Beyond One-Size-Fits: All College Dreams By Booker T. Washington

Education was not readily available for Southern blacks as it was for whites, and Du Bois took notice. In an effort to teach, he was taken aback by “how faithfully, how piteously, this people strove to learn.” (Du Bois, 12) While most African Americans devoted themselves to learning, the information was not presented in an understandable way, and most struggled to even make an advance in basic courses. Du Bois commented that education was a freedom denied to none, and the aggressive pursuit of a higher education was the way of crossing the threshold into equality. In a similar matter, Booker T. Washington praised the school house as a place with equal deliverance as heaven itself. His point of view came through the looking-glass of slavery, being raised a slave himself. As a child, when he carried his mistress’ books to her schoolhouse, he felt that “to get into a schoolhouse and study in this way would be about the same as getting into paradise.”(Washington, 3) Washington,

“Colleges Prepare People for Life” by Freeman Hrabowski, is an informative essay about how college is a crucial step for the preparation of a successful future job opportunity as well as future life. Hrabowski is the current president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and has been in that role since 1992. “In 2012, President Obama named him chair of President’s Advisory Commission on Education excellence of African Americans” (Hrabowski, 2013, p. 259). This quote goes to show the amount of knowledge and respect Hrabowski has earned throughout his life by proving himself and his ideas to others. Although college is a crucial step for the preparation of a successful future job opportunity as well as one’s overall wellbeing of life; some might disagree that college is the key to success. From this essay, messages within the text will be made known by analyzing the real meaning behind Hbrabowski’s words. As well as reasoning, as to why a college education is essential to one’s overall quality of life.

Washington like myself highly valued and found purpose in education for similar reasons. Since Washington was born into slavery he was mainly surrounded and only knew and spoke with people who were completely illiterate. Washington didn’t know anything about school or reading and writing because at the time there was no schooling for colored children; However he did say “I felt that getting into a schoolhouse and studying in this way must be like getting into heaven,”(6). Washington saying that shows that he valued education before he even knew what it was like because he knew there would be so much more opportunities for him if he could obtain one. Washington also had to struggle with another obstacle which was work. Just like my parents he had to work at a very young age to help support his family, because of this Washington couldn’t possibly attend day school once it became available for the colored children. Washington did not give up though he however attended night school when that became available to him. Booker T. Washington also struggled when he began to read because he had absolutely no help from anyone who knew about education or how to read and write. Booker did however have all the encouragement he needed from his mother “In all my efforts to learn to read, my mother encouraged me and aided me in every way that she could. Although she was illiterate, she had high ambitions for her children,”(17) stated Washington. This shows that like my mother

Knowledge is freedom like nothing else. It can take a small, poor, uneducated slave boy like Booker Taliaferro Washington from slavery to dinner at the White House with the president. Booker didn't have a considerable amount of money, nor did he have educated parents, yet inside of him and with the support of his mother, brother and his community he became very successful. He always had a firm conviction that there was power in education. He felt this conviction even as a young boy who appeared to have no hope of gaining the type of education that he would one day earn. Booker Taliaferro Washington and many other prominent black individuals such as Frederic Douglass, Malcom X, Thurgood Marshall and W.E.B found that literacy was a very powerful

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

Throughout the life of Booker T. Washington expressed in his autobiography, Up From Slavery, one element has remained the same through his influences, education, public speaking, and teaching of others. This is the fact that one cannot succeed solely on a “book” education, but must accompany this with that of an “industrial” education as well. He believed that with this type of education, the black man could provide necessary services not only for himself, but also for those in his community as well. Washington was born on a slave plantation in either 1858 or 1859 in Franklin County, Virginia. He grew up with his mother, his brother John, and his sister Amanda. They lived in an extremely small log

Du Bois relates his experiences as a schoolteacher in rural Tennessee, and then he turns his attention to a critique of American materialism in the rising city of Atlanta where the single-minded attention to gaining wealth threatens to replace all other considerations. In terms of education, African Americans should not be taught merely to earn money. Rather, Du Bois argues there should be a balance between the "standards of lower training" and the "standards of human culture and lofty ideals of life." In effect, the African American college should train the "Talented Tenth" who can in turn contribute to lower education and also act as liaisons in improving race relations.

