What does it mean to be
Mis-educated? To me it means to be educated improperly and limiting ones
thinking by failing to educate them. “The Mis-Education of The Negro” addresses
concepts and themes that I feel relate to contemporary education. The way that
things are explained in the book anyone should recognize the differences and
similarities in how things were then compared to today pedagogically. Many
problems faced then are still faced today by the Negro. An example would be how
whites wanted blacks separated from them in education settings at all cost.
They didn’t want the blacks to know the same things the whites were being
taught. I feel that some whites still think that way, not wanting their
children educated with blacks. It is also possible they didn’t want the races
mixed because they were concerned about tainted blood.
We should consider “The greatest indictment of such education as Negroes have received, however, is that they have thereby learned little as to making a living, the first essential in civilization.” “What Negroes are now being taught does not bring their minds into harmony with life as they must face it.” This means that Negroes are not prepared to assume the responsibility of his own uplift and can’t successfully function in the real world. In my opinion the education I am getting teaches me all about life and how to face it. I feel like I’m being prepared for the real world and how to lead myself. I am prepared for leadership. If you don’t know how to take care of yourself then you are considered subhuman. To be human implies the ability to critically think for one’s self and make decisions about one’s own life.
No matter what your level of education sometimes it’s still difficult to find an opportunity to do what you’re trained to do. In my opinion it’s not what you know but who you know; the more connections you have the more the more opportunities will come your way. It is also easier for the white person to get better opportunities than a Negro who is just as educated. An example of this would be if there was a job hiring and both a white and black man apply for it, who do you think would get it? Maybe most would agree that the white man would get it but then again many could agree the black man. I personally think that it depends on the person hiring and what their looking for in a worker, the way they present themselves and overall professionalism.
An individual can be happier without an education than the one who has one, meaning just because you go to college and get a job making good money does not make you happy, a person who has a career doing something they love but making little is more successful. Who wants to do something they dislike everyday just for money? I’d rather have more happiness than more money because money is not everything. I’m not trying to say that everyone who has a lot of money is unhappy with their career because that is not true at all. I am just saying that you should not dedicate yourself to something you do not enjoy. Anyone could pursue a career they genuinely like that also pays well. Getting a higher education such as college is not for everyone and you don’t need it to be successful or make a living. Being a musician or entrepreneur does not exactly require a college education in some cases.
“Thousands and thousands of Negro children in this country are not permitted to use school books in which are printed the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States.” This was in the past, it is now in the books, but how much time do we spend talking about it? I’d say not much. They didn’t want us to know their rights because if we did then we would have fought back and things would not have been the same. The master class developed a hatred of blacks because they were required to take care of us, when they were the reason why we couldn’t take care of ourselves. It was not our fault they kept our rights from us. Whites also thought that we wouldn’t understand the Declaration of Independence or the constitution. “It would never do to have Negroes study the constitution of the united states.” “If the negroes were granted the opportunity to pursue this document, they might have learned to contend for their rights therein guaranteed; and no negro teacher who gives attention to such matters of the government is tolerated in those background districts.” We could not stand up for our rights if we never knew them in the first place, which means we lived by what we knew and were told; they called this “keeping the Negro in his place”. If you don’t know then you don’t care, but some would say “ the condition of blacks is not so much the fault of those who exploit them as it is the fault of blacks who allow themselves to continue to be handled in such ways”, I clearly feel that that statement is untrue because it was their fault.--- Most blacks did not know what their voting rights were because of lack of education. Today political education is not neglected; everyone is entitled to their rights and is free no matter what their skin color is. Voting rights are no longer kept from citizens. Everyone over the age of 18 is allowed to vote, so everyone has some kind of say so in their community and nobody can take that away.
No matter how much education changes or evolves some concepts will never change. Such as; it is necessary for the teacher to understand the realities of the students. Real education is about inspiring people to live more abundantly. There is no teaching without learning and there is no learning without teaching, you cannot have one without the other. A good educator is a lifelong learner and seeing students succeed should be an intrinsic reward. Just because you have a teaching degree does not make you an educator. All teachers are not good teachers, you need certain skills and qualities like being able to assist, explain, and patience. Some teachers ignore questions and just assume you understand what their saying. Some students learn slower than others and if a student doesn’t understand something you should take a different approach. Many teachers are just simply teachers, and not educators.
