Summary Of Learning To Read By Malcolm X

Since the past, black people had been oppressed and excluded from a formal education, leading them to find ways to educate themselves. While they open their minds to new worlds and perspectives, they encounter themselves with a disastrous world that discriminates them and unjustly takes their rights away from them. In these essays, “Learning How to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass and “Learning to Read” by Malcolm X, both authors tell their stories about how they found their way into the world of literacy even though they were banned to do it. Because they left ignorance back, they realize all the injustices that surround them. In my opinion, literacy is one of the most important tool humans possess to be aware of the issues of the world. Knowing about world problems makes people able to decide how to act towards situations and helps avoid being led by people that the only thing they want from others is power.

During the 1960s, Malcolm X was one of many articulate and powerful leaders of black America. Before he was a street hustler and spent seven years in prison, where he educated himself. Before this time, he was almost completely illiterate. He describes how he could hardly compose a sentence with a straight line or correctly articulates words, let alone read and write. Not being able to express his thoughts and feelings in the letters he wrote inspired him to educate himself. Malcolm then became one of the leading spokesman for African American separatism. Unlike Malcom X Frederick Douglass escaped to New York, where he became a leader in the abolitionist movement. Frederick was born a slave and couldn’t read or write at all. His mistress was teaching him how to read and write but suddenly was against instructing him so he

In Malcolm X’s “Learning to Read”, we learn the story of how Malcolm turned his how life around while serving a sentence he earned from a robbery in 1964, which lead him to spend seven years in jail. During this time, Malcolm discovered the power that reading and self educating himself brought to his consciousness. Who would have known that this man’s entire life would of changed and transformed him into one of the biggest political figures of our time. He himself probably never would've guessed that this would of been his fate while he was in prison serving time for a crime he committed before his enlightenment. A negative choice he made which ultimately altered the path he was destined to go down, Malcolm X is the prime example of how change is possible for anyone as long as you start within yourself.

In Malcolm X’s, “Learning to Read”, he explains how being in prison helped him feel free for the first time in his life. As a child, Malcolm X was completely inarticulate and illiterate. He was charged for robbery in 1946 and was sent to Norfolk County Prison where he taught himself how to read and write. He studied everyday and practiced everyday. Every night, he would stay up until three or four A.M, after “lights out, ” reading. After learning to read, he began to read different history books. The ones that really interested him were about how there was really no “black-man” history and how blacks were basically deleted from history. Everyday, Malcolm X would write letters to Elijah Muhammad about the studies and his readings. Eventually,

When Malcolm X refers to freedom in the final sentence, he is referring to being at liberty. He is saying that he is no longer constrained by his lack of education and his inability to read. Malcolm X carefully studied the dictionary to solve the problem of his own illiteracy. Having risen from a world of thieving, pimping, and drug pushing to become one of the most articulate African Americans. What an enormous frustration he must have felt writing numerous letters that fell on deaf ears. Knowing that he had something to say but not being able to convey it in letters. According to a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Literacy, thirty-two million adults in the U.S. cannot read. That is fourteen percent of the Population. These numbers are astonishing! Furthermore, nineteen percent of high school graduates cannot read. There are many benefits that come with being able to read and write. Some of these include economic security, access to health care, and the ability to actively participate in public life. Malcolm X went behind bars partially because of negative educational opportunities. He ends up finding freedom when he learns of the connections between culture and education that society has denied him. He did this by copying and studying the pages of the dictionary, page by page. He would also stay up at night reading, and was careful to make sure that the guards at the prison did

Do something about it. Everyone has problems from struggles in life. Malcolm X told his life story of how he overcame in his autobiography simply called The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley. His life changed the world historically, socially, and especially politically by taking a stand against racism of all kinds which still exists in today’s “modern” standards. Using his personal life experience with racism towards African-Americans, Malcolm spreads the word on equality for all with a realistic tone that inspires trust in him. Malcolm X reaches all kinds of people in an effort to voice his thoughts on equality for all using rhetorical and persuasive techniques for a more effective message.

In Malcom X’s “Literacy Behind Bars”, Malcom shares his journey of self-educating himself while behind bars in the Charlestown Prison. Malcom attempted to read books, but never succeeded because he struggled to understand the meaning of the words on the page in front of him. He claims that prison allowed him to study more than he would have if he had attended college. Although Malcom struggled on an intellectual level, he serves as a prime example of an individual with self-belief and self-determination which lead to great success. Personally, I can relate to Malcom X in the sense that my personal experiences with education have allowed me not only to believe in myself but also have a mindset that allows me to come to certain realizations not only about myself but also about the world around me.