DuBois also had distinct theories of what he thought African-Americans needed to put into practice, so that they would not be oppressed any longer. DuBois definitely saw the value and worth of African-American people getting both industrial and traditional education. DuBois envisioned all African-Americans being well educated, in the industrial arts and the classics, which would lead to being able to rise up in the world as leaders and teachers. DuBois explained Washington’s mindset as “And so thoroughly did he learn the speech and thought of triumphant commercialism, and the ideals of material prosperity, that the picture of a lone black boy poring over a French grammar amid the weeds and dirt of a neglected home soon seemed to him the acme of absurdities.” (DuBois, 2).

Education is an important aspect in the lives of many individuals. Education is often seen as a means to better oneself. With education, a whole new world can be opened up to individuals. For African Americans education is key to achieving a variety of things in life. During the days of slavery, African Americans were not allowed to be educated. It was frowned upon and strictly discouraged because slave masters knew that they could not dominate an educated person. Any slave caught trying to read or write was punished. There are many individuals whose main purpose is to fight for the rights and equality of African Americans and fighting for the right to be educated was one of these goals. African Americans alike wanted to be educated because they know it would lead to progress and a better overall situation. Now in today’s society we see that even though many before us has fought for the right to be educated some do not see it as a privilege. In this paper, the views of Malcolm X, W.E.B. DuBois and Oliver Cromwell Cox will be examined in regards to their thoughts on education.

Hrabowski perceives that colleges do well to encourage and promote students to be successful in their future jobs and that the process of attending college itself is sufficient in teaching such “street smarts” as reviewed by Graff. Despite some contradiction between Hrabowski and Graff in previously discussed topics, Hrabowski is in agreement with Graff on in various ways. Such as, while college helps prepare students for future jobs, these jobs are only starting points and should not be the ending point. He continues by weighing the vast complexity of college success. He feels, in agreement with Graff, there is room for improvement in college, although Hrabowski stresses “There needs to be a more effective way to help people find the correct path for personal needs in higher education.” (Hrabowski 260) Graff continues in his essay sharing that intellect surrounds everything. Researchers are known to suggest that intellect is only in regards to schooling involving math, reading, english, and science or in other words academic based things only. On the contrary Graff would argue, “intellectualism is in everything.” (Graff 265). Sports were Graffs main concern, and interest in his younger years. Consequently, it was through sports he was able to find a love to study statistics, summarize interviews done with athletes, and many other intellectual practices. It wasn’t until college, that he was able to

“College for the Masses” by David Leonhardt is a great article that displays the many benefits among lower-income students attending a four year college. “Why Poor Students Struggle” by Vicki Madden displays many examples from hers and her colleagues experiences while providing statistics of the lower-income joining a four year college. The two articles both display the benefits of attending a four year college and that the education pays off. David’s article talked about the different education levels based on their test score before attending the university and the amount of income, while Vicki’s focused more on the income and the effects on grades of students while attending the college on low income. David also goes more in detail about the disadvantages of community college than Vicki’s description of community college. “College for the Masses”, in my opinion, had more intensive descriptions and examples on the benefits of starting in a four year university, rather than community college.

Today, education enables us to enlarge our knowledge and open doors for opportunities to the path of having a good future. In the five readings, each written by a different author, there was a lesson learned and something to take away from each one. Reading through the passages by Mann, Moore, Malcolm X, Gatto, Rose, and Anyon, each author contributed his or her point of view on general public education. This topic can be very argumentative depending on the quality of education people receive. Education today is the single most important mean for individuals to achieve their personal goals in the workforce.

DuBois stresses the importance of education amongst the black race. He believes that African Americans should be educated in order to guide and

Thesis Statement: In “The Atlantic Exposition Address” by Booker T. Washington and “Of Mr. Book T. Washington and Others” by W. E. B. Du Bois three points of contention are civil rights, political rights and higher education.

Booker T. Washington was one of the most well-known African American educators of all time. Lessons from his life recordings and novelistic writings are still being talked and learned about today. His ideas of the accommodation of the Negro people and the instillation of a good work ethic into every student are opposed, though, by some well-known critics of both past and current times. They state their cases by claiming the Negro’s should not have stayed quiet and worked their way to wear they did, they should have demanded equal treatment from the southern whites and claimed what was previously promised to them. Also, they state that Washington did not really care about equality or respect, but about a status boost in his own life. Both