As time moves forward and civilization advances, individuals are becoming more intelligent, which ultimately seems as if the humans are working towards creating a better future. However, there are a substantial amount of issues that people have neither solved nor attempted to resolve, which has been a problem throughout history. Two of these salient and everlasting problems that countless societies currently encounter is the lack of education and social equality. One nation that faces these global challenges is America. African American author, Toni Cade Bambara, reveals the social injustice and the lack of education throughout Harlem, one of the most impoverished neighborhoods in America, throughout her short story “The Lesson.” Even though
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In the beginning Sylvia explains that she highly dislikes Miss Moore because she will gather the children from around the block and insists that she “...was always planning these boring-ass things for us to do,” yet, in reality, she is a good-natured woman who claims that “...it was only right that she should take responsibility for the young ones’ education” (Bambara 209). Bambara starts off indicating to the reader that education can have a great impact on one’s life and the better the education one receives, the improved chance that they will have a brighter future. Bambara also signals that the students need to be interested in wanting to live a better life; however, Sylvia does not realize this. As a result, Miss Moore believes that she needs to make these children desire to strive for an improved lifestyle. For this reason, she takes them on a field trip to F.A.O Schwartz in Midtown Manhattan, a toy store for the wealthy. Upon arrival, they peek inside F.A.O. Schwartz through the window and a young boy in the group by the name of Big Butt has his interest piqued by a microscope. After looking at the $300 price tag, Sylvia claims that it would take too long for Big Butt to save up for that microscope and according to Sugar, Sylvia’s best friend, by then he would not even desire it anymore. Nevertheless, Miss Moore quickly responds with “...you never outgrow learning instruments” (Bambara 211). Miss Moore explains that Big Butt or rather, people in general, will not relinquish these learning tools because there is always an endless amount of information to both learn and discover. Additionally, Philip Moeller, an American staff writer for U.S. Money, declares in his article, “Why Learning Leads to Happiness,” that individuals who become educated improves their chances that they will “...get
In the beginning Sylvia explains that she highly dislikes Miss Moore because she will gather the children from around the block and insists that she “...was always planning these boring-ass things for us to do,” yet, in reality, she is a good-natured woman who claims that “...it was only right that she should take responsibility for the young ones’ education” (Bambara 209). Bambara starts off indicating to the reader that education can have a great impact on one’s life and the better the education one receives, the improved chance that they will have a brighter future. Bambara also signals that the students need to be interested in wanting to live a better life; however, Sylvia does not realize this. As a result, Miss Moore believes that she needs to make these children desire to strive for an improved lifestyle. For this reason, she takes them on a field trip to F.A.O Schwartz in Midtown Manhattan, a toy store for the wealthy. Upon arrival, they peek inside F.A.O. Schwartz through the window and a young boy in the group by the name of Big Butt has his interest piqued by a microscope. After looking at the $300 price tag, Sylvia claims that it would take too long for Big Butt to save up for that microscope and according to Sugar, Sylvia’s best friend, by then he would not even desire it anymore. Nevertheless, Miss Moore quickly responds with “...you never outgrow learning instruments” (Bambara 211). Miss Moore explains that Big Butt or rather, people in general, will not relinquish these learning tools because there is always an endless amount of information to both learn and discover. Additionally, Philip Moeller, an American staff writer for U.S. Money, declares in his article, “Why Learning Leads to Happiness,” that individuals who become educated improves their chances that they will “...get