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A well-rounded education is very important and much supported. Two supporters are John Henry Newman and Paulo Freire. John Henry Newman was a professor at Oxford University and an Anglican minister that converted to Roman Catholicism and became a Pope. He delivered several lectures in Dublin, Ireland, about the importance of a Catholic education. These early lectures on education were revised and published in The Idea of a University. One of those lectures, “Knowledge Its Own End,” is about two distinct kinds of education (Austin, 53). Newman believed that there was a need for education purely for pleasure and education that is needed to pursue a specific career. Paulo Freire is a Brazilian literature professor and philosopher. Freire …show more content…
Newman says that the scope of education should broaden and encourage more learning outside of the career track, while Freire says how the material is learned should be broadened and laid out where it is learned for its entirety and not just its basic ideas. They feel that “the learned professions altogether... [are] the most popularly beneficial and… most intimately divine of all human pursuits” (Newman, 57). Simply said, education is something of high importance that should be desired and acquired by all. If one does not embrace education, he or she will not gain knowledge or understand its importance. Fredrick Douglass, a famous slave that worked to gain knowledge, and ultimately helped abolish slavery understands this concept. In his biography, “Learning to Read,” he describes his struggle of learning to read and write. He says, “I wished to learn… [and] after a long, tedious effort for years, I finally succeeded in learning” (Douglas, 50). As a slave, being educated was a difficult task, but Douglass understood its importance and desired to pursue it. At first, he despised, the education, “while they [(the arguments in the Columbian Orator)] relieved me of one difficulty, they brought on another even more painful than the one of which I was relieved,” but it eventually lead to his understanding of “abolition” and helped him free “[him]self and fellow-slaves” (48,49). The education Douglass learns from the Columbian Orator and local newspapers, among other places, is a prime example of liberal knowledge. He learned it “for the sake of knowing it.” Douglass’s example solidifies Newman’s idea that liberal education is valuable because it is proven to have “value and dignity” (Newman, 58). His example also exemplifies Freire’s point that “Liberation is a praxis: the action and reflection of men and women upon their world in order to transform it” (65). Freire believes that one
In order for Douglass to reach his goal of becoming a free man he thought the only way out was education. He needed to learn how to read, write, and think for himself about what slavery was. Since literacy and education were so powerful to Frederick he persevered to get himself the education he wanted. …. Douglass knew it wouldn’t be easy, but that didn’t stop him. Douglass realized the “ conscious of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out with a high hope, and
In the 1997 article, “On The Uses of a Liberal Education: As a Weapon In the Hands of the Restless Poor,” published by Harper’s Magazine, the social critic Earl Shorris described how political power could be achieved by a rather non-vocational educational discipline, the humanities. He emphasizes on how the knowledge of a liberal Education can be used as a form of weapon within the lives for the poor.
Along with family and religion, education is one of the most important aspects in society. Fredrick Douglass realized the importance of a good education by learning to read and later becoming a writer, author and advocate of African Americans, women, and many others. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, we learn the significance and importance of Douglass learning to read, the affect the institution of slavery had on both whites and blacks, and why learning to read threatened the institution of slavery in general.
Education is a privilege. The knowledge gained through education enables an individual’s potential to be optimally utilized owing to training of the human mind, and enlarge their view over the world. Both “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” by Frederick Douglass himself and “Old Times on the Mississippi” by Mark Twain explore the idea of education. The two autobiographies are extremely different; one was written by a former slave, while the other was written by a white man. Hence, it is to be expected that both men had had different motivations to get an education, and different processes of acquiring education. Their results of education, however, were fairly similar.
Douglass was motivated to learn how to read by hearing his master condemn the education of slaves. Mr. Auld declared that an education would “spoil” him and “forever unfit him to be a slave” (2054). He believed that the ability to read makes a slave “unmanageable” and “discontented” (2054). Douglass discovered that the “white man’s power to enslave the black man” (2054) was in his literacy and education. As long as the slaves are ignorant, they would be resigned to their fate. However, if the slaves are educated, they would understand that they are as fully human as the white men and realize the unfairness of their treatment. Education is like a forbidden fruit to the slave; therefore, the slave owners guard against this knowledge of good and evil. Nevertheless, D...
I believe that blacks could benefit more from a practical, vocational education rather than a college education. Most blacks lived in poverty in the rural South, and I felt they should learn skills, work hard, and acquire property. I believed that the development of work skills would lead to economic prosperity. I predicted that blacks would be granted civil and political rights after gaining a strong economic foundation. I explained his theories in Up from Slavery and in other publications.
In recent years, many have debated whether or not a college education is a necessary requirement to succeed in the field of a persons’ choice and become an outstanding person in society. On one hand, some say college is very important because one must contribute to society. The essay Three Reasons College Still Matters by Andrew Delbanco shows three main reasons that students should receive their bachelor’s degree. On the other hand, many question the point of wasting millions of dollars on four years or maybe more to fight for highly competitive jobs that one might not get. Louis Menand wrote an article based on education titled Re-Imagining Liberal Education. This article challenges the main thought many americans have after receiving a secondary education. Louis Menand better illustrates the reasons why a student should rethink receiving a post secondary education better than Andrew Delbanco’s three reasons to continue a person’s education.
...s that you develop a way of regarding the information that you receive to the society that you are living in. He also believes that a quality education develops a students moral views and ability to think. And that these qualities are best developed in the traditional classroom setting by interaction between the student and their professors, and the student’s social life on campus, that is, their interaction with fellow students.
