Rhetorical Analysis Essay On A Talk To Teachers

Baldwin Essay

Imagine a society where education isn’t entirely dependent upon the merits of one’s personal knowledge. Where the learning environment is utilized for personal development and growth rather than competition and separation. A sanctuary composed of unity and equity among peers. A place where college isn’t the only goal, but rather personal identity and initiative are established along the way. Such a society, fully embodies Baldwin’s ideology regarding education, and the prejudices therein. In his speech, “A Talk to Teachers” Baldwin delivers a compelling argument, in which he criticizes the problems and prejudices within the educational system in his day. However, through his sagacious philosophies and eye-opening opinions, Baldwin manifests the cruel, unspoken truth within his speech, that the hindrances and prejudices experienced in his day are still existent in 2016.

In an incredibly accurate and brutally honest point of view, James Baldwin asserts what he believes to be both purpose and problems of the academic system in, “A Talk to Teachers”. Baldwin begins his argument by boldly attributing the purpose of education to, “perpetuate the aims of society” (Baldwin 2). With this simple

phrase, Baldwin establishes his ideal educational environment as one that builds identity, and adventures outside of the stereotypical “go with the flow” academic atmosphere. One that allows an individual to create a name and a personality for himself, without necessarily worrying about the intense demands of schooling. With Baldwin’s personally acclaimed ideology, lies the benefits of a society that encourages opinion and promotes self-confidence. Baldwin even directly states that, “the purpose of education, finally, is to create in a person the ability to look at the world for himself, to make his own decisions, to say to himself this is black or this is white, to decide for himself whether there is a God in heaven on not. To ask questions of the universe and then learn to live with those questions” (Baldwin 2). What Baldwin dreams of, is an educational utopia where agency and a free moral conscience are invigorated, and a paradise where people question the existence of things, and life itself. Baldwin believes that it is through these actions that one can achieve his own identity.
As his argument continues however, Baldwin shifts from fantasy to reality and straightforwardly details his complaints involving what America has deemed, “proper schooling”, and his main complaint revolving around segregation. Right in the heart of the Civil Rights Movement, Baldwin delivered this speech in a time of great separation and inequality for African Americans. What Baldwin fights against in his speech, is directly related to the stereotypes, non-inclusive curriculum, and the biased society full of opposition that Blacks were faced with. Baldwin specifically states in the seventh paragraph, regarding white opinions on blacks, that, “They really hate you – really hate you because in their eyes (and they’re right) you stand between them and life” (Baldwin 7). It is very idea, one filled with immense disrespect and regards for the other race that Baldwin aspires to be the greatest flaw within both the teaching community, but also society. Baldwin brings to the surface, the harsh truth that America is a divided society that shuns those of a different color all because of the way history has played out. The existing bias between culture, class, and ethnicity proves to inhibit an equal education for all American citizens. The drastic stereotypes and lack of opportunity placed upon the segregated, stand as the primary problems and prejudices of Baldwin’s day. Baldwin even goes as far to say that, “He becomes a kind of criminal, because that’s the only way he can live” (Baldwin 8). Regarding colored youth, James Baldwin shamelessly points out that the lifestyle made for African Americans in the American country, paves the way for their decline in success, and their inevitability into criminal activity. Basically what Baldwin is saying is that, the educational system is plagued with the daunting truth of inhumane racism, somber segregation, and an absence of opportunity and inclusive curriculum for those born of a darker race.
In concluding his speech, Baldwin presents possible solutions for the problems America has created for themselves. He speaks to those who have become segregated and says, “I would try to make him know that just as American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it, so is the world larger, more daring, more beautiful, and more terrible, but principally larger – and that it belongs to him” (Baldwin 20). What Baldwin suggests is, that just as in his utopian educational society, those who face these problems and prejudices must question everything, establish their own identity, and stand up for what they believe in. Only through those who have been persecuted, does Baldwin believe America can be dug out of the hole it has dug for itself. Similar to this time however, modern day society has faced the same exact problems that Baldwin has argued against.
In today’s civilization, not much different from Baldwin’s time period, our educational system is still tainted by the exact same problems and prejudices of the 1960’s. For example, even though we do not have directly separate schools for different genders, students have created their own ways of discrimination within the schools themselves. Whether it be verbal abuse, or purposeful lack of inclusion society hasn’t really progressed since the Civil Rights’ days. In our day we live in a world consumed by racism and segregation that wholly inhibits an equal academic experience for everyone. As argued by Baldwin, the communities we live in still consistently view blacks and African Americans as lesser beings, or “standing between them and life” (Baldwin 7). The oppression of those who are “different” is widely prevalent in modern day schooling, just as in Baldwin’s time.
However, just as Baldwin presented solutions to his days’ problems, we can solve the problems and prejudices that face today’s nation.

I personally believe that if we taught African American history, and integrated a more inclusive curriculum, that children would learn the equal importance of colored people at an early age, and therefore be less likely to discriminate against them when they grow older. Another potential solution could be, creating interracial relationships, or developing a learning environment that forces students to mingle and cooperate with previously discriminated students so as to prevent the development of a false idea of who colored people really are. I believe that through these extra lengths America can become a more unified

community.
The preposterous similarities between Baldwin’s argument regarding education in his day, and the educational system we have evolved into today, present the ever so familiar idea that history has a way of repeating itself. From radical racism and stupendous segregation, to dramatic discrimination and non-inclusive curriculum, Baldwin provides great support that today’s academic atmosphere is no wise black man’s utopia.