Education as life mission

On a Teachers day, I see a lot of posts about favorite teachers and mentors all around. On a different note, wanted to write about educationalist I read about and my parallel thoughts around that.

“𝑵𝒐 𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒅𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒑𝒐𝒆𝒎.”

“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕.”

That is Classic Booker Washington for you.

A man who rose from the despairing depth of Slavery in the Southern states of US to be marked as a hope and pioneer of Blacks in late 19th Century and Early 20th Century.

While we read his ghost written (allegedly) biography, one admires his grit in raising from dumps of humanity to raise to a most influencing African American of his times. His account of his early life moves us greatly, largely due to collective effect from many accounts of such experiences that have told volumes about Black misery, suppression and exploitation.

His autobiography is not about darkness of Slavery alone. His narration is about a man who saw a salvation of blacks in education. He dedicated his life for that. His view of education was not to affirm the prevailing notion that education is a gateway to life of relative affluence. Instead it is a slow march that would move the black life in America out of its ignorance and rejection to that of value and respect.

"𝑨𝒕 𝑯𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒐𝒏 𝑰 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒓, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒓, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒓’𝒔 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒔𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇-𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔. 𝑨𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑰 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒖𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔, 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚"

"𝑴𝒚 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒕, 𝒏𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅."

"𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒅𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍, 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅, 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆."

He sincerely believed that a pacifist approach with the White population of the South would help the blacks move upward.

"𝑰 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒕 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒃𝒚 𝒂𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒚 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒍 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆."

Booker Washington methods talk about a model of education that goes to basics of making students learn by performing most menial tasks and useful trade as part of the education. His was not a method that seeks to promote an elite model that kept the students on a pedestal insulated from the chores of the normal life.

When I read his experiments and efforts in building the Modest institution in Tuskgee to one of the premier universities, I felt the striking resemblance to the Gandhian method of education. Not Surprisingly, I learnt Gandhi was influenced by him even when he was in South Africa. He had spoken and written about it even. This fact clearly calls out the fallacy of those who seek to cast Gandhi as a Anti Black while in South Africa.

Even more than Gandhi I am also reminded of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and Savitribai Phule who identified education as their life mission in their goal of enabling the oppressed mass to their salvation.

The similarity to Gandhi and Phules ends there.

Towards the end, Booker Washington's life was marked by controversies on his pacifist ways and his refusal to incriminate the White supremacists even at the Hight of Jim Crow laws and Mass lynching across the south. His "𝘾𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝘿𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝘽𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙩 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝘼𝙧𝙚" quote from his Atlanta Speech - which strangely did not condemn any single atrocity during the height of Black suppression in the south - became the mark of self denouncement later.

His refusal to take up mass issues, refusing political activism, all starkly contrasted with Gandhi who was a mass activist and fighter till the end. Gandhi chose every fight carefully and turned every oppressive move as an opportunity in bringing people together, a lesson he learnt by his experience and reading also fierce detractors of Booker Washington like W.E.B.Du Bois. That is the reason later leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. could relate to Gandhi more while trying to distance themselves from Booker Washington.