Web Log: Education for all

In chapter 8 of Spring's book he quotes W. E. B. Du Bois (who is refering to Booker T. Washingtong) as saying, "Mr. Washington distinctly asks that black people give up, at least for the present, three things-- First, political power, Second, insistence on civil rights, Third, higher education of Negro youth-- and concentrate all their energies on industrial education, the accumulation of wealth, and the conciliation of the South". (p219)  This quote really stuck with me after reading this chapter.   The aspect about no higher education for Negro youth is what truly upset me.  I just can't believe anyone ever would tell children to basically sell themselves short.  I am truly appalled with Booker T's attitude towards how black people should have behaved.  I mean I guess I can never truly understand being a young, white woman, but I can relate on a human level.  No one should ever tell children that they can't be anything they want. I can remember ever since I was a little girl that my mom would always tell me that I could do anything.  I think one week I changed my mind on what I wanted to be when I grew up about ten times and the jobs ranged from mommie to doctor to even a dog walker (I love dogs). Each time my mom would tell me that if it made me happy then I was meant to do it.  I agree with Du Bois that change can come from education; if we educate leaders then the end of oppression is possible.  I wonder though how I would have felt if I had been born just fifty years earlier.  If I had been in my twenties in the sixties would I feel the same way about civil rights and equality or would I have been like the majority of white people and thought themselves superior?  It's a very scary thought I would hope I would be the person I am today who fights for treating people how I would like to be treated, but I'm not sure.