English 111
December 3, 2009
Comparing Educations
There are people out there who believe that public education cripples our children. Author John Taylor Gatto argues in his article "Against School," that "we have been taught (that is, schooled) in this country to think of "success" as synonymous with, or at least dependent upon, "schooling," but historically that isn't true in either an intellectual or a financial sense" (154). Now after reading about the educations of Richard Rodriguez and Malcolm X there were some things I found quite interesting because of the environments they were in while receiving an education. Although the educations of Richard Rodriguez and Malcolm X are similar in that it gave both men the desire to become more knowledgeable, Richard Rodriguez's search led him away from his culture while Malcolm X's brought him closer to his, and Rodriguez's education was dictated whereas Malcolm X's was self-taught.
The educations of Richard Rodriguez and Malcolm X are similar in that it gave both men the desire to become more knowledgeable. For example, when Rodriguez was in the fourth grade, he embarked on a strict reading program. Rodriguez would go to the library and check-out the maximum of 10 books at a time, librarians started saving the books they thought he might be interested in (201). These books were his way of become
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more knowledgeable. Another example of Rodriguez's thirst for knowledge was while he was in the 6th grade, he believed his books would help him to become more "learned" like his teachers. Therefore, the more books he read he believed that they were crucial for his academic success (201).
Similarly, education gave Malcolm X the same desire to become more knowledgeable. As Malcolm X once said about his desire for more knowledge , "I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity-because you can hardly mention anything I'm not curious about, " especially on the subject of...