Shah 1

Prit Shah
Ms. Thompson
AP Lang Block 2 Skinny A
May 18, 2015
Draft #1
James Baldwin IJWBA Paper
Baldwin, the author of the A Talk to Teachers essay, believes that the true purpose for
education is to create a society in which all people are obedient; however, Rose does not have the
same ideals on education. Rose believes that the true purpose of education is for students to gain
guidance and self-improve, rather than improve for the benefit of society, which may occur in the
process of self-improvement. Education is something that can be interpreted in many different
ways, as Rose and Baldwin both interpret it in different ways.
Rose describes how he believes that the education system is trying to increase economic
opportunities for students and help them self develop. However, Rose says The vocational
track, however, is most often a place for those who are just not making it, a dumping ground for
the disaffected (2). Society is trying to help students learn effective job skills in order to develop
themselves and gain knowledge about what the real world will be like, but students are not
gaining the actual help they need. Students have the potential to do great things and make a
difference and also do something better for themselves They just need proper guidance,
encouragement, and motivation as Rose believes this is what the education system is trying to
do.
Baldwin describes how he believes that society can only improve itself if people decide
to change society and use their education in order to benefit the society and its rules. Baldwin

Shah 2
says that this is the only way that society can change for the better (par. 19). Baldwin also says,
It is your responsibility to change society if you think of yourself as an educated person (par.
19). As people become educated as they grow older, often times they will have opinions about
society as Baldwin suggests; however, the people can be educated and not want to change society
as they do not have to feel as if it is his or her responsibility to change it. Also, as Baldwin
describes a child may be seeing and experiencing a lot of what is happening in society, it does
not necessarily mean that the child is processing what is happening in society and making solid
conclusions about what is going on around them.
Baldwin believes that education is shaped around society, but Rose believes that
education should be shaped around students. Education works in many ways, so it can be doing
one or the other or both, but it is just dependent on how education is perceived in society.