After reading both essays from two different authors, the readers learned that education is the most powerful tool that is valued more than anything else, and they should use all the chances they have to study. Malcolm X believes that education is an invaluable wealth and power, but before he got a dictionary, he never heard of this knowledge that is available for him because the environment he used to live in does not have the condition for him to learn these things. K.C. Cole believes everyone should have an equal opportunity for this power tool as well. In their essays“Learning to Read” and “Hers”, Malcolm X and K.C. Cole writes to inform the readers that education is a very important thing in their life and it will last with the forever, …show more content…
In his essay, he claimed that he was surprised about all the knowledge that is available to him after getting a thing as simple as a dictionary. He says that he was “immensely proud to realize that not only had I written so much at one time, but I’d written words that I never knew were in the world.” Malcolm uses personal experience to emphasize the power of knowledge and how excited he was when he first learned this new knowledge. After knowing a lot more knowledge that he did not know before, he thinks it’s not fair that he never have the access nor the ability to know these things existed. In the essay, Malcolm also said, “the teaching of Mr. Mohammed stressed how history had been “whitened”. When white men had written history books, the black men simply had been left out. I never will forget how shocked I was when I began reacting about slavery’s total horror.” Malcolm uses historical allusion to emphasize the shocking feeling when he read about the information that he never knew before. And by learning all the knowledge that he now has, he was able to speak and spread his ideas to other people that need his …show more content…
Cole wants her readers to understand that everyone should have the right to learn this magnificent tool. K.C. Cole believes women did not have the same opportunities as men on the subject that they want to pursue in. She didn 't realize what an odd creature a woman interested in physics was until she saw a University’s conference, out of several hundred young students of physics and engineering in the room, less than a handful were women. This is especially true in the current society, where some occupation are considered women only, and some are men only. As said in her essay, “women are simply made to feel out of place in science. Her conclusion was supported by a Ford Foundation study by Lynn H. Fox on the problems of women in mathematics. When students were asked to choose among six reasons accounting for girls ' lack of interest in math, the girls rated this statement second - Men do not want girls in the mathematical occupations.” The author K.C. Cole uses historical allusion from another person to help support her idea of the exclusion of women in the science field. As we all can imagine, this did not only happen to K.C Cole. As she described in her essay, some of her friends and people she knows about also face challenges on this field, she remembers that, “A friend of mine remembers winning a Bronx Wide mathematics competition in the second grade. Her friends both boys and girls warned her that
The reading on Malcolm X had lots of points that hit everyday society in America for African Americans. Malcolm X was like any other man hustling on the streets to get by, like a lot you see in today society with the drug dealers and such. Starting off Malcolm X was not an intelligent man; he didn’t know how to write without a little slang to his words, he didn’t know how to articulate what he wanted to be said. Malcolm X was convicted of robbery and was sent to Charleston Prison, but was later sent off to the Norfolk Prison Colony School, this is where he gave himself the educated needed to be a well productive citizen. Malcolm X stated, “I saw that the best thing I could do was get hold of a dictionary-to study, to learn some new words (p.211). “I spent two days just riffling uncertainly through the dictionary’s pages.” “Finally, just to start some kind of action, I began copying.” Here Malcolm X is seeing his time being served in prisons to not only be a lessoned learned but to learn something that he knew he would never learn...
As I grew up learning to read was something I learned in school, yet for Sherman Alexie and Malcolm X can’t say the same. These two amazing authors taught themselves, at different stages of their lives, to read. In Sherman Alexie’s essay “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” and Malcolm X’s essay “Learning to Read” they both explain the trials and experiences they went through that encouraged them to work to achieve literacy.
