Mountains are challenging to climb, and even more difficult with the lack of proper equipment. The vast amount of gear and support that is essential to triumph is nonnegotiable. The desire to climb to the top of the mountain should exceed all other internal and external conflicts, even if it means the higher the climb the smaller the people and places left behind will become. This embodies the perceptual aspect of the struggle between education and desire for someone that comes from a working-class background like Bell Hooks. In Hooks’ essay, it is evident to see her uphill battle between her desires and education as she climbed the educational mountain with many struggles along the way. The many racial and class related barriers she faced …show more content…
It is as if the very essence of their existence must be excusable. Madden illustrates that “once those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds arrive on campus, it’s often the subtle things, the signifiers of who they are and where they come from, that cause the most trouble, challenging their very identity, comfort and right to be on that campus. The more elite the school, the wider that gap” (Madden). It is as if those students are marked, and their differences stand out like a zebra in a paddock full of horses that naturally reject the sight of a different individual in their enclosure. Hooks’ was made an outcast at the first college that she attended because of her color and class status. This separation between class causes an estranged relationship between the student and the rest of the school. Throughout Hooks’ essay, she was also a victim to the stigmatization of being someone from a different class and she had to learn to conform to the rules of social class and educational institutions so she can fulfill her desire to be accepted. This desire for acceptance upsets students’ interpersonal relationships because they are required to forfeit their past so they can look forward to a brighter …show more content…
Like climbing a mountain, the desire for advancement through education requires vigorous, determined, and disciplined students. Students that can overcome mixed feelings of guilt, anxiety, and desire that can cripple the students’ success in college. Students must propel themselves higher up the mountain from a position that is lower in elevation than their more entitled counterparts. A substantial amount of determination and climbing ultimately leads to either success or defeat in the world of education. Students must challenge their own identities and relieve themselves of their past to succeed. The pertinacious character of working-class students provides a desire to escape to a place of acceptance and understanding. Through education students are challenged to discover themselves and what they are truly capable of, or fall off the mountain
Bell Hooks is a well-known Feminist. She has achieved a lot through her lifetime, and is still going strong. Bell Hooks is mostly known for her fight for feminism and for mainly African American females. She is also known for the many books she has written and for her public speaking. But besides all the major facts above, there is a lot more to Bell Hooks then you think. Throughout your readings you will learn a little more about Bell and her accomplishments. The main resource I used to do my research was the internet.
Mark Edmundson, published the essay “Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here” on August 22, 2011 in the Oxford American. Edmundson received his education at Yale University and is currently a professor of English at Virginia University. In the beginning of the essay, He describes the initial feelings of a new college student and explains what is expected throughout the process. He adamantly expresses the need to find oneself, which he feels is the true meaning behind achieving higher education. He describes sources of pressure students face when trying to get an education, which include expectations from society, family, and even the university the student is attending. The institutions are pressuring students to avoid making an impact on society and only getting a degree for the purpose getting a job.
The right and privilege to higher education in today’s society teeters like the scales of justice. In reading Andrew Delbanco’s, “College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be, it is apparent that Delbanco believes that the main role of college is to accommodate that needs of all students in providing opportunities to discover individual passions and dreams while furthering and enhancing the economic strength of the nation. Additionally, Delbanco also views college as more than just a time to prepare for a job in the future but a way in which students and young adults can prepare for their future lives so they are meaningful and purposeful. Even more important is the role that college will play in helping and guiding students to learn how to accept alternate point of views and the importance that differing views play in a democratic society. With that said, the issue is not the importance that higher education plays in society, but exactly who should pay the costly price tag of higher education is a raging debate in all social classes, cultures, socioeconomic groups and races.
In her novel called “Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center” one of the many areas bell hooks speaks of is the perpetual racial confinement of oppressed black women. The term double-bind comes to mind when she says “being oppressed means the absence of choices” (hooks 5). The double-bind is “circumstances in which choices are condensed to a few and every choice leads to segregation, fault or denial” Therefore, this essay will discuss how hooks’ definition of oppression demonstrates the double-bind in race relations, forcing the socially underprivileged minority to “never win,” and as a result allowing the privileged dominate “norm” to not experience perpetual segregation.
The same consistent, expressive voice introduces Ms. Angelou's effective strategy of comparison and contrast. By comparing what the black schools don't have, such as 'lawn, nor hedges, nor tennis courts, nor climbing ivy,' reveals not only a clear illustration of what luxuries the white schools in the forties had but also how unjust the system was. The adults at the graduation focus on the differences that were previously left unspoken. The black principal's voice fades as he describes "the friendship of kindly people to those less fortunate then themselves" and the white commencement speaker implies that" the white kids would have a chance to become Galileo's.... and our boys would try to be Jesse Owenes..." The author's emotions vary from the first proclamation that "I was the person of the moment" to the agonizing thoughts that it "was awful to be a Negro and have no control over my life" to the moment of epiphany: "we are on top again."
