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Ousmane received only three years of formal education, after he was dismissed for striking back at a French teacher who had first struck Ousmane. Rather than being angered by this incident of retribution, Ousmane's father was pleased that his son had defended his dignity. Editors Samba Gadjigo and Ralph Faulkingham write that this incident that ended Ousmane's school career would presage his efforts to "reclaim from colonial and neocolonial misrepresentation the reality of an African past and present and to proclaim the dignity, independence, and power of African cultural forms for the continent's future" (Gadjigo and Faulkingham 1). Although he spent time employed as a dock worker and a sharp shooter for the French military in World War II, when Sembene Ousmane began his career as a writer, he was self-taught. Perhaps Ousmane's lack of formal education has also been a lack of formal indoctrination, allowing him to form his own ideology and form career goals that have set him apart from his
