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The Value of Education

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. – Nelson Mandela

We need to stop telling young people they don’t need to get a high school education or graduate HS. I’ve heard lots of colorful stories about dropouts that went on to become millionaires. We all realize that’s not the favored odds. High school should prepare young people to begin life and become productive citizens, as Barack Obama pointed out during his presidency.

I agree with MLK. Intelligence plus character is the true goal of education. Our current state of intelligence suggest reading above the 8th grade level will provide benefits to an individual. To MLK’s point, with education comes intelligence and, hopefully, greater understanding of social conditions and perhaps suggestion of how to resolve social  problems.

A. Phillip Randolph, once called “the most dangerous man in America,” led 250,000 people in the 1963 March on Washington.

The Goal of Education: Part 1 of 3

The Value Of Education: Part 2 of 3

czvasser Afroticity, Morning Coffee

The Goal of Education

 “Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

America is great because we have free education for everyone. Free education allows anyone to be as enlightened as anyone else. It allows anyone to be an astronaut or inventor. Anyone can be someone we respect and value regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.

Why do we fail to use education to become better people. People don’t accept blame well. Our favorite scapegoat is the “System” and, secondarily, principals, teachers, parents and  students. Students? Really?

Don’t blame. It’s a “bleep”. Fix the bleep. Bleep fixing requires intelligence and character- knowledge and conviction.

Edward Alexander Bouchet was the first African-American to earn a doctorate degree, which he received for physics in 1876 from Yale.

NYC’s graduation rate was above 70% for the first time in 2016. The white student graduation rate was 88% while the black and hispanic rate was 65%. Only about 50% of students with disabilities graduated.

The Goal Of Education: 1 of 3

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Looking The Other Way

hoodie-tmartin“You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.” Wiiliam Wilberforce

roland hayes

Roland Hayes, the brilliant tenor became the first African-American man to earn international fame as a concert vocalist. In 1942, Mr. Hayes’s wife, Helen and daughter, Afrika, sat in a whites-only area of a shoe store and were thrown out. When Mr. Hayes defended his family, he was beaten and he and his wife were arrested. The incident inspired Langston Hughes to compose the poem, Roland Hayes Beaten.

ethel waters 3

The Beulah Show, the first sitcom to star an African American actress, moved from radio to ABC TV on October 3, 1950, starring Ethel Waters for the first season. Hattie McDaniel, star of radio’s Beulah, joined the cast around September of 1951 but only filmed six episodes of the second season before falling ill. She was quickly replaced by Louise Beavers who stayed with the show until its cancellation in 1952.

heisman trophy 600“I’m not black, I’m O.J.,” a reference to an alleged quote from O.J. Simpson’s murder trial. Simpson was saying, as the story goes, that through fame and fortune he had managed to distance himself from the issues plaguing black men in America: poverty, police brutality, incarceration. I guess he was wrong. Continue reading “Looking The Other Way” →