Education In Malcolm X's 'Achievement Of Desire'

What is education and how does that education lead to success? Many authors and historic figures have reached education through many different paths. According to them, being educated does not mean a diploma judges your level of intelligence. Although, it is argued that to be successful one must an educated person. I believe that to be educated, one must not give up in the learning process no matter the difficulty of it because education is involved in one’s success paths, but the way education is learned does not define the destined path to success.

Malcolm X has proven that education does not necessarily have to come from a school certificate. In his essay “Homemade Education”, Malcolm writes about his time he spent in prison and talks about

Education has a cost, and that cost can be far greater to some achievers of it. Author, Rodriguez Richard talks about his idea of education in the essay “Achievement of Desire”. Richard, in the essay is a man who looks back into his childhood and his path into being an educated man. He is new to America and learning a new culture seemed really difficult to him. But his desire to learn more led him to his ambition to read and study about the culture of America, but slowly saw himself being separated from his own culture. Richard talks about his opinion on his path to success when he states. “A primary reason for my success in the classroom was that I couldn't forget that schooling was changing me and separating me from the life i enjoyed before becoming a student.”(Pg. 50) It is in this quote that made me realize the cost of his education. He is very sad about the path he took, although he chose education to be his priority, he did not want to see himself separating himself from his child self(the time when he would spend more time with his family than anything else). It is argued whether if Richard’s final goal became successful, I believe that it did not. Later in his text, he quotes “After years spent unwilling to admit its attractions, i gestured nostalgically toward the past. I yearned for that time when i had not been so alone. I became impatient with books….I wanted something, I couldn’t say exactly what. I told myself that I wanted a more passionate life.” This sets the conclusion that Richard did not in fact reach success. Success is not always achieved even after a life of education. It’s what one desires to achieve that defines your