3/7 Blog Post

A crucial part in chapter 6 of A Girl Stands at the Door was the conversation with Joe Douglas about his reasoning for leaving the all white school. He stated “ At the time I had become totally disenchanted with the public school system… I felt like an outsider in the thing. It didn’t really relate to me…. The overall system was not inclusive of me as a black student.”  This single statement is important for many reasons. For one he wasn’t the only person who had these feelings during the desegregation time. There were a lot of children who continued to feel like outsiders whether they left the schools or stuck it out. This is a feeling that is still present today. Isn’t that insane? So much time has passed and our education system still doesn’t appeal to people like me or Joe, or Ta-Nehasi. 
  This is problematic because this clearly doesn’t make education equal. I think when people discuss equal education they only think about who is able to receive it and who is not. During my educational career all I learned about was white. This changed when I came to college and could seek out what I wanted and needed to know about. It makes you feel like your people and history isn’t important which is most likely the goal of these higher ups making these decisions. I guess this is why W.E.B. Dubois’ Talented Tenth is so problematic to me. For him to say that the only education that will help us succeed is the white education is kind of like a slap in the face. It’s like he gave up faith in the abilities of his people. His mindset has been passed down  through our people even today. The argument between black students  that PWIs offer a better education than those of HBCUs, which in some cases this may be true, but not always. Usually the only difference is economic status of the schools that give people these preconceived notions. The only way to stop this cycle is to take a look back on our curriculums and acknowledge that we have an issue. Students shouldn’t have to protest to hear about people like them in school. White people don’t have to, so how equal are we exactly?

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