Bell Hooks's Education

“If my generation was too naïve, the generations that have followed may be too practical. We knew too little, and now girls know too much.” (Sandberg. Pg. 646) In the past, the call for women’s rights was heated as much as it was alive; many women today believe that they no longer need feminism in their lives. The misconception that feminist ideals are outdated has lead modern women to fall short in their desire to accomplish more. Sheryl Sandberg refuels feminist goals in the article “Lean In: What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid.” She addresses lack of females in the work force, as well as, the way society prompts boys compared to girls. Bell Hook, in contrast, provides a deeper understanding of feminist ideals, along with, an in depth analysis of Sandberg’s work. The articles written by Bell Hook and Sheryl Sandberg express each woman’s perspective on modern feminism; although they both call for action, Sandberg focuses on the inequality between the sexes, while Hook broadens the overall argument to include topics such as race, sexuality and class equality.

This was the title of an essay by bell hooks that my theology professor assigned in seminary. A number of my too-holy-for-their-own-damn-good classmates ran to the Dean's office to object: "Do you know what's being taught in your school? I knew she wasn't saved!" The Dean asked, "Did you read it?" They replied "Of course not! I'm not going to pollute my spirit with this filth. Hallelujah!" The Dean said, come back when you read

Because it is very credible, emotionally appealing, and slightly academically based, bell hooks's essay "Keeping Close to Home: Class and Education" is an essay that I consider to be very touching. While arguing in her essay that the rich class and the working-class should come to respect and understand each other, bell hooks employs three elements of argument: ethos, pathos, and logos. With her usage of ethos, hooks relates her experience as an undergraduate at Stanford. Providing an experience from a time before she went to Stanford, hooks uses pathos to inspire the audience. However, hooks uses logos by appealing to the readers' logic. These readers are the working-class and the privileged, the audience of her book: "Ain't I

She states “It was a last-minute decision. I had just finished a new book. Whenever I finish a work, I always feel lost, as though a steady anchor has been taken away and there in no sure ground under my feet.” (bell hooks pg. 4). This feeling of the unknown led her to go to her high school reunion, the first one that was going to be racially integrated. This lead Ms. Hooks to remember her days in high school and how “Those period in our adolescent lives of racial desegregation had been full of hostility, rage, conflict and loss. We black kids had been angry that we had to leave our beloved all-black high school Crispus Attuck and be bussed halfway across town to integrate white schools… We had to give up the familiar and enter a world that seemed cold and strange, not our world, not our school.” (hooks pg. 4). After she talks about the transition into an integrated high school, hooks talks about her friend Ken. Ken was a white male and during this time “Friendship across racial lines was bad enough, but friendship across gender was unheard of and dangerous.” (hooks pg.5). Later hooks talks about how she grew up politically and how she was placed to end sexism and sexism oppression. She talks about a quote by Martin Luther King Jr’s book Where do we go from here: Chaos or Community, talking about how we must change from an object-oriented

Finally, hooks used the strategy of cause and effect in her writings. She writes “Since our society continues to be a primarily ‘Christian’ culture, masses of people continue to believe that God has ordained that women be subordinate to men in the domestic household.” (hooks, pg2) By writing this, she effectively analyzes the cause of the problems, and why our culture continues to be sexist. For those who have scientific minds, this statement carries

In “Keeping Close To Home: Class and Education”, Bell Hooks argues that we have to not only maintain our ties to home but adapt to the new settings around us . In order to strive in one’s life, you must be able to interrupt daily life changes and maintain stability. (74). She explains that being an African American woman, coming from a Southern state, not really experiencing the things she did once she transitioned to Stanford University was a little frightening for her.(74). Hooks found many differences in the environment she now lived in. For example, the way the students interact with one another was strange to her. Where she comes from, children treated their parent with respect, but her white, middle-class roommate thought otherwise. She explained that “things were different” there and people “[thought] differently.”(76).

In this chapter, bell hooks describes her experience with class privilege in college. Her race and socioeconomic status made her stick out from her classmates, which made her a target for their stares and torments. Her financial situation also made it hard for her to get into a college that she felt comfortable at. Hooks’ struggles ultimately made college hard for her, and left her feeling bitter and troubled about her achievements.

Bell Hooks exercise her personal reflections while arguing that class matters and how her upbringing demonstrated class inequality. She express her lack of knowledge of class and ignored anything resulting to it. Even after becoming successful she attempt to disaffiliate herself with her designated class position. She knew that socially class was of significance because during her upbringing she met different people that has stood on a different pedal stool than her. The class hierarchy system of growing up in a working class family and becoming a woman to live upper class with luxurious items made her more aware. Towards the end of the book the author graciously thanks her family for living in a rural area with grandparents. She also accredited

bell hooks is motivated to write Seeing and Making Culture: Representing the Poor based on her experiences of how they have been misrepresented. She knows firsthand what it is like to be poor and how difficult it can be. During her college years, she spent a great deal of her holidays with black women who knew hooks came from a poor family and were poor as well. These women were the ones to support and affirm to become educated in order to move beyond the world they lived in and the one she came from (hooks 432).

Many of the outside sources used in the first chapter were not used as a form of evidence to support Hooks argument. Bell Hooks analyzed them and criticized them because they we text used in the second wave of feminism by the bourgeois women. She critiques the renown feminist text by Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique, in order to begin her whole argument.

Hooks’ monograph was written to inform people how feminism was not just for women, but also for men. For she illustrated her thesis in the introduction when she said, “Come closer and you will see: feminism is for everybody,” meaning that men and women should

Knowledge beautiful and powerful because of it is influential and vast, in fact, it is pivotal for one to understand that knowledge will forever be limitless. For instance, modern day education philosophers such as bell hooks and Ann Margaret Sharp are known for their thought-provoking intellectual beliefs regarding education. Nonetheless, bell hooks is known for her intriguing philosophies regarding African-American feminism—cultural studies, social issues, and education. hooks’ beliefs derived from her personal experience with social and racial discrimination in the 1950s and 1960s. On the other hand, Ann Sharp is known for fighting against ageism; she believes that children should be respected as individuals. The purpose of this journal

“Teaching to Transgress” is a dialogue between bell hooks and Ron Scapp about the best type of community a student can actually learn in and what role each person has in the classroom to help contribute to the preferred classroom dynamic.

As we discuss feminism and the equality of the sexes words like oppression, privilege and exploitation are bound to come up. While these words have been defined by the likes of generally accepted dictionaries like Webster and Macmillan the philosophers who write on these topics also define these terms on their own. This is not to say that their definitions will be readily adapted but they do this to better convey the points they wish to make. In this paper we will discuss the thoughts, words, and definitions of three feminist philosophers who have some commonalities and one who stands out quite a bit. These philosophers are Betty Friedan, Marilyn Frye, and Bell Hooks.

“Feminism as a movement can become the staple against oppression. One thing is clear and that is that hooks approach to feminism can become a universal centralized thought. A successful movement needs a voice, a face, supporting group, and a call for action, bell hooks definition bring all that to the forefront by just stating I advocate for feminism”