In “Literacy behind Bars” narrative from an autobiography by Malcolm X in 1965, Malcolm X shows that being able to read is important and sometimes jail is the best place to learn. The author supports this by showing that he saw the people around him reading and wanted to be able to speak and read as well as them (640). He started out by reading and writing an entire dictionary which helped him read and understand more words (641). Malcolm X read everything that he could get his hands on and was able to learn more and use it later on in his career. He was able to concentrate more about learning in jail then he would have been able to do at a college because he had nothing else to do. Malcolm X would read late into the morning despite that guard
While many people in America learn through the standard schooling system there are some that come into an education on their own, in their own way. Here I am going to compare the similarities and differences between the ways that Mike Rose, an award winning writer and professor in the School of Education at UCLA and Malcolm X, an African American activist who was a renowned speaker and ideologist, were motivated to start taking their education seriously, and how they went about getting that education.
In her essay, “When Bright Girls Decide That Math is a ‘Waste of Time,’” Jacoby talks about how often times nowadays girls decide that they no longer want to take math and science courses in favor “easier” subjects such as English or art. Jacoby argues that this is because of stereotypes of women that have been instilled in girls by society; they think math and science are too hard or they aren’t as smart as boys so it’s not worth it to take them. Jacoby claims that “The real problem is that so many girls eliminate themselves from any serious possibility of studying science as a result of decisions made during the vulnerable period of midadolescence, when they
Malcolm X was often encountered by Muslims from other countries who wished to “enlighten” him with what they felt was true Islam. He was initially very skeptical towards these claims but eventually his curiosity got the better of him. To get to know the religion better, Malcolm was directed by his friends to an Egyptian professor in New York, Dr. Mahmoud Youssef
The purpose is to further develop the character of Malcolm and the ethos, pathos, and logos expressed within the novel. The style and content all contributes to the power and beauty of the text. His narrative techniques include foreshadowing, for example in a previous chapter you see Malcolm 's relationship with his younger brother Reginald, really begin to grow and this central idea express his feelings, he seems to think very highly of Reginald and what he does. He states that he is mature for his young age, and comes across as a very intelligent put together person. Malcolm is what seems to be the reason why his brother is the way he expresses himself to be because he is a good Rolodex towards him and clearly plays a big role in his life. Malcolm 's character really develops as a leader. In chapter nine, he practically knows he will be assassinated, he really expects to make history and seems to strive to understand, Malcolm throughout the entire book seeks to know the meaning of why we as human beings are labeled and separated. Merely because we do not all look alike, and in this chapter, the author tells the story of “true knowledge” and this is where the dialogue really makes the chapter an incredible and shocking read. He speaks of the “black man,
Analysis of Malcolm X Shot and killed at the young age of thirty- nine. A man who was not quite finished with his literary learning. The author Malcolm X of Discovering the Power of Language. Is what Malcolm x uses to tell the world about his struggle for a larger intellect. As knowledge is gained so was the power of Malcolm's speeches. In Discovering the Power of Language Malcolm takes his audience through his own journey of how he once spoke in the past.
Malcolm X’s “Learning to Read,” is a powerful piece about his time in prison when he taught himself how to read. Through his reading, he discovered the awful things that happened in history and became a civil rights activist. Malcolm X changed his feeling and position throughout his piece, “Learning to Read.” His emotions are clear in his writing, but the change in his writing is clear to be caused by a change in his own thoughts because of the things he learned. The essay shows his lack of reading skills when he was young, but also how interested he became in it, and how much he uses it. He says that reading is important to readers' lives just as it was to his, helping one to form their own thoughts and views. Without the ability to read and understand the world, it becomes difficult to build your own ethical views.
