Education v. A Talk to Teachers

Education has always been a constant in society. In the 1800s, Ralph Waldo Emerson emerged as an influential figure through his writing. He founded the Transcendental Club and served on different school boards, one being for Harvard College. James Baldwin rose during the civil rights movement in the United States. He spoke about race and sexuality, and lived in many European countries. Although he was not a teacher, his voice was heard through his many books and speeches. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Education” and James Baldwin’s “A Talk to Teachers” both express the importance of reforming education, however Emerson uses an informative tone and transcendentalist ideas while Baldwin uses pathos and segregation to change society. 

Emerson carries a term throughout his whole essay which was “naturel”. What he means by this term is the curiosity and ideas that a child is born with and continue to grow overtime. When talking about a person's nature, Emerson says, “Let him follow it in good and in evil report, in good or bad company; it will justify itself; it will lead him at last into the illustrious society of the lovers of truth.” (Emerson, 190). Emerson wants the teachers and parents to guide the child and help them navigate through life but allow them to do it in their own way. Emerson uses a story about a man he became friends with that showed interest in sculptures found near the Aegean Sea. The man fed his desire by traveling to and from the site and educating himself on the art. Emerson said, “he had formed a college for himself; the enthusiast had found the master whom he sought. Always genius seeks genius…” (Emerson, 190). He uses his beliefs in transcendentalism, which is the idea that society corrupts individual thinking, to show how school has been corrupted since there are so many students and so little time to teach and expand on every single child’s ideas. His tone of the text is informative and slow, which calms the reader and allows them to absorb the information presented. 

James Baldwin has an assertive and powerful tone throughout his entire speech. His use of his own personal experiences and pathos surrounding black people’s lives in America grab the reader's attention from the start. Baldwin repeatedly says that the divide between black and white people can be traced to no one being properly educated on the history and current times in the United States. “If Negroes learned more about themselves and their real contributions to this culture, you would be liberating not only Negroes, you’d be liberating white people who know nothing about their own history… you are compelled to lie about one aspect of history, you must lie about it all.” (Baldwin, 201). STS Infrastructures supports this idea to erase the false ideas against black people in the past and allow black people to rise up to their potential. Baldwin uses pathos when he says, “a black child… is aware that there is a reason why his mother works so hard, why his father is always on edge. He is aware that there is some reason why, if he sits down in the front of the bus, his father or mother slaps him and drags him to the back of the bus. He is aware that there is some terrible weight on his parents’ shoulders…” (Baldwin, 198) Black children and their families are not treated the same as white people, which is noticed and impacts how black people look at their lives in a very negative way.

Baldwin and Emerson agree that education shows a person who they truly are by expanding on their strengths and individuality. Both men want people to challenge themselves and society. Baldwin shows this when he challenges black people to understand their history and importance in developing the United States. Emerson shows this by telling teachers to build kids up and set them on their own path. “If a child happens to show that he knows any fact about astronomy… or history, that interests him and you, hush all the classes and encourage him to tell it so that all may hear.” (Emerson, 195). Dr. Somalika Sahoo agrees with this and says that if a student is focused on individually, more problems will be solved. 

Changing the societal norms of education is the primary focus of both Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Education” and James Baldwin’s “A Talk to Teachers”, although Baldwin uses emotion and the civil rights movement to present his points while Emerson relies on transcendentalism and an informative tone. The background and tone of these authors provide different perspectives to the same issue since one was a black man during the civil rights movement and the other was a spiritual board member in the 1800s. However different they may seem, they tend to agree upon the importance of education for every single individual. 

Emerson:

educator, started transcendentalist movement

Charles Fellows - trip to Egypt

kid gets frustrated with boring education

Baldwin:

lived in Harlem

streetwalkers, prostitutes, drug dealers just right on the street

getting hit if you sit in the front of the bus