Higher Learning, By John Singleton

He is probably the one that the question “Who am I?” affects the most. All he wanted was to be liked and understood. Lost at school, Remy does not fit in with any social groups and finds affiliation with local neo-Nazis. That wasn’t the goal for him when he first started but end up there because of his desire to discover who he is. Remy shifts from alienated loner to enthusiastic skinhead.

Practically everyone in the story has a hidden agenda for his or her actions. The protagonist, a 22-year-old named Helga, was a teacher at an institute of higher learning called Naxos where the true agenda was not education but instead was teaching Blacks their accepted status in life—lower than that of Whites. She became convinced that she needed to leave Naxos after hearing a speech from a visiting white preacher whose remarks she found offensive. The preacher stated that if everyone acted like those from Naxos “there would be no race problem, because Naxos Negros knew what was expected of them” because they “knew enough to stay in their places” (Larsen 1724). At the beginning of the story, the reader would feel sympathy towards the workers at Naxos, who truly believed they were preparing the students for better lives and sympathy for Helga who tried to convince the new principle, Dr. Anderson, as to the true state of affairs. Helga failed to realize, however, that Dr. Anderson was aware of the situation at Naxos but felt that for change to occur there needed to be “more people like you, people with a sense of values, and proportion, an appreciation of the rarer things of life” (Larsen 1735). Helga mistakenly became offended at Dr. Anderson’s compliment by calling her “a lady” with “dignity and breeding” because of her belief that being able to trace one’s ancestry was more important that one’s actions (Larsen 1735).

In the New York Times article “I Owe It All to Community College: Tom Hanks on His Two Years at Chabot College” published January 2015, the author Tom Hanks talks about his experience in Community College. The article being published in the New York Times was directed at an older group of people. Hanks begins the article effectively persuading the reader that Community College changes the lives of the students who attend. Hanks addressed his experience at a two-year junior college in Hayward, California with positive critique. Hanks’ succeeds with his claims of community college being a alternative to students in search of a afforable higher education, through his use of ethos, pathos, and logos.

Racism is an issue that blacks face, and have faced throughout history directly and indirectly. Ralph Ellison has done a great job in demonstrating the effects of racism on individual identity through a black narrator. Throughout the story, Ellison provides several examples of what the narrator faced in trying to make his-self visible and acceptable in the white culture. Ellison engages the reader so deeply in the occurrences through the narrator’s agony, confusion, and ambiguity. In order to understand the narrators plight, and to see things through his eyes, it is important to understand that main characters of the story which contributes to his plight as well as the era in which the story takes place.

The most important theme in this book was the trials and tribulations of racism because it was woven in every part of the plot, it contributed to the conflict and resolutions, and gave the story a connection to current events, helping the reader’s comprehension.

“My soul was dying for the truth, but I didn’t know where to get it.”-Malik Shabazz. Malik grew up blinded by violence and drugs in his neighborhood, until his rude awakening when reality smacked him in the face. As a young addict, gang member to a priest. A priest who now works hard to better Detroit’s community, and Leader of Detroit’s New Black Panther/New Marcus Garvey movement.

Cedric is surrounded by man working class black students. These students have no idea where Cedric has been and what Cedric has had to fight against. To Cedric and Cedric's peers, a 910 SAT score was great, but to the black students at the MIT program, the score was low. Unfortunately, Cedric did not have a proper person to vent to. Instead, he had to listen to Torrence talk about how the white person's world is no place for Cedric. It shows the adversity Cedric had to face, not in just becoming educated, but in proving to others he was not just given an opportunity to make white people feel better about themselves. He earned the right to improve his condition, intellectually and hopefully, financially.

Beverly Tatum 's "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?"and Ann DuCille 's Multicultural Barbie and the Merchandising of Difference demonstrate what it means to be an African American adolescent in today 's time. One of the obstacles that African American adolescents face is the expectations of others. Often a single comment is all that is needed to imply to a student how another feels about their potential. For example, Tatum describes the experience of Malcolm X. Although Malcolm X was separated from his family and living in a foster home, he was a star athlete, a class president, and an A student. Despite his success as an adolescent, he was told by a respected teacher that his goal of becoming a lawyer was "no realistic goal for a nigger." (Tatum 379) As the result of this single comment, Malcolm stopped participating in class, thereby hindering any current educational opportunities. This expectation from Malcolm 's teacher changed his educational experience making him adhere to his racial

In the novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, racism and prejudice are clearly evident and talked about throughout the novel. The novel expresses the oppression of the blacks under a white-ruled society through the narrator, Grant. Grant is a well-educated black man who struggles to free himself from the oppression he has felt from the white community. Despite the fact that he is educated and a teacher, he initially lacks the vigor needed to take the first step against black discrimination. He has all this intellect, but does not realize until later on that it is not only intelligence he needs to overcome the oppression, but self-assertion, too. Education does not prove your intellectual worth in society; rather, it is what you do during difficult times that define your intelligence and strong character not just to yourself, but to the world.

The occasion was in the year 1996 in the gang-ridden streets of South Central, Los Angeles while California was on the ballot for affirmative action. Corwin, a newspaper reporter, was covering the shooting of a teenage boy. The victim turned out to be John Doe, a student from Crenshaw high school. In his pocket revealed an “A” paper on the French Revolution; he was a gifted student who had a bright future ahead of him. Before he knew it, Corwin realized that South Central isn’t just a place full of gang activity, but rather a place filled with hidden successes. This motivated the author to approach the high school the boy had attended to shine light on the students who shared a similar background story. Miles Corwin decided to set the location at a predominately black school such as Crenshaw because it would be an ideal place to set his book. Afterward, Corwin successfully explained how “affirmative action” put these gifted students at a disadvantage. Furthermore, he was able to describe the obstacles these students would have to deal with such as abuse, financial instability, and the poor education system. Thus, Corwin would set his tone as concerned and hopeless of the students who faced the impending, one-way trip they will be part of : graduation

Throughout the novel many problems occur. Some of the main problems are racial and equality issues. Events in this book show how prejudice and intolerance can ruin numerous friendships and change lives.

From the beginning of the story, we are shown racial inequalities. Ellison introduces us to our character who is a broke and hungry African American economically struggling to save his lady friend’s, Laura’s, life. The protagonist “got no birth certificate to

the reality of a racist society. He must also discover for himself that his father is wrong

Higher Learning is a book made into a film which carries deep social and cultural issues that has plagued America since the time of its establishment. In this book, the author John Singleton sheds light on the never ending issues of education, racist, sexual abuse; social class, gender, and sexual orientation are faced head on. As a collection of freshman college students from all different walks of life they all come as one at Columbus University having to clash with stereotypes and prejudice in a new atmosphere. For illustration in the book, a ordinary white teenager from Idaho has a culture shock at his new school joins a Nazi bunch of criminals because they are the first friends he made,

The disagreements described between the friend and the author, embody their distain for one another as well as distain for what the other represents while presenting their inability to gain independence from one another. The friend accuses the author of being a monkey in terms of how he is dressed and offers him one of his many suits, symbolizing the author’s own self distain and attempted rectification of the defect. The author returns this criticism by describing the friend as “really [making] himself look like a monkey” when he was dancing. Other arguments continue to display the struggle between the part of the author that wants to assimilate and fit in with the predominantly white culture and the side that wishes to be exactly who he is and do as he likes. One such altercation arises from the shame the friend feels when in the company of the author because of his bad behavior and requests he deny their friendship if asked. The excuse of bad behavior in conjunction with the friend’s previously stated views of Africans or black people indicate that he thinks that such behavior is African and he does not wish to be associated with it as