains how textbooks practice heroification, and how race and race relations are a major issue when it comes to American history. Among these topics, Lowen also sheds light on the truth about social classes in America, and how textbooks lie about the past and try to avoid the recent past all together.

Views of African Americans on education: Malcolm X on a Homemade Education; W.E.B. Dubois in Education; and Oliver Crowell Cox in Education

“Black students were expelled at three times the rate of white students.” (Steven Hsieh, 2014) Until now, we are still finding unequal treatment from school in American Society from different aspects, such as school discipline, early learning, college readiness and teacher equity. However, education is more than learning from books. Education enables individuals potential to utilize human mind and open doors of opportunities to obtain knowledge. But the US educational system doesn’t serve the majority of children properly and gaps remain between white and black students. What’s more, nowadays, a lot of schools only treat education as a curriculum and test scores; ignoring the stimulus of curiosity. Therefore, “Between the World and Me” is a book written by Ta-Nehisi Coates, who weaves his own personal, historical, and intellectual development into his ruminations on how to live in a black body in America. In this book, Coates writes about education and pleasures of his own educational experience in Howard University. Although bad education hides the truth and restricts students’ ideas, education also contains pleasures, which broaden people’s mind, help people build their own thoughts, and prevent people from prison. As a result, there are more pleasures in American education that positively impact on black body than dangers.

In James Baldwin’s essay “Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of Emancipation” in The Fire Next Time, Baldwin advises his black, adolescent nephew living in the 1960’s during the African-American Civil Rights Movement on what living a free life means based on Baldwin’s own experience as an adult. As an existential thinker, Baldwin attributes a person’s identity to the collection of accomplishments and failures in his or her entire lifetime, as opposed to accepting a person as determinately good or bad. In order to be truly free of oppression, according to Baldwin, African Americans must seek to be authentic by not conceding to the expectations and restrictions of racist white Americans. A person’s authenticity lies in

Education has been the subject of some of the most heated discussions in American history. It is a key point in political platforms. It has been subject to countless attempts at reform, most recently No Child Left Behind and Common Core. Ardent supporters of institutional schools say that schools provide access to quality education that will allow the youth of our country to gain necessary skills to succeed in life. Critics take a far more cynical view. The book Rereading America poses the question, “Does education empower us? Or does it stifle personal growth by squeezing us into prefabricated cultural molds?” The authors of this question miss a key distinction between education and schooling that leaves the answer far from clear-cut. While education empowers, the one-size-fits-all compulsory delivery system is stifling personal growth by squeezing us into prefabricated cultural molds.

Social, cultural and political changes have immense influences on the education sector. This has been witnessed from the onset African and Asian immigration into the United States from 1954 till present times. During the last quarter of the 20th century, immigrants to the US were denied education and those who received education did so under great threats. The dominant view of society about immigrants during this period was extremely negative and rejecting; thereby not deserving of an education. Currently, the education has been made affordable to everybody due to changing atmosphere of unprecedented social change. In education, this change resulted in the legal dismantling of segregated education for African American children (Collins, 2008). As African American children integrated the schools in the United States, they came to school with the stigma of slavery and the negative attitudes held by the agents of the educational institution. Attitudes and held perceptions were the catalyst for constructions such as biased assessment and the retardation paradigm. From these constructions emerged practices in special education that held large numbers of African American students captive in not only the educational milieu, but also limited their work potential. For this reason, the sociopolitical landscape as a context for curriculum, instruction, and assessment has continued to play a significant role in the education