Frederick Douglass Importance Of Education

Education played a pivotal role in the life of Frederick Douglass. Learning and education was empowering and liberating him from the bonds of slavery. Although education did not physically free Frederick from the oppression of slavery right away, it did free him mentally from the deceptiveness and lies that slavery had previously blinded him with. After moving to Baltimore to be a slave for the Auld family, and after Frederick had first begun to learn to read, Mr. Auld makes the comment, “Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world. Now, if you teach a nigger how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave” (Douglass, 20). That comment made Frederick realize that education was the key to freedom. Education gave him an understanding of the possibilities that his life held and showed him an insight to the life he should be living. Mentally, Frederick was freed through education to be able to think for …show more content…
Although reading and education often brought about contrasting feelings within Frederick, he was able to identify that feeling intense emotions about the condition of his life that he learned through education was better than being deceived by his condition of life. Similar to Socrates’ quote, it was better for Frederick to examine and reflect upon his life, rather than accepting his fate blindly. Even after he escaped slavery and went on to accomplish great things in his life, Frederick continued to examine and reflect on his life’s path, which led to the writing of this text. As has been continually taught throughout the class, Foundations of Education, reflecting on one’s experiences and choices is how learning, growth, and change takes place if one wants to better their