Fredrick Douglass Essay Research Paper Justin FriebergDr

Fredrick Douglass Essay, Research Paper

Justin Frieberg

Dr. Ursule Yates

Eng. 121, Sec. 41

4/28/2000

Fredrick Douglass and Education

Frederick Douglass was, and still is, a golden example of why education is so important to a human being’s life. Douglass spent the first part of his life in ignorance. However, his life of a seemingly endless servitude and ignorance was completely shattered by the fact that he learned to read. Once he learned to read, his life was forever changed.

Douglass escaped slavery and tyranny and for this became an icon even to this day. His story more than adequately demonstrates that a quality education is perhaps the most important thing a person can receive in their life. Without his education, he would not have realized the shame and inadequacy of his slavery. The unfortunate acceptance of his slavery held him in. At least he would have had the chance to choose his fate whereas in slavery, he was but a machine to be disposed of at the master’s will.1

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In the present, however, it is so overly obvious that our education system is quickly becoming inadequate (if it is not already). Obviously, we cannot let it slip deeper and deeper into the abyss, but what can we do to fix it. Should we throw more money at it. Should we create more watchdog groups, or set up more committees to hash out what we should do.

It is my contention that none of those things we continue to do are going to work. I do not believe there is anything we can do, on a governmental basis, to fix the problem or stave off the descent. Changing the system from within is not going to work. The key is to change it from without (Sarason 4).

Of course, it is easy to talk about social change as a means to education reform, but talk is always more desirable than action. It is a given that broad strokes of social reform take years and years. To be honest we do not have that time. We need to make these changes now.

The problems with education are, quite obviously, numerous, and it is a well-known fact that we cannot simply “fix” education. We must first point out specific problems. The first problem is the enormous difference in

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scholastic success between races and cultures. In many instances, schools have chosen to take on this

responsibility when they are in fact incapable of effectively relieving the problem.

The schools have chosen revisionist history and picking and choosing which subjects should be included in curriculums. However, since the schools are so heavily influenced by the communities and societies that surround them, they are eventually rendered unable to make any sort of difference at all (Ravitch 337).

Some interest groups are more interested in preserving their values as opposed to maintaining an exceptional education (Christian fundamentalists, for instance). They control some communities and can completely destroy any opportunity for a young mind to learn.

The politics of racial injustice are, hopefully, completely gone. But we’re still living through a state where the races feel as though the barriers are still there. Of course, from my perspective (the perceived subjugator), it is easy to claim that the politics are not there. From the perspective of those who believe they are being subjugated, it is even easier to see that the

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Politics are there. They cannot only see it, but they can, more importantly, feel it.

The second problem, and possibly the most important, is a question of interest. Are American schools really conducive to learning in a stimulating way. Pubescent students are almost incapable of true learning because a hormonal fog, for an enormous part of their lives, clouds their minds. They walk around the schools nearly humming and buzzing with new and exciting thoughts they are just beginning to understand. Once those hormones have calmed and the student feels they can control them a little, there is still no difference in the way they are taught.

Nearly every school is the same (Wood 9). The students go to class around eight in the morning and come home around three in the afternoon. If a student is old enough, that student will move on to the next grade. Generally a student’s ability is not taken into account when they are promoted. As a result, many students feel bored and as though the concept of school is a compulsory endeavor, which is constrictive and dull (Sarason 4). It is obvious why this does not work. No one can learn in an environment like that.

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Another problem concerns practicality. Many of the subjects and classes don’t reveal to the student how it will be useful to them in the present or the future. I can remember sitting in algebra class thinking to myself, “Where in the WORLD am I going to need to know how to subtract x from both sides.” Of course, I have found myself using what I learned in algebra to figure out more problems than I can remember ranging from percents to gas mileage.

The problem is that where I picked up some of the algebra I would need, I did not pick up all of it. That is true among many students in high school, if not even to a lesser degree. Relevancy and validity are left out of the classrooms mainly because of approach. Algebra problems could contain

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