Imagine yourself a high school counselor. One of your advisees approaches you and says, “Ms. C, I want to drop out of school. Why do I have to read Shakespeare sonnets anyway, or do geometry problems? They’re useless to me. I fix carburetors, and I want to start my own auto repair shop. Will you sign my withdrawal form?”
What’s your answer? You may want first to check in with a debate that took place long ago, circa 1900.
Black Americans then, many as ex-slaves, lived life ostracized, shoved in a corner. They didn’t go to high school, much less college. They didn’t vote or hold public office. Plessy vs. Ferguson, justifying segregation, was the law of the land.
Then some voices emerged. Some were lighting rods of controversy, others nonthreatening. Some spoke of “family values,” while others advocated fighting back. Which should come first, economic power or political power? Is a black Supreme Court Justice worth more than 50 car mechanics?
These debates continue, providing surprising parallels in today’s times, people such as Ben Carson, Clarence Thomas, Barack Obama and Al Sharpton.
When you’re segregated, where do you start?
When faced with an unjust system, segregation for example, we have a choice. We can work within that system to erode it internally. Gradual accommodation within the system to change it. Another approach is radical confrontation, agitation, strikes and disruptions. To muster one’s resources to bring down that system by force. Which course has the most merit?
These are questions that resonate in our world. Is college worth the money? Should a young Latino man in America try to start his own landscaping business, or push for Princeton?
So did you sign the student’s paper?
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