I am not afraid of being sued by white businessmen. In fact, I should welcome such a law suit.
Carter G. WoodsonRead
The so-called modern education, with all its defects, however, does others so much more good than it does the Negro, because it has been worked out in conformity to the needs of those who have enslaved and oppressed weaker peoples.
Interpretation
Modern education often fails to address the needs of marginalized communities, benefiting those in power more significantly.
Carter G. Woodson critiques the structure of modern education, highlighting that it is designed primarily to serve the interests of the dominant society. This system inadvertently neglects the educational needs of marginalized groups, particularly African Americans, ultimately perpetuating a cycle of oppression and inequality.
In practice
In a speech addressing educational reform, one might reference this quote to highlight the need for an inclusive curriculum.
I am not afraid of being sued by white businessmen. In fact, I should welcome such a law suit.
If Liberia has failed, then, it is no evidence of the failure of the Negro in government. It is merely evidence of the failure of slavery.
If the Negroes are to remain forever removed from the producing atmosphere, and the present discrimination continues, there will be nothing left for them to do.
Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history.
The different ness of races, moreover, is no evidence of superiority or of inferiority. This merely indicates that each race has certain gifts which the others do not possess.
This assumption of Negro leadership in the ghetto, then, must not be confined to matters of religion, education, and social uplift; it must deal with such fundamental forces in life as make these things possible.
As I teach, I project the condition of my soul onto my students, my subject, and our way of being together.
People think that it is important to learn by assisting the great photographers. I say that is a big mistake. Be happy; just learn from any little guy. Learn how to use the camera - you don't need anything else. You can't be taught the real skill anyway.
Conscious listening is very largely overlooked in the mainstream of education. It's such an important skill in life. And yet we expect children to pick it up from home or from peers informally.
From the standpoint of the child, the great waste in the school comes from his inability to utilize the experiences he gets outside the school in any complete and free way within the school itself; while, on the other hand, he is unable to apply in daily life what he is learning at school. That is the isolation of the school — its isolation from life.
In raising children, we need to continuously keep in mind how we can best create the most favorable environment for their imitative behavior. Everything done in the past regarding imitation must become more and more conscious and more and more consciously connected with the future.
In India, knowledge has always been considered more valuable than power, fame or riches. In our tradition, educational institutions are respected as temples of learning.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.