Murray believes that students should receive a liberal education, yet they should not have to wait until college to do so (Murray 225). Murray states that a person should not be forced to obtain a college-level liberal education, simply because they are capable of doing so (Murray 228). On higher education, Murray says, “A large proportion of people who are theoretically able to absorb a liberal education have no interest in doing so.” (Murray 228). Regardless of the fact that a person fits the criteria enabling them to pursue a college degree, does not necessarily mean that they should, if they are not interested. It is more logical to teach students extensively before the time of college, instead of leaving out information and forcing them to attend a school (Murray 225). However, Addison disagrees with this ideology, and believes that a college education is essential to growing up.
Douglass tells the story of Sophia Auld, the wife of his slave master, who almost taught him to read. Douglass says “she [Ms. Auld] kindly commenced to teach me the A, B, C,” and “assisted me in learning to spell words” (63). Douglass notes Ms. Auld as a good slave master who reduced the “dehumanizing effects of slavery” (63). Unfortunately, as Douglass mentions, the slave code and Mr. Auld “forbade” any instruction because it was “unlawful to teach a slave to read” (63). The code forbids reading because, as Mr. Auld says “Learning would spoil the best n-- in the world,” which references the supremacy that masters wish to maintain over their slaves (63). In addition, by forcing slaves to remain illiterate, the law trapped slaves in the vicious cycle of slavery by not offering them any skills to end the cycle. The ban on education restricted a slave 's right to liberty by forcing them to remain ignorant about the world and socially oppressing them. The ban on education also restricts Douglass’s right to the pursuit of happiness by preventing him from pursuing his passion. Douglass’s description of the slave code and its ban on education probes into the reader 's moral conscience by forcing them to understand the restrictions that slavery placed on the rights to liberty and the pursuit of
Education has always been in existence in one form or another. As each child is born into this world regardless of who or where they are born, life lessons immediately begin. He/she will learn to crawl, walk, and talk by the example and encouragement of others. Although these lessons are basic in the beginning they evolve as the child grows. However, the core learning method of a child does not change. Learning from others, they will watch, listen, and then act for themselves. Thomas Jefferson believed that an education would lead men and women to the ability to be self-governed and become positive contributors to society (Mondale & Patton, 2001). Today, we can see how true this is by the examples of others. Those that are given the opportunity for education are more likely to find jobs and develop skills that not only improve a community, but influence the economic growth of their nation (Ravitch, Cortese, West, Carmichael, Andere, & Munson, 2009, p. 13). On the other hand, if an education is not provided to individuals, they can become a hindrance to that nation’s growth.
While knowledge can open many doors for success, it can also put a lock on various ones for people who don’t have an opportunity to practice it. This is portrayed in an essay by Frederick Douglass named Learning to Read and Write. It portrays the hardships he faced and the toll it took on him. Frederick Douglass was a slave who was born in Talbot County Maryland and then became a server for a family in Baltimore. He also became an active participant in the abolitionist movement in 1838. Michael Scot’s response toward Frederick Douglass was that gaining knowledge was more of a dissatisfaction rather than a worthy accomplishment for the reason that education made him realize he had no other option to his condition. For Frederick Douglass, learning
It was able to make him aware of the injustice around him. It allowed him the tools to detest the system of slavery, which without, his story would not be atypical. White slave owners understood that with education the black man would not take an inch, but an ell. This is exactly what Douglass did, utilizing this resource to unclasp the grip of slavery and spread his knowledge. Literacy inherently in the beginning of its story with Douglass, was scattered into pieces. He configured these pieces into his understanding of a weapon his masters detested. Douglass through comprehension unsheathed the manifestation of literacy, but found it sharp enough to cut even himself. Ultimately smelting his weapon, he harnessed its full potential, reforming his tool into a key. This key was able to open the door to Douglas’s life beyond even the long unraveling whip of suffrage. Frederick Douglass through his story used knowledge, as
Douglass knew that ignorance or lack of knowledge was the real slave and knowledge was the path to freedom, to a new life. Douglass believed that all people are created equal, but we weren’t just born free, we have to make ourselves into who we are and what we want to be. The worst thing about slavery is it prevents people from improving themselves through education. Douglass worked by making himself free not physically but also mentally free by expanding his horizons through various different forms of education. By furthering his education and improving himself to be the best person he could be, Douglass was free in a way, free to the fact that he wasn’t going to be the person the slaveholders wanted him to be, he was determined and willing to find his own freedom by any means. This autobiography proves that knowledge or education is the ultimate path to freedom, either mentally or physically. A person can push themselves to the limit of starvation, loneliness, and physical pain by winning their mental freedom, knowing that with a little bit of determination and education it can truly transform a person’s life and Douglass not only shows this throughout his autobiography but lived through it and proved
Could Bok’s journey from slavery to freedom to the global stage of antislavery campaign be possible and accomplished without informal and formal education? In the book “Escape from Slavery,” Francis Bok’s extraordinary life journey has highlighted the benefits and importance of informal and formal education Bok has acquired through his personal experience, ordeal, and endeavor. Accordingly, the simple answer to the aforementioned question is that it would have been impossible for Bok to fulfill his dream if he had not obtained the education needed. Moreover, a sophisticated and specific response to the question should be that it was the education, formal, informal, and the combination