Throughout
history, our society has seen eras of both oppression and social change. There
are many historical examples in which leaders harshly suppress the people they
govern until they meet their ends and a time of revolution begins. Reading
about history causes people to question what exactly promotes this change in
society. Specifically, what allows oppression to be challenged and the desire
for social change to begin? The most logical answer: education. When people
lack an education, they are more vulnerable to be influenced, both positively
and negatively, by those who have power. Therefore, when individuals receive an
education, their knowledge leads them to question authoritative practices. More
often than not, this curiosity leads to the desire to improve or change their
current situation. Education is not only a turning point from oppression to
social change; it is also the key to making social change possible. Carrying
out a mass social movement requires an understanding of particular methods and
historical examples that can only be obtained through an education.
Oppression is
defined as a state being subject to unjust
treatment or control. Oppression occurs when a person or group of people of a
higher status dictate what people of a lower standing can do. This may include
influencing their political decisions – or simply not allowing for them to have
a say -- limiting their access to information or suppressing their ability to
change their position in society. It is possible, and in fact much easier, for
those in control to implement oppressive practices when those who are oppressed
lack an education. Specifically, this refers to an education that would provide
the necessary skills and information needed to feel a sense of rejection
towards the oppressors and therefore the oppressed will them demonstrate
hostility towards their current situation. When victims of oppression do not
possess an education, they are easily manipulated. They are unaware of
practices outside of their own oppression, which in turn make the oppression
they live under seem like the norm. As long as these people are kept in the
dark about outside forces that could threaten the stability of their condition.
Oppression can continuously be implemented in a society. The following
historical examples show how an absence of education can have this effect.
Slavery is one of
the most serve forms of oppression. As it is widely known, those subject to
slavery were people of dark colored skin, particularly Africans taken from
their homes across the Atlantic Ocean. These people were prime subjects because
in Africa, they were already deprived of an education. When they entered the
life of slavery, they knew nothing more than to obey their masters and live in
the worst of conditions. Slave owners intentionally kept away from their slaves
any resources that would provide them with the chance to learn. Frederick
Douglass recalls what a white plantation owner during this time period
exclaimed, “Learning would spoil the best ni**er in the world… if you teach
that ni**er to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him
to be a slave.” (Douglass 330) The plantation owner is completely
accurate in his statement. Education, in the sense of reading and writing, raises
the possibility that slaves would learn about alternatives to life as a slave.
White men and slave owners knew that gaining this knowledge would then result
in hostility amongst the slaves who would undoubtedly want to become free.
Therefore, in order to maintain control and continue the oppressive practices
of slavery, it was necessary to eliminate any opportunity for slaves to receive
an education.
While
education may have been completely expunged from slaves’ lives, sometimes
oppression is possible by placing limitations on what education citizens of a
particular society are allowed to acquire. During the communist revolution in
the early 20th century, Josef Stalin rose to power with the
intention of running the Soviet Union as a strong communist state. It is widely
known that the West and capitalism were the greatest threat to a communist
government. Stalin primarily targeted education as way to ensure that nothing
would jeopardize his goals. Agencies such as the Goskomizdat worked to censor all
forms of communication and literature that could be publicly read so that there
was no mention of the capitalist ideology or past anti-communist revolutions.
Moreover, Stalin censored all literature that suggested communism was
oppressive or that included statistics that supported negative consequences of a
communist regime. Censorship allowed for Stalin and his government to
successfully keep citizens in a communist society. Since people lacked certain
knowledge, particularly that of capitalism, they did not believe that there was
anything ‘wrong’ with their way of life or that there was a potential for other
ways of life.
Slavery in the
18th-19th centuries and communism in the 20th
century both show how the education of people in society can be dangerous to
oppression. Whether it is entirely inaccessible or given limitation, it is an
influential factor in authorities’ ability to act in domination over those of
inferiority. However, when the exact opposite occurs, that is, the oppressed
receive an education, the ability to continue implementing oppressive practices
is jeopardized. In other words, people who obtain an education that negatively
highlights the actions of those in control are likely to revolt against them.
This new education opens the door for a fight towards change to occur. It may
come in the way of understanding that people in other parts of the world do not
abide by the same rules for living life. It could be that people learn of
others who had once been oppressed and successfully fought back to achieve
relative freedom/change.
In
terms of slavery, an education would allow slaves to understand that not all
African Americans in America were slaves, and that the North offered them
freedom. As Frederick Douglass, a former slave described, “It had given me a
view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. It opened my eyes to the
horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out.” (Douglass 334) Douglass
was able to learn this information due to his self-taught basic education of
reading and writing. It enabled him to understand the content of books and
newspapers. Even more threatening to oppressive slavery was the acquired
knowledge of abolition and the abolitionists. Douglass indicates the danger of
these terms, “I did not dare ask anyone about it’s meaning, for I was satisfied
that it was something they wanted me to know very little about.” (Douglass 335)
Clearly, once slaves understood that there was movement to end slavery and
large support for it, they would resent their masters and want to escape
slavery. The education of reading and writing lead to the acknowledgement of
anti-slavery feelings that existed outside the plantations. Thus, this was the
turning point from which slaves ended their oblivion to oppression and had a
desire to achieve a social change. Like Douglass, not only the concept, but the
desire to be free was the result of newly obtained education that the slaves
had once been sheltered from.
