Experiences cultivate intelligence more than formal education. The Autobiography of Malcolm X, as told to Alex Haley, illustrates that one does not need formal education to become what society deems smart. In society's views, a person who goes to school, graduates, gets degrees and has a professional job is considered intelligent. But Malcolm X refutes this idea by demonstrating that intelligence is attainable through experiential education, individual lessons taught through real life experiences. Education is learning and everyone learns whether consciously or subconsciously. Malcolm X opens his eyes to various world problems, such as religious and racial persecution, and resolves to convert African Americans to Islam. He does not have the opportunities to get a formal academic education. He is deprived of such education because of the lack of opportunities for African Americans. Malcolm X develops an open mind about education, which allows him to discover the truths in …show more content…
life that would have not been taught in school. In Malcolm X’s time in prison, he learns the untold truth about the self-identity of African Americans from his brother. Reginald tells Malcolm, “You don’t even know who you are...you wouldn't recognize your true language if you heard it; You have been a victim of the evil of the devil white man ever since he murdered and raped and stole you from your native land in the seeds of your forefathers...”(186). The actions of the whites are very shameful to the extent that blacks have been brainwashed of their true identities. The truth Malcolm learns is the “devilish” actions of the white race toward blacks. He seems to have an open mind because although it is harsh to hear the truth, of how the rights and equality of African Americans has been taken away, he still accepts it. Malcolm gets a personal, but informative education in this situation because he is learning about the history of African Americans. It might have been very uncommon for a school to teach students about the life of African Americans and how they came to be slaves because of whites’ unfair treatment towards the black race, so Malcolm learns something very valuable. For him to learn about the truth is crucial to his understanding at the time and how to perceive whites later on in his life. Although Malcolm X ends up going to prison because of selling drugs and robbing houses, he reforms by educating himself during his time in prison.
When people go to prison, the majority of them do not learn as Malcolm does when he studies in the prison library. Malcolm realizes that “The best thing I could do was to get hold of a dictionary- to study, to learn some words. I was lucky enough to reason also that I should try to improve my penmanship" (198). This shows how he has an open mind, because despite quitting school, he never loses the interest in learning. Reading dictionaries usually happen in school, but Malcolm X learns to understand words from different ranges of difficulty in prison. He learns to read and write on his own, and even pays more attention to education in prison than he did when he briefly went to school. Prison is what helped Malcolm X prepare for his upcoming life situations. His education in prison is the foundation of how his becoming of a well rounded speaker
later. Experiential education opens Malcolm’s eyes and makes him realize that there is more to the truth than what he accepts the truth he believes to be. Malcolm states, “My pilgrimage broadened my scope. It blessed me with a new insight. In two weeks in the Holy Land, I saw what I never had seen in thirty nine years here in America. I saw all races, all colors,- blued eyed, blonds to black-skinned Africans-in true brotherhood! In unity! Worshipping as one! No segregation-no liberals..”(416). In Mecca, Malcolm gets to see many diverse cultures and backgrounds. He also finds out that the white race are not all “devils” Elijah Muhammed emphasizes them to be. Everyone makes mistakes, and Malcolm realizes his previous thoughts are wrong. He gets to experience all kinds of event, he would have not imagined. Having an open mind, he acknowledges the truth that the entire white race should not be hated on by African Americans, only the white racists should be deemed as ‘devils’ and he accepts the truth. These experiences helps Malcolm change his views on the white race as a whole. Malcolm X did not need an academic education to be successful. His experiences helped shape his thoughts and views and who he is as a person. Malcolm benefits from experiential education because he receives knowledge about reality, which is much more valuable than what school would teach academically.
How his time spent in prison made him strive for more knowledge. Also, how he taught himself how to be more articulate. Malcolm X had an agenda of why he wanted to convey himself in more literary manner. Malcolm x talks about his use of language, he uses words
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.
The experience of prison was eye-opening for Malcolm and helped him make some pretty big decisions. Malcolm soon began reading to educate himself while later converting to Islam. When Malcolm was released from prison, he changed his last name to X because he believed that his true heritage was lost when his ancestors were forced into slavery.