He wanted to be able to properly write his thoughts and opinions out to be understood. He wanted to leave an impression on people to give them a thought of him exceeding his education far beyond the eighth grade. That impression was credited to his “prison studies” (Malcolm X 1). He had a voice that needed to be heard all over to bring a change to society. He self educated himself day and night with the dictionary, teachings ,and books. Malcolm X considered that “three or four hours of sleep a night” was enough (Malcolm X 3). Malcolm X became interested in the “glorious history of the black man” (Malcolm X 3). “Book after book” showed him the “white man had brought upon the world’s black, brown,red,and yellow peoples every variety of the suffering of exploitation” (Malcolm X 4). Like Douglass, Malcolm found the “Faustian machinations” of the “white man” against the “non-white victims” (Malcolm X). Douglass states, “I feared they might be treacherous.” Unlike Douglass being social and receiving help from others around , Malcolm was to himself and seeked information on his own through books. Malcolm X had more pride in his education and wasn 't afraid to share his knowledge, “Mr. Muhammed, to whom I was writing daily, had no idea of what a new world had opened up to me through my efforts to document his teachings in books” (Malcolm X 6). Malcolm X had some basic education knowledge
In the tale of Malcolm X it states, “It really began back in the Charlestown Prison, when Bimbi first made me feel envy of his stock of knowledge.” While he was in prison he began to realize that as his friend Bimbi began to talk he and take control of conversations that he wasn’t as educated as he believed himself to be. Also he’d begun to realize that being dumb and uneducated isn’t as cool as it seems when you begin to have a conversations with those who’re more educated than you are. In his tory he also states, “...nearly all of the words that might as well have been in Chinese...I saw that the best thing I could do was get hold of s dictionary-to study, to learn some words.” He felt the need to acquire the knowledge due to the fact that he wanted to understand his friend and have the knowledge to hold a conversation with Bimbi. Malcolm X wanted to expand his knowledge and his vocabulary.“Under Bembry's influence, Little developed a voracious appetite for reading.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_X) His original goal for obtaining education as for the purpose of understanding hi friend Bimbi and due to that need to acquire more knowledge it lead to him discovering more about the complexities and ‘greyness’ along with the deafness and blindness that was affecting the people of America more specifically the black community in
In Learning to Read, by Malcolm X, he talks about his studies while in prison. Having only up to an eighth grade education, Malcolm X struggles with reading and writing. The main reason he decided to learn how to read was because of the letters he received while in prison, primarily from Elijah Muhammad. (X 354). He wasn’t able to write responses to them like he wanted to without using slang. Along with not being able to write letters, Malcolm X couldn’t read books without skipping over most of the words, thus motivating him to study an entire dictionary. With the use of said dictionary, he also improved his penmanship by writing down every word, definition, and punctuation he saw. (X 355). Once he memorized the whole dictionary, he was then able to read books. There wasn’t a moment where Malcolm wasn’t reading even at night when the lights were out, he still managed to use the little bit of light shining into his cell to read.
Having the knowledge to read and write may take someone into a completely different universe, it allows to see reality or escape from reality. It gives a better understanding of what goes on in the world, that being good or bad depending on how he wants to see it. Malcolm X wrote a short story " A Homemade Education," about how, his experience in prison allowed him to gain knowledge and to grow as an individual. Learning to read and write showed him, how to be mentally alive in a way that changed his life forever. He took it as an ability to grow, to make a change for himself and possibly make a difference in the world. Malcolm X explained how it 's never too late to get an education, there is always time for one to change in life. It is
Throughout the The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Alex Haley, the author, makes his main determination to analyze how the structure style, and content contribute to the power and beauty of the text. His purpose to engage the reader by allowing details and imagery to communicate Malcolm X’s Development. The author sets a strong emphasis on the details of Malcolm X’s life throughout this book, so that readers understand how Malcolm X becomes the person he is. Other factors that are an incredible impact on the text in this book are central ideas such as separation vs. integration, systemic oppression and racial identity. They provide the author's purpose to rely on a stronger platform of detailed ideas. These Central ideas help the reader get a closer look on Malcolm’s Development and set compressions of the past versus today in the mindset of those central ideas. Most importantly,
...cs. In the years, the country has started to realize the injustice it has been doing females in the field of mathematics. I believe that in the future these biases and disadvantages will be a thing of the past. Females have the mental capability to perform on an equal level with all respected and distinguished male mathematicians, but first social pressures and stereotypes must be eliminated.