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Finn Marks

Mr. Enos 7th Period

AP Lang

11 November 2019

Education: Folly or Freedom?

Education is an impressive culmination of over four thousand years of human experience.

Generation after generation, our species has refined the methods and materials that we use to

learn, creating a global standard of education that encompasses math, science, history, language,

and the arts. Proponents of education believe that the benefits of education lead to liberation and

empowerment. Skeptics are keen to point out that only a fraction of the global population

receives the benefits of education, and that plenty of people and societies have achieved

empowerment and freedom as a result of conflict or chance. Although conflict and chance can be

catalysts for liberation, education is the most effective pathway to freedom and empowerment.

Education can be a force for change, in more ways than one. Education can change one’s

perception of events or conditions that previously seemed acceptable but are actually unjust or

cruel. Moments of realization often lead to inspiration and a desire for change, which are

precursors to liberation and empowerment. For this reason, oppressors attempt to limit the access

that their populous has to education. Such an example of this was the slave owner crusade

against literacy amongst their slaves. Fredrick Douglass, a slave who escaped to freedom in the

North, experienced this oppression firsthand. In the​ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass​,

Douglass attempts to start a Sunday reading school in order to teach his “fellow-slaves how to

read”, only to be chased off by whites who “came at [them] with sticks and other missiles,” and

“forbade to meet again” (Douglass 48). Although Douglass and the other slaves were unable to

keep meeting, the initial promise of escape from “mental darkness” and liberation “only served
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to inspire” him and intensify his “desire and determination to learn” (Douglass 30). Once one

becomes aware of oppression it is harder to ignore and disregard it. While Douglass and other

slaves could have remained willfully ignorant, their knowledge of their struggle for freedom

gave them the energy and power to risk violence, punishment and even death to escape. This

exemplifies how education or receiving knowledge can empower someone to try and achieve

their goal of liberation.

While using knowledge and education to achieve a higher goal is an effective method of

empowerment and liberation, education can also serve as the higher goal to be obtained, in which

case it serves as the motivation for liberation and empowerment rather than the stimulus. When

Malala Yousafzai was a young girl, she had no idea that her “goal of education and peace” would

ever be attainable. Yet Malala’s “ thirst for education” drove her to fight for what she deserved.

Even though she faced the risk of being shot, Malala pursued education as the end goal of her

quest for empowerment and liberation. Malala presents an example of how education can be a

driving force for freedom and equality for all people, and demonstrates the concept of education

being a force of empowerment for those “united in the goal” (Malala 2015). Whereas in

Frederick Douglass’s narrative education sparks his desire to be free, in Malala’s story a lack of

education sparks freedom, as well as attaining education as the end result. Both instances show

how education can be a pathway to liberation and empowerment, both as a motivator and as the

end goal. However, while education has been established as a pathway to liberation, the

remaining question is whether it is the only pathway.

It is necessary to admit that violence and chance can both also be pathways to liberation.

Fredrick Douglass admits that his “battle with Mr. Covey was the turning-point” that caused him

to hope for liberation. His violent backlash managed to “rekindle the few expiring embers of
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freedom” that Douglass held on to (Douglass 63). This moment of conflict provided Douglass

with the empowerment that he needed to achieve his freedom, but not to maintain it. This is

consistent with other historical examples of violence leading to liberation, such as the French

Revolution, in which the common people were driven to violence through the knowledge of their

oppression, but were unable to remain safe and free. Chance can also lead to liberation, with a

slight change of any factor leading to a completely new scenario. While in theory, these seem to

be just as successful pathways to liberation, a lack of education greatly diminishes the likelihood

of retaining empowerment and freedom. To cite the earlier historical example of the French

Revolution, the common citizens who took over the governance of the country through violence

had no knowledge of how to govern and therefore dealt with various degrees of incompetency

and violence that certainly did not grant freedom to all people. In the ​Narrative of the Life of

Frederick Douglass​, when Douglass is under the rule of Mr. Covey he struggled with the after

effects of his violent life. While at times he “would rise up,” with “a flash of energetic freedom

dart[ing] through [his] soul” he would inevitably always sink back down into darkness. This

validates the conclusion that violence may lead to short-term liberation but inevitably leads back

to oppression. While violence can temporarily free one from their oppressors, it’s consequence is

that it insinuates an internal struggle with one’s morals and creates negative emotions such as

guilt and fear that help to erase rationality and cloud one’s judgement. Because of this clouded

judgement and internal struggle, slaves like Frederick Douglass who were violent could not truly

think of themselves as free. We can conclude that violence, while leading to physical liberation,

actually effectively traps one’s emotions and thoughts in a state mental oppression.

In contrast, the positive effect that knowledge can have on an oppressed mind can lead to

mental liberation and emotional empowerment. Whereas violence leads to emotions such as guilt

and hopelessness, knowledge and learning lead to positive emotions such as joy and hope.
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Fredericl Douglass experienced the difference firsthand. Contrary to the effects of his violent

actions, which led to emotional despair, his choice to help educate other slaves was “the delight

of [his] soul” and it gave him “the happiness to know” that he was spreading knowledge

(Douglass 71). Douglass’s positive encouragement to search for knowledge in turn gave

Douglass a satisfied sense of pride, and the motivation to continue to use education as a pathway

for liberation from slavery. The happiness that knowledge gave Douglass helped him to spread

his knowledge, which shows that knowledge leads to emotional and mental empowerment as

well as physical liberation. This further proves that education is the most effective pathway to

liberation and empowerment because it encompasses all aspects of liberation, not just physical,

but mental as well. Education provides the mental support that is needed in order to pursue

empowerment and liberation. To continue down the pathway to these goals, one must remain

optimistic and encouraging, especially when there is more than one trying to achieve it, as was

Douglass’s case.

The idea that education leads to freedom and empowerment has been around for almost

as long as formal education itself. The fact that the hope of a better life through education has

lasted for so long serves to validate the opinion that it is an effective method of liberation.

Education can be a catalyst for empowerment as well as the end goal, and it can be used for

emotional support and moral encouragement. Although these are the main ways in which

education is an effective pathway, the means through which education causes freedom are

certainly not limited to the ones listed here and are constantly changing and adapting. However

the one thing that remains constant, from the beginning of education to the 1800s to modern day,

is that education has been a constant and effective method of liberation and empowerment.