The Importance Of Creating A More Just, Free, And Sustainable World

It brings up the question: what would a woman that only has a future to be a housewife or housekeeper do with an education? By not taking a woman seriously when she wants to attend school shows that it will be highly likely that an education would be of irrelevant use.

Murray answers the argument that offering education to woman will lead them to neglect their "domestic employments" by exploiting the inequality and unequal educational opportunities given to women. She begins her argument by asking for a reason in which a gender of the same species might be born more superior to the other. Murray questions whether the reason why men are mentally superior than women is because of nature, or because men are born with the opportunity to learn. As a result, Murray believes it is unfair to come to the conclusion that women are deficient or unequal to men because the opportunity to obtain knowledge had been denied to women. Therefore, women are not born unequal to men. Murray acknowledges that the reason behind the inequality of the sexes is due to the difference in which men and women are raised.

Frederick Douglass, an African American slave, searches for liberation against the shackles of slavery through education; as told in Frederick Douglass’ Narrative in a Life of Frederick Douglass. Douglass portrays education as a paradox; knowledge brings him both great joy and great pain. Learning opens up new worlds for Douglass, and he becomes obsessed with the possibility of freedom. At the same time, he envies his fellow slaves for their ignorance. They do not understand what their enslavers have stolen from them. Douglass grapples with the hopelessness of his plight, but knowledge empowers him enough to set himself free from a life of benightedness, and to share that knowledge with others.

John Spayde’s article What Does it Mean to Be Educated (June 1998) offers insight into the world of philosophical questions and studies of our educational system. Spayde shares and responds to the opinions of different novelists, journalists, professors, and colleges that have taken a stance on what it means to be educated. His article briefly covers topics such as; educational decisions, financial division, entitlement, humanities, and technology. Spayde also discusses the importance of being connected and learning from a real-life experience. Spayde believes that having a connection to the world around you allows you to use any experience as a learning mechanism to further your education.

In Adrienne Rich's "Claiming an Education," she encourages women to "claim" their education, rather than "receive" it. She is referring to the fact that some women feel the need to be granted permission by others, rather than getting up and doing what is best for them. She also inspires the students to take personal responsibility and earn the education they are entitled to, rather than taking the easy route to obtain their degrees. In order to earn the education we deserve, we must become active participants in that education. Students must demand to be taken seriously, make our education a top priority, and take classes that challenge us as individuals.

In today’s day and age education is one of the most overlooked concept of our generation. Education is underestimated because it’s easily accessed through public or at home schooling, so the majority of our generation can at least read or write. In the narrative The Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass the concept of education can differentiate whether a black man free or enslaved. During this time period, education is crucial for the road of freedom but extremely difficult to achieve. In this narrative Douglas uses paradox to show how education can be an african american’s ‘saving grace’ but on the other hand, it could also be his worst nightmare. This is shown through the process Frederick Douglas needed to go through to become education and free. Douglas utilizes irony and character development to display this duality of education.

In the article, “Low-Income Students Seeking the Education They Need to Move Up,” Emily Yount writes about the way that poverty affects people entering higher education. In her story, a girl named Chelsea is a single mom trying to get her education, and the path is difficult for her. In this paper, I will discuss both my mother and Chelsea and show the ways that it is mainly the single moms that struggle the most in this society. Regardless if you’re rich or poor, your economic status always is important. A student’s economic status has a great impact and can affect her depending on the decisions she makes.

Why is education important to society? Would one be able to read without a successful teacher teaching one how to read? Education is a key that holds the ability to open many doors - doors which open into vast rooms of knowledge, love, experience, discovery, and dreams. Education is an essential to human living and a fulfilling life, but what happens when the path one takes is not the choice that one personally wants? In “University”, written by Leona Gom, and “Warren Pryor”, written by Alden Nowlan, the poems present both negative and positive effects of education on society.

Education is something that has historically been a valuable asset to asserting one’s power and place in

“The subject of the Education of Women of the higher classes is one which has undergone singular fluctuations in public opinions” (Cobbe 79). Women have overcome tremendous obstacles throughout their lifetime, why should higher education stand in their way? In Frances Power Cobbe’s essay “The Education of Women,” she describes how poor women, single women, and childless wives, deserve to share a part of the human happiness. Women are in grave need of further improvements in their given condition. Cobbe suggests that a way to progress these improvements manifests in higher education, and that this will help further steps in advance. Cobbe goes on to say that the happiest home, most grateful husband, and the most devoted children came from a woman, Mary Sommerville, who surpassed men in science, and is still studying the wonders of God’s creations. Cobbe has many examples within her paper that shows the progression of women as a good thing, and how women still fulfill their duties despite the fact that they are educated. The acceptance of women will be allowed at the University of New England because women should be able to embrace their abilities and further their education for the benefit of their household, their lives, and their country.

After stating these points she continues on to discuss the importance of women having the same opportunities as men. One of the first opportunities being the choice to pursue the education she desires and not one that be designated to her, “The education that will fit her to discharge the duties in the largest sphere of human usefulness, will best fit her for whatever special work she may be compelled to do.” She states that, “The strongest reason for giving woman all the opportunities for higher education, for the full development of her faculties, her

“Claiming an Education” by Adrienne Rich is about rejecting the sexist views that men's minds are more valuable and intellectual than women’s minds. In “Claiming an Education,” women are taught to take their education seriously because even though men have the majority of say in things, women are climbing the ranks. An important idea in this essay is the difference between claiming and receiving. By claiming an education, you are taking the education into rightful owner.

Adrienne Rich writes about what education is for women. “Beyond literacy, you have the privilege of training and tools which can allow you to go beyond the content of your education and re-educate yourselves – to debrief yourselves, we might call it, of the false messages of your education in this culture, the messages telling you that women have not really cared about power of learning or creative opportunities because of a psychobiological need to serve men and produce children; that only a few atypical women have been exceptions to this rule; the messages telling you that woman’s experience is neither normative nor central to human experience” (Rich, 4). Rich’s definition of a woman’s education is to understand and redefine their own women’s

In Adrienne Rich’s convocation address, “Claiming an Education”, she utilizes antithetical comparisons to convey her belief that, as a student, we must “claim” our knowledge while in school instead of merely attending class and expecting to “receive” an education. (Rich 98) Rich’s comparison between being “spoon-fed” information and actively pursuing an education is powerful because her idea encourages us to consider the possibilities that emerge when we decide to take learning into our own hands. Rich’s speech has influenced me to take responsibility for myself in not only my education, but my personal life as well. For example, now that I am away from home and living in my own dorm room, I have to independently address needs such as

In Adrienne Rich’s speech, Claiming an Education, a statement was made that broadened my views of being a student in a university: “you cannot afford to think of being here to receive an education: you will do much better to think of being here to claim one” (paragraph 2). To furthermore explain this statement, students (especially women) should not attend school to just “receive” what is offered, but to rightfully take what is yours; which would be the degree.