After reading this how would you answer the question of “What does it mean to be Mis-educated?”
We should consider “The greatest indictment of such education as Negroes have received, however, is that they have thereby learned little as to making a living, the first essential in civilization.” “What Negroes are now being taught does not bring their minds into harmony with life as they must face it.” This means that Negroes are not prepared to assume the responsibility of his own uplift and can’t successfully function in the real world. In my opinion the education I am getting teaches me all about life and how to face it. I feel like I’m being prepared for the real world and how to lead myself. I am prepared for leadership. If you don’t know how to take care of yourself then you are considered subhuman. To be human implies the ability to critically think for one’s self and make decisions about one’s own life.
No matter what your level of education sometimes it’s still difficult to find an opportunity to do what you’re trained to do. In my opinion it’s not what you know but who you know; the more connections you have the more the more opportunities will come your way. It is also easier for the white person to get better opportunities than a Negro who is just as educated. An example of this would be if there was a job hiring and both a white and black man apply for it, who do you think would get it? Maybe most would agree that the white man would get it but then again many could agree the black man. I personally think that it depends on the person hiring and what their looking for in a worker, the way they present themselves and overall professionalism.
An individual can be happier without an education than the one who has one, meaning just because you go to college and get a job making good money does not make you happy, a person who has a career doing something they love but making little is more successful. Who wants to do something they dislike everyday just for money? I’d rather have more happiness than more money because money is not everything. I’m not trying to say that everyone who has a lot of money is unhappy with their career because that is not true at all. I am just saying that you should not dedicate yourself to something you do not enjoy. Anyone could pursue a career they genuinely like that also pays well. Getting a higher education such as college is not for everyone and you don’t need it to be successful or make a living. Being a musician or entrepreneur does not exactly require a college education in some cases.
“Thousands and thousands of Negro children in this country are not permitted to use school books in which are printed the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States.” This was in the past, it is now in the books, but how much time do we spend talking about it? I’d say not much. They didn’t want us to know their rights because if we did then we would have fought back and things would not have been the same. The master class developed a hatred of blacks because they were required to take care of us, when they were the reason why we couldn’t take care of ourselves. It was not our fault they kept our rights from us. Whites also thought that we wouldn’t understand the Declaration of Independence or the constitution. “It would never do to have Negroes study the constitution of the united states.” “If the negroes were granted the opportunity to pursue this document, they might have learned to contend for their rights therein guaranteed; and no negro teacher who gives attention to such matters of the government is tolerated in those background districts.” We could not stand up for our rights if we never knew them in the first place, which means we lived by what we knew and were told; they called this “keeping the Negro in his place”. If you don’t know then you don’t care, but some would say “ the condition of blacks is not so much the fault of those who exploit them as it is the fault of blacks who allow themselves to continue to be handled in such ways”, I clearly feel that that statement is untrue because it was their fault.--- Most blacks did not know what their voting rights were because of lack of education. Today political education is not neglected; everyone is entitled to their rights and is free no matter what their skin color is. Voting rights are no longer kept from citizens. Everyone over the age of 18 is allowed to vote, so everyone has some kind of say so in their community and nobody can take that away.
No matter how much education changes or evolves some concepts will never change. Such as; it is necessary for the teacher to understand the realities of the students. Real education is about inspiring people to live more abundantly. There is no teaching without learning and there is no learning without teaching, you cannot have one without the other. A good educator is a lifelong learner and seeing students succeed should be an intrinsic reward. Just because you have a teaching degree does not make you an educator. All teachers are not good teachers, you need certain skills and qualities like being able to assist, explain, and patience. Some teachers ignore questions and just assume you understand what their saying. Some students learn slower than others and if a student doesn’t understand something you should take a different approach. Many teachers are just simply teachers, and not educators.
After reading this how would you answer the question of “What does it mean to be Mis-educated?”