Frederick Douglass A Homemade Education Analysis

The Path to a Higher Education “Without education, you are not going anywhere in this world” (Malcolm X). In both Frederick Douglass’ article “Learning to Read” and in Malcolm X’s article “A Homemade Education” they discuss the challenges and obstacles that they had to overcome. Frederick Douglass was a man that was born in the horrors of slavery and later became a famous abolitionist speaker in the north. Malcolm X may not have been a man born into slavery, but he was still treated poorly because of his race. X later became a well-known leader during the Civil Rights Movement. These well-educated men went through some tough challenges, but they only became well educated through self-discipline, through the love of learning, and the hope …show more content…
This is the obstacle Douglass had to overcome when learning how to read and write. Douglass was born a slave during the pre-civil war era, which obviously made it almost impossible for him to learn how to read and write. For a while he was lucky enough that his mistress, from the kindness of her heart, taught him how to read. Unfortunately, his master found out what his mistress had been doing and practically forbade her from further teachings of any kind stating that, “…To treat me as a human being was not only wrong, but dangerously so” (Douglass 1). One would think that this discouraged Douglass from further pursuing his education when in fact it only fueled Douglass’ thirst for education and knowledge. When Douglass was sent out to run his errands at the shipyard he was able to meet people and later befriend these people who helped further educate Douglass. As a result, he was able to read and eventually taught himself how to write. It was because of that thirst for knowledge he realized the importance and value of education had on his life and that it would change it for the …show more content…
Towards the end of my freshman year of high school my parents had separated for the last time. In addition, my dad had to move to Utah to get his life back together. This had broken my heart. It was hard for me focus in school knowing what was going on in my personal life. That summer was the hardest one I have ever had since I would not see my dad everyday like I was used to. It was also difficult to see my mom struggle with finances, and then have to end up moving in with my grandma and grandpa. Even though it was a hard time for my family and me, I still wanted to learn. Especially because at the time my mom didn’t have a degree, so seeing her struggle to find us a place to live and pay for simple things like groceries I knew I did not want that for myself. Knowing I didn’t want to experience those same struggles my parents had, I continue to go to school to further my education and get the career of my dreams.
Ultimately, X, Douglass, and I were presented obstacles and challenges that may have gotten in the way of our pursuit to a higher education. Whether it is personal struggles, obstacles such as finances that has gotten in the way of the education we know we deserved, or learning that life isn’t just happiness, rainbows, and sunshine. Despite all these obstacles and challenges we were still able to overcome them through the love of learning, self-discipline, and the hope for a better