    School teachings are full of artificial context to brainwash students into thinking that school is the only place you can learn. Education can be taught by exploring your passion and interests even if it’s not seen as academically correct. In the article, “Hidden Intellectualism,” by Gerald Graff, he suggests that students should be able to “exploit students’ nonacademic interests, but to get them to see those interests through academic eyes.”(Gerald Graff, page 400). In contrast, Malcolm X in “A Homemade Education,” wants to spread awareness about black history through actual academic readings. Both Graff and Malcolm believe that passion plays a role in learning, however,  for Graff it's the teacher's job to use the students interests first, whereas Malcolm wants students to find their passion and be self educated just like himself.

Although both Richard Rodriguez and Malcolm X’s lives were profoundly impacted by becoming educated, how they acquired their education and the consequences of becoming educated were different for each author. The path that Richard Rodriguez took in his quest

In the excerpt “Learning to Read” from his 1965 Autobiography, Malcolm X argues that he had more opportunity to learn about the world and specifically black history in prison than he would have received in a formal education setting. He describes the process in which he essentially taught himself how to read and write, and how it lead to an awakening of his desire to learn everything he could through voracious reading. X illustrates to the reader the painful histories that he read about and the powerful knowledge which he gained to show that one needs little more than access to a book collection and the motivation to learn in order to become educated. This reading resonated with me as a learner whose love for independent learning often takes a backseat to the demands of academia and provides a key concept which I plan to instill in my students as a future teacher.

As early as the age of 4 or 5, parents send their children to kindergarten programs followed by elementary, middle and high school. From there they are expected to continue through college and graduate school to learn everything for their future. In Malcolm X’s autobiography, he wrote an excerpt titled, “Learning to Read” where he explains finding encouragement to educate himself on vocabulary and the history of white supremacy. After being thrown into prison he found himself in the prison’s library reading non-stop, eventually discovering the history of his ancestry like all the wrong the white man caused. Educating himself changed his life for the better, leading him to become an inspiring leader in the Civil Rights movement. Malcolm X believed that all the reading he has done will lead him to do something good in life, saying “I knew right there in prison that reading had changed forever the course of my life” [citation]. After educating himself with all the books in the library, he became an inspiring leader in the civil rights movement and became a spokesman for the Nation of Islam. Similarly, in “The Shock of Education: How College Corrupts,” Alfred Lubrano compares the difference between the working class and those from affluent neighborhood and schools. As a child of a working-class family, coming home from an Ivy League made him realize a separation between him and his family along with the students from affluent backgrounds. Receiving a higher education than his

This goes to show that anybody no matter if you’re in school or locked away in a prison cell you can push yourself and excel your intelligence. Malcolm X was one of the greatest spokesmen for African Americans during the civil movement, but it wasn’t just his strong voice that moved people it was also his intelligent way with words that he did not fully acquire until he was sentenced to prison. Malcom X was already a smart man, he was street smart and knew how to talk to the common people but it wasn’t enough for him to the point where he wanted to be able to express himself further more into depth which he did not maintain the knowledge then. It was in Norfolk Prison Colony School where he acquired the further knowledge and intelligence from spending days reading, writing, and copying the dictionary to expand his vocabulary.

Learning how to read is one of the most common processes in the world. For me, learning how to read is the most useful ability that I have learned throughout my entire life. For others, most people learn how to read though different languages in different ways. For Malcolm X, he found reading to be appealing and devoted so much time to it. Malcolm X recounts his personal history of learning to read and how he finds reading to be the most important skill and influence everything in his life. He retells his history of reading several books and dictionaries and how th process slowly affected his life. He elaborates how reading increases a performance and efficiency to heighten their potential. In “Learning to Read, “ by Malcolm X, he

Getting an education in this day and age is no easy feat, which anyone can accomplish. It is for the hard workers and for those who say, “I don’t have time for that I got studying to do.” There are obstacles one must overcome to achieve something great and those obstacles aren’t so different from the ones Malcolm X faced in his autobiography “A Homemade Education” back in the late 1960’s. Whether it is the money student’s pay for an education or the lack of motivation or desire to learn. However it was just as hard back in the 1960’s as it is now.

In America it is against the law for kids to not be in some type of schooling system. It doesn’t really matter what school you end up in though, because they will most likely all follow a very similar curriculum that’s taught in a very similar way. For those students that have trouble learning in such environments, there’s not much hope. In “Learning to Read,” Malcolm X reveals that he must’ve been one of those troubled students. It wasn’t until he went to prison that he learned to read and write. However, from that point on he would blossom into a knowledge hungry man that couldn’t bear to spend a second without his head buried in a book. Without at least learning to read, he may have never discovered why the black man had seemingly disappeared from history, and who might be to blame. His mind had been opened to a world that was previously just out of reach. Mike Rose almost missed out on such an opportunity as well. In “I Just Wanna Be Average,” he says that he was mistakenly labeled as a slow kid and placed in vocational education. He found those classes meaningless and often lost focus, much like the rest of his friends. All hope, education-wise, had almost been lost until it was discovered that he didn’t quite belong in those classes. It was in the upper level classes that his talents were discovered by a more creative teacher; one that actually succeeded in engaging their students.