Yuchen Zhou
Paper 3 Rough Draft
EAD II-356:156:14
George Schroepfer
02/10/2020
Education is important
Education is an excellent life-sharpening tool but with some negative impacts. Education plays a significant role in bringing light to society. Training equips people with knowledge and relevant skills to utilize the available resources towards enhancing their lives. It enables learners to realize their capabilities in making the community a better place. Education is a vital tool for bridging various gaps in inexperience. On the other hand, school imposes factors that hinder progression in life. The same mechanism for lightening the society has been used to darken it. Education has led to the rise of social vices and issues of immorality in society. Due to these side effects, many people have lost trust in the value of education in society. In his article “Papers Tigers,” Wesley Yang complains of the impacts of culture on cultural identity. Similarly, Also “From Between the World” by MeTaneshi Coates explores his education experience, arguing that the classroom did not shape him into a fully realized character. Both the articles ‘Papers Tigers’ and the ‘From Between the World and Me’ explain how education escalates the limitations of one’s position in society. Education may hinder one from understanding their potential on an identity. As is seen in many cases, reason and emotion are in contradiction when it comes to decision making.
People judge the significance of education based on their experience in school. For those who had successful experiences in school life to praise and echo the importance of education. However, those who had awful experiences in school do not see the value of education. Coates is an excellent example of those who curse the education system based on their unpleasant experience at school. In his essay on ‘Between the World and Me,’ Coates claims, “Schools where I learn they should be burned, it is poison” (Coates 2). He argues that school ruined instead of sharpening his life. He lost focus when he developed a negative attitude with the significance of the school system. While involvement in bad company influenced Coates’ experience in school, racial diversity influenced Yang’s life. Yang mentioned that exposure to different racial characteristics changed his life. “But while I don’t believe our roots necessarily define us, I do believe there are racially inflected assumptions wired into our neural circuitry that we use to sort through the sea of faces we confront” (Yang 1). Indeed, a person’s involvement in school and the cultural diversity exposed complicates the conventional understanding of education.
Race and class play a significant role in the understanding of education. Yang was exposed to cultural diversity and learned from a variety of racial values. While praising some racial benefits, Yang cursed, some like the Asian values. He defines American as “a conspicuous person standing apart from the crowd and yet devoid of any individuality” (Yang 1). On the other side, Coates was not racially exposed but learned from the experience in class. He claims that the lessons learned in class are not well-practiced in society. “Fully 60 percent of all young black men who drop out of high school will go to jail. This should disgrace the country” (Coates, 2). While life experiences equip people with the real values expected in the society, class teachings only equip with theoretical knowledge whose practicality could be ineffective. Indeed, lessons from life experiences are more effective than class lessons. But they need an excellent education, not a very rigorous school. Still, a training that works for them, and real education needs to make sure that students can learn how to make decisions, and how to do rational thinking and how to make personal, empathetic decisions. Besides, the purpose of education is not just simple education, but also to help students identify with their own identity. It is not because of their skin color that others will have different identification with them. Therefore, the role of education is still a part of their identity formation.
The school creates a sense of empathy for the distinguished learners. While some learners come out of class unchanged, those who are different benefit from education. Not all students regret the system of schooling gone through. Coates does not find anything positive from his experience in school. “The schools could not tell me” (Coates 3). The statement confirms Ma’s argument in his article on arts, empathy, and education. Ma claims that the systems of education are ineffective by failing to consider Arts and Empathy. Maybe, Coates could have performed well in arts and appreciated the significance of education. It is by the empathy that Yang recognizes the role of schools in promoting equality in society. “Colleges have a way of correcting for this imbalance” (page 4). Depending on their attitudes and mentalities, people benefit differently from education. And they will be indifferent educational environments, bringing different educational conditions. Because school often limits people’s identity, that’s why stereotypes still exist today. So we need to keep empathy for them. But these are not fair, not because of the same score, but not the same color, cannot get into school, get different education, but not because of the environment causes a negative attitude, to be full of confidence in themselves, keep a positive attitude.
Indeed, racial diversity and experiences in classrooms may hinder one from realizing their potential on an identity. Adverse experiences in school leave students in complaints that hinder them from understanding their potential. Racial diversity equips people with various racial values, making them forget their identity. It allows people to copy new values from other people of other races. However, people may acquire so new values that they end up forgetting their own identity. As Yang explains, racial diversity helps people to appreciate their identity. Race and class play a significant role in the understanding of education. People judge the significance of knowledge based on their experience in school. Coates complains that his school experience had a negative influence on his life. His adverse experience in school makes him doubt the significance of education. The school creates a sense of empathy for the distinguished learners. The experience in school and the cultural diversity exposed complicates the conventional understanding of culture.