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Toni Bambara's Short Story 'The Lesson'

646 Words3 Pages

There are a plethora of methods that can be used in order to teach, guide and brainwash children due to the fact that their minds are incredibly malleable. Toni Bambara and David Wallace demonstrate two distinct teaching styles that are beneficial when used on certain groups and detrimental when used against others. In “The Lesson”, a teacher tries to open her students minds to the lives beyond their own and in “Commencement Speech, Kenyon College.” the speaker wants their students to choose the way they think. Both teachers want their students to be able to escape the “rat race” that many people find themselves stuck in, and want to teach their students solely for the betterment of the children …show more content…

In Bambara 's short story “The lesson”, she demonstrates how children who grow up only exposed to what their parents subject them to will live deluded to what people are capable of living like. Miss Moore attempts to show the children “how money ain’t divided up right in this country” (Bambara 99) and although the children do not understand what she is trying to tell them right away, she knows that this experience will stay with them forever. Wallace does this in a less overt way. The speaker does not tell the students that they are living in the “rat race” and instead encourages them to “simply (pay) attention to what’s going on” (Wallace 310). The speaker only desires for the students to choose their actions and the way they think instead of just going with whatever their animal instinct …show more content…

In “The Lesson” and in “Commencement Speech, Kenyon College.”, the teacher 's attempt to open up the kids’ minds to the “rat race” that many people find themselves in and only want to help the children for their future. Although people question teaching methods and want to only have their own ideals put into their child’s mind, there are things that every person should be aware of and teachers are the people who can be sure that every child is aware of the world around them in order to live a better

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“The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, is a story about the lesson Miss Moore gives to the neighborhood children. Miss Moore decides to take the children to F.A.O. Schwarz to show them the different toys that are available on Fifth Avenue. Once the children realize the cost of these fancy toys compared to the toys available to them, they become angry. When Sylvia thinks about what her mother would say if she asked for one of the toys she saw in the store, she also thinks about what her family could buy with the money the toy costs. When Miss Moore asks the children to state their thoughts about the store that had toys that cost the amount of what could feed a large family, Sugar states she thinks it is unfair and everyone should have an equal chance

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This idea coming from the idea that students are but mere receptacles that oppressors can fill with their ideas. The students are taught to not challenge the idea

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The land of the free if you can afford it and the home of the brave enough to work two jobs to keep the house, the American people’s “normal” becomes far more shocking when put under the microscope. Such examination results in a deeper understanding of the harmful effects of America’s unchecked capitalist society giving insight into the inequality embedded in it. Toni Cade Bambara’s short story, “The Lesson,” provides its readers with the opportunity to delve into this understanding. The short story is narrated by Sylvia, a young black girl from Harlem in the 1960s, as she discovers the truth of the economic inequality that she faces. The staggering realizations brought on by the orchestration of Miss Moore are not only felt by Sylvia but also

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Lesson Learned Toni Cade Bambara creates a character that is way too smart to ignore what is happening around her in the real world. Throughout the story story, she learns that there is a difference between the rich and the poor, and even though it isn’t fair is not fair, it is very real. By the end, Sylvia, a rebellious, “terrorize the West Indian kids and take their hair ribbons and their money” (625) kind of girl with terrible people skills, living in a typical African American neighborhood finds she experiences a huge attitude adjustment in regards to her outlook on not just money, but life in Bambara’s The Lesson.

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Her teach mistakes her asking classmate for help with a math problem for insubordinate behavior. The main symbol is the “monumental desk” of the teacher (Kenyon, 9). It gives the image of a throne as if it the divine right of a teacher to have absolute authority over classroom. The education system control our childhood starts to emerge as the underlying theme. The author remembers the image of the “furnace closet” where only the worst boys were put and how “the warmth, the gloom, the smell/of sweeping compound clinging to the broom/soothed” (Kenyon, 13, 16-18).

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A kid who wants to take school seriously should follow and think about what's on it. Religion and state are two huge points he uses about the regulation of information. These two manage information in society

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Novelist, John Taylor Gatto, in his speech essay, “Why Schools Don’t Education”, conveys schools aren’t as educational as they should be. John’s purpose is to narrate the idea that teachers and school district aren’t putting enough effort to educate children and to also motivate more teachers to help bust up children’s education. He adopts a passionate tone in order to appeal in his that education should be taken serious. In order, to convey his appeal of the subject he uses rhetorical analysis to help drill in the audience.

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The story “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara illustrates how a young girl of the name Sylvia decides to ignore the help of her new neighbor Miss Moore. The little girl and her fellow childhood friends get the opportunity to take a field trip to a toy Museum; Miss Moore is the host and her intentions are to expose the isolated kids to show them that there is more to life than living in poverty. Bambara’s word choice portrays the vocabulary that the little kids possess, and they do not know nearly as much information as Miss Moore does because she has a college education. She attempts to educate the kids with numerous facts, but the kids disregard it because they are too fascinated at what the museum has to offer. Sylvia has a foul attitude and

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Quiet Kill He said, “Let’s calm down. Let’s get the thousand pound gorilla in the room out of here. I mean, what are we talking about here? The fact is your boss doesn’t give a damn about you and wants me dead.”

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The essay, The Seven Lesson Schoolteacher, by John Taylor Gatto addresses educational curriculum with a cynical truth that transpires around the United States. His brutal honesty grasps the reader by using common sense and a hint of sarcasm to appeal to humor. The main point of his argument in my perception, states that we must develop children to be critical thinkers and not always agree with authority. By allowing the schooling in a child’s development expecting them to not question an adult’s words does lead to a population that has accepted being dumbed down. Following what has been indicated, a direct quote positions people deprived forever of finding the center of their own special genius (Gatto, part III, pars 3).

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While school may teach lessons, they are certainly not valuable life lessons. Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird repeatedly shows the ineffectiveness of the education system in a child’s morals. To Kill A Mockingbird takes place in the Great Depression era in Alabama, where education was not the best. Teachers would only seek to teach their classes average, everyday lessons rather than valuable life teachings.

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The symbols present in “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, depict the economic and social injustices faced by specific members of society, specifically the children in the story. The characters in the story are being mentored by Miss Moore, a woman from their block who has taken up the role of taking them out on weekly outings. The story touches on the situation of the children that are stuck in living in almost poverty. “The Lesson” focuses on the socioeconomic disparities between the different racial groups and how. Bambara uses several techniques such as irony, othering, and second person point of view to make the story meaningful and demonstrate the characteristics of the characters.

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Rita Pierson, an educator of 40 years, as was her parents were as well as her grandparents. She appeals to educators on the issue of creating relationships with students, rather than just teaching a lesson she embraces each individual as a concerned educator. Being in a room full of educators means that she has to appeal to them in a way they want to learn. She does this by using powerful anecdotes to engage the audience. In the speech Every Kid Needs a Champion by Rita Pierson, she speaks to introduce, convince, and persuade educators that they should form relationships with their students due to higher academic achievement as well as self-esteem; she continues to use many rhetorical devices including soaps, ethos, pathos, and logos to achieve her argument.

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The diversity of student backgrounds, abilities and learning styles makes each person unique in the way he or she reacts to information. The intersection of diverse student backgrounds and active learning needs a comfortable, positive environment in which to take root. Dr. King continues by explaining, “Education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals.” From back then to today’s society, kids are failing because they lack those morals that they need to succeed.

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