Baldwin’s writing assignment
Question Everything James Baldwin’s writing has the power to make the reader reflect and think and brainstorm about the connection he makes between education and ones moral standards. He believes that the purpose of education is to teach a person to make its own decisions and be its own person. To have its own sense of an identity and have a sense of its own world and its outside world. Its purpose is to teach you think and question everything you do, because there is a reason for everything you do and that you must find that reason. To make everything that you do personal. To ask yourself why. It’s their obligation to teach you to think. To prepare you for a setting that is not a classroom.
Baldwin states that “education occurs in social context.”Children in the U.S. all come from different cultural, religious, and economic backgrounds. The social context depends on the students environment such its time, and place. Students are being taught what the educational board sought out as the most important to them and not to its student’s backgrounds. Thus, what is taught during class can be found somewhat irrelevant to the students. Given that, Baldwin asserts that education has a social end.The educational board teaches its students through their point of view. They aim to teach its students a certain way and certain things that its students don’t question it. For instance, Baldwin states in his speech “…All societies are under the obligation to educate all of its citizens it is also under the obligation to discourage people from thinking too much.” James Baldwin aims to inspire us as students and citizens to think and question the educational board and question you as a student and as a citizen. From my own experience in school I have noticed this pattern in math classes. They teacher will show a way to solve a math problem and the student will not question the formula because it gives him the correct answer. Therefore students no longer look for more options or think if this problem can be solved another way because they are taught one way that works and don’t question it. They teach a certain way to think and solve the problem but how does this math problem help the student prepare for problems that they face that are not related to math. As students, they need to feel the need to question everything the teacher does and teaches. They are not perfect as Baldwin claims, we are all humans but the more we doubt and question, the more you will know.
“You must put yourself in the skin of a man who is wearing the uniform of his country, is a candidate for death in its defense, and who is called “nigger” by his comrades… you
