The major differences between the narratives I read would be the education each was granted before they took the initiative to teach themselves. Malcolm X had the least help of the three, having almost no formal education before ending up in prison. He said “But now, trying to write simple English, I not only wasn’t articulate, I wasn’t even functional.” alluding to his total lack of schooling up until this point. It was the writing of letters, specifically the ones he wrote to Elijah Muhammad, in prison that got him started on his path to self-educate. He was able to transform himself from someone who could barely write into someone who properly used and understood the word articulate while writing his autobiography.
Benjamin Franklin was granted a more formal education then Malcolm X however his was cut short do to the financial burden school was causing on his family. In his Autobiography he states “At ten years old I was taken home to assist my father in his business” showing just how short his education was cut. Now, at ten, we would still just be starting our long journeys through the world of education. Ben Franklin was clearly afforded more formal education then Malcolm X, but he was still forced to teach himself through debating with a friend via letters and other such means. He worked at his education until he became the man known today as one of America’s founding fathers.
Mike Rose was the only one of them granted a full, all be it incredibly poor, education. Which brings up the question, what is better a really bad full education or a small part of a really good education? In Rose’s case it seems the full education was of little benefit as he still had to teach himself a lot. Being on the vocational track in school slammed him with a lot of ridicule from non voc. Students causing him to, in a way, shut down and accept the lies about himself as truths. It was only later after being free from this that he was able to better his education.
No comments:
Post a Comment