Throughout Hughes’ Not Without Laughter, we see the long-term effect of generations of prejudice and abuse against blacks. Over time, this prejudice manifested itself through the development of several social classes within the black community. Hughes’, through the eyes of young Sandy, shows us how the color of one’s skin, the church they attend, the level of education an individual attained, and the type of employment someone could find impacted their standing within the community and dictated the social class they belonged to. Tragically, decades of slavery and abuse resulted in a class system within the black community that was not built around seeking happiness or fulfillment but, equality through gaining the approval of whites.
In “College Pressures” from The Seagull Reader: Essays, William Zinsser examines the societal ideology of obtaining a degree from a university being the only path to financial and social success. Zinsser also discloses to his audience the encumbrances that college students face while enrolled in a higher education facility. The author’s main point is that college students should not be heavily pressured throughout their college career, for college is a time to relish the educational experience that comes with higher education. In his referential essay that is developed by description, William Zinsser effectively uses emotional appeal and rhetorical questions.
As a result, these kids begin to believe they can’t achieve more than they already have. They have been limited to a test score, and are forced to take classes pertaining to test taking skills rather than classes specialized in careers. Many of the minority schools do not have the same class opportunities as schools that wealthier children attend. Something that hit me hard was the boy that said, “You’re ghetto—so you sew!” He is to the point that he is seeing himself as many people in society see him. He has lost the belief that he can become much more than what people believe he can be. This girl’s mother worked at a sewing factory, so he believes it’s likely she will be working at one too. The education isn’t in place to help her do more than
Academic excellence is the primary desire of every parent and student. However, there are varying perceptions of the role of education in the life of and individual. According to the survey carried out on the perception of the role of education in the life of an individual, it was established that eight out of ten students were of the view that they pursued education for the purpose of economic gains. Additionally, six out of ten students viewed education as serving the purpose of broadening their view and perceptions in life. Accordingly, the widening of the will help them rethink their ideas and values. This essay will focus on the reasons why students attend college and barriers to education in light of the book Rereading America.
The students in the school are shied away and even denied opportunities for higher education by the teachers, “Many have been discouraged or prevented from pursuing academic or work goals” (Kivel 44). From not believing in the students to not wanting them to get further ahead in life, the teachers in this low budgeted, racist school are sacrificing the students future in the name of institutionalized racism. This causes the students to remain in the same social class for another generation, once again, starting the cycle of integrated racism in the schools and surrounding
During the essay the author lost her innocence but graduated to a deeper appreciation and clarity of who she is and who she could become. In her school with no visible fences keeping the children within the schoolyard, there were the invisible fences of racism that tried to limit them from reaching their full potential. The author concludes, "I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death" (841).
The critical approach to institutional contexts and social structures is one that aims to analyze them carefully and shrewdly, taking into consideration for example, how they exist in relation to and as agents of oppression, as well as examining the ways in which these institutions and social structures inherently propagate the oppression of marginalized peoples. As well as that, the critical approach intends to judiciously evaluate the function of these institutions and social structures in regards to the power relationship within them with an end goal of alleviating the struggle of those marginalized, exploited, and oppressed. Specifically, the critical approaches taken by bell hooks in “Feminism: A Movement to End Sexist Oppression” and Michael Kimmel in “Masculinity as Homophobia: Fear, Shame, and Silence in the Construction of Gender Identity” do not present the ideas of feminism and masculinity as just catch-all terms, but rather emphasize the complexities and intricacies of these concepts as they occur in the world. These texts also include varied perspectives on feminism and masculinity and analyze how they come together to create a thorough and comprehensive analysis of these concepts.
It seems as though the majority of college students these days aren’t looking to further their education because it’s what they really want, they do it to please their parents, to be accepted by society, or because there’s nothing else for them to do (Bird, 372). These expectations have led to students being unhappy and stressed, and have pushed them into a school or a job that they don’t particularly care for.
In our current society, it is acceptable to talk about race or gender. However, when it comes to the subject of class, people tend to tense, and are uncertain as to where they stand. At one time in history money afforded prestige and power, however now, money is a large part of our society and tends to rule many peoples lives. In the book Where We Stand: Class Matters, by bell hooks, she describes a life growing up in a family who had nothing, to now becoming one of America’s most admired writers. She wrote this book because she wanted to write about her journey from a working class world to class-consciousness, and how we are challenged everyday with the widening gap between the rich and the poor. In her book, hook’s describes a life dominated by the haunting issues of money, race, and class.
Bell hooks, in chapter 14, discusses the issues that arise while liberating a marriage and partnership during the feminist movement. Hooks explores how important partnership is within relationships, marriage, and parenting. Hooks shows us that while some arrangements have changed, there seems to be some that are held back due to socially constructed problems.