Richard Rodriguez in “The Achievement of Desire” by Richard Rodriguez, displayed his early thoughts on education, how he learned from them as he grew older and how he ultimately alienated his parents do-to the way he went about getting his education. Malcolm X’s path toward education is explained in “Learning to Read” by Malcolm X. His influences, his beliefs and the actual process of what it actually took for X to become educated is explained in great detail. Malcolm X’s reasoning for wanting to be educated was to be able to reach out to Elijah Muhammad, -leader of The Nation of Islam and present himself as an educated person so Muhammad would be able to take notice. Moreover, Richard Rodríguez wanted to become more educated was due to his parent’s lack of education. In addition, education was Rodriguez’s way of distancing himself from his parents and isolating himself into the world of books.
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...
The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told by Alex Haley is about a man who changed the history of America. Malcolm (Little) X preached what he believed about racism, discrimination, and segregation. He went through many changes in his fight for equality. The three transformations that really changed the way Malcolm thought and preached where his transformation in prison, his transformation into the Islamic religion (following Elijah Muhammad), and the biggest transformation of all, his pilgrimage to Mecca. In all of Malcolm actions, teachings and transformations we learn different points of view and we get a good look at different aspects of events. The life of Malcolm (Little) X as told in his autobiography should be read by all.
However, it was what happened in his life that made Malcolm X the man who people remember today. From a very early age, Little lived in fear of racism and hate groups, much of it rooting from his father’s murder by white supremacists. He was effectively orphaned by 13, as his mother was placed in a mental institution, and lived until he was 20 in several different foster homes. He was arrested for a crime and once released, went on to commit several crimes, including using and distributing drugs, etc. It was when he was imprisoned that he found the Nation of Islam, who helped him when he was released from prison to find a new life. From them, he was able to attain great oratory skills and create an environment when he spoke in which the people around him, white and black alike, felt empowered and equal. Once he discovered corruption and began to disdain the Nation of Islam, he became independent and was later assassinated. However, he along with MLK, were empowered by their stories, Malcolm’s being one of hatred, poverty, hope, and truth, that changed him to become a stimulus for African American equality in
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
His quest for an education had begun, but it would be a long one. He decries how it all really began while he was being held at the Charlestown Prison. Bimbi, a fellow prisoner, was very intelligent and Malcolm envied his gift. Bimbi encouraged him to read and Malcolm would try but would end up quitting because he would skip the words he didn't know and keep reading. The problem with this was that he could never fully understand what he was reading and would put the book down. So he decided that he needed to learn how to read and write properly.
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
Education is extremely important and can be achieved in the most unexpected places. In "Homemade Education", Malcolm tells about his time in prison, where he taught himself how to read and write. Behind the bars, through the use of a dictionary and books he became literate. In this article he explains how one can change his or her lifestyle by the taking the advantage of the opportunities that are available. This relates to me because couple of years ago, I didn't know how to speak English, but I took an advantage of the opportunities I had to learn a whole different language.
Going into prison Malcolm X had no ability to read and write. He grew up on the streets as a hustler before getting arrested for larceny and breaking and entering. While in prison, X taught himself to read and write by copying the dictionary front to back. X then went on to be a political rights leader who fought a corrupt government with black power. X sees the theft in the government system and how it is unfair to most minority communities. Seeing this theft in the system gives him the idea to do the same against the government. He uses the knowledge that belongs to the government and uses them to fuel his own causes. To start his battle on government corruption he writes his Autobiography and the essay “Learning to Read” is a section of it. This essay describes how he turns the white man’s oppression into life’s biggest opportunity to him. In this paper, I
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
Malcolm’s point of view remains mostly consistent throughout his piece, but it slightly shifts at the beginning, middle, and end. First, he talks about when he was a child and he could not read. He also tells about his time in prison when he taught himself how to read. The way he talks about his journey shows his point of view. Readers are able to put Malcom X on their level and relate to him because he tells about his real journey of learning to read. This makes the reader think about him differently. Rather than being Malcolm X, he’s just your average inmate trying to find his place in the world. In the middle, his point of view is still that of an inmate, but now with more insight to help him shape his mo...