In
the second half of the 1980’s, Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the communist
Soviet Union, decided to implement Glasnost. This policy of openness in the
government and social activities negated the purpose of the censorship that had
been put into place under previous communist regimes. It allowed for increased
inquiry of the western world and capitalism, which had long been eliminated
from the education of the soviet people. The availability of information about
capitalism was a predominant part of the “freedoms and social forces that
Gorbachev had allowed to develop and prosper under his policies [that]
essentially grew to a level that the government could not longer control.” (Cummings
59) As the soviets became more aware of the opportunities that
capitalism provided, they began to resent the communist way of life.
Opportunities such as movement between social classes, unwarranted amounts of
income, and a democratic government decided by the people, caused people to
disapprove of Gorbachev’s communist government. This in turn led to a decrease
in its legitimacy and ultimately it’s inability to maintain authoritative
control over the soviet society. Through
Glasnost, soviets also became aware of long-denied social issues such as food
shortages and of past criminal behaviors of their ‘trusted’ government such as
the Great Purges in the 1930’s, which exiled any opposition to Josef Stalin and
the communist regime. It is with no doubt that this new found education had a
major influence in the soviets’ aspiration for social change. They wanted to be
released from communism’s strong hold and move towards a life motivated by
capitalism and governed by people who had their best interests in mind.
In the
previous scenarios, education has been seen to be the dominating force in the
movement from oppression to social change. However, educations role is more
than just simply generating the want for elimination of oppression. Education
is a necessary tool in turning a concept into a reality. Dr. Martin Luther King
once stated, “We must see that human progress never rolls in on wheels of
inevitability. It comes through the tireless effort and persistent work of men
willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work time itself
becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.” (King 284) King is arguing
that in order for a people to actually make a change in society, they must
actively express their wants and needs. It is not practical to believe that
with time, society will simply make this change on its own. However, one cannot
just simply begin a campaign for social change. This is where education can
make the difference between these two approaches. An education can provide one
with an “analysis of prior experiences and of society as the basis for new
academic understanding and social action.” (Singer and Pezone) In other
words, one must have an understanding of how to go about fighting for a change.
This may include knowing about the different types of methods that have been
successful in promoting change versus those that have not worked. One will not
have to waste time with trial and error. Prior experiences are important to
understand. It is likely that someone who has an education has had the
opportunity to look at historical movements and has taken note of the ways in
which the reformers actively strived towards their goal. Referring back to Dr.
King, if someone was educated, they may have come across Martin Luther King’s
methodology of civil disobedience. Through learning about the Civil Rights
movement, they would have seen the success of civil disobedience in ending
segregation and influencing the government to change laws that granted equal
rights to African Americans. Thus, someone who wants to work towards his/her
own desired social change would perhaps imitate Dr. King’s civil protests
because they are aware of its benefits. It is more likely that someone who has
had the opportunity to analyze past events as a result of having an education
will achieve his/her goal of creating a social change.
The presence or absence of education can be a deciding
factor in the types of relationships that form in a society. However, one must
have a well-rounded education in order to influence social change; this means
their education must be combination of basic education and critical education.
Basic education such as the ability to read and write allows an individual to
learn factual information. A critical education is the ability to analyze
factual information and then make use of it. A person must first learn about
past efforts to create social change and then be able to critique which methods
used were successful so that he/she can apply them to his/her own efforts.
Furthermore, an individual can use his/her own education to connect with other
educated individuals. The combination of many people striving for a common goal
will have a more powerful impact in promoting social change than if one person
were to attempt it alone. In the struggle against the communist regime in
Russia, individuals first needed to understand the concept of capitalism and be
aware of the past revolutions against their government. Then they needed to
determine how they could effectively bring down their communist government. And
finally, they needed to join together with other who had the same desires in
order to create a mass social movement. It is this process of developing an
education and then using that education that can be seen during societal shift
in history.
Bibliography
Cummings, Laura. "Gorbachev’s Perestroika and the
Collapse of the Soviet Union."
History: 55-77. Lagrange.edu.
Lagrange College. Web. 17 Oct. 2014.
<https://www.lagrange.edu/resources/pdf/citations/2012/08_Cummings_History.pdf>.
Douglass, Frederick. “From Narrative of the Life of
Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” A
World of Ideas 9th Edition. Lee Jacobus. Boston: Bedford-St.
Martin's, 2013.
King, Dr. Martin L. "Letter from
Birmingham Jail." Letter. 16 Apr. 1963. The Impossible
Will Take A
Little While. New York: Basic, 2004. 281-87. Print.
Singer, Alan, and Michael Pezone.
"Education for Social Change: From Theory to
Practice."
A Journal for Academic Labor 2nd ser. Building a K-16 Movement.5 (2002):
Web. 17 Oct. 2014.
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