Frederick Douglass Purposes Of Education

What is one of the main purposes of education? The purpose as said by James Baldwin is to, “create in a person the ability to look at the world for himself, to make his own decisions.” Frederick Douglass was condemned from an early age to the life of slavery and everything it entailed. Which includes the deprivation of education in his life. Frederick Douglass valued education because it provided him an opportunity for self-improvement and this gave him a chance at freedom. Education first showed value to Frederick when he went to live with the Aulds, he realized why white people held power over colored people. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Frederick states ,“I now understood what had been to me the most perplexing difficulty- to wit, the white man’s power to enslave the black man.” (29) Frederick realized the importance of education and how much power you can gain from it. He realizes why Mr. Auld doesn’t want Mrs. Auld to teach him to learn, because then …show more content…
When Mr. Auld realizes FRederick is being taught he elaborates his disdain by stating, “A ni**er should know nothing but to obey his master-to do as he is told to. Learning would spoil the best ni**er in the world. [...] It would forever unfit him to be a slave.” (41) Even though slaves weren’t supposed to learn it didn’t mean they couldn’t. White people just used education to keep power over colored people, education was deprived from their lives. However, when given the chance to learn Frederick took it on many occasions. He even took the chance to teach others when he could all because he realized the value education held to him and everyone around him. Education gave him his power and made him see things with clarity and reason. Above all, education was something slaves weren’t intended to have and despite this Frederick Douglass did everything he could to learn and share his