Tessa Garcia
English 90
Romer Kaplan
02/08/15

Freedom through education Education is a potent tool that can change the very essence of a person. It provides a way for a person to break whatever bonds are holding them captive. Education is an empowering force that can break through stereotypes by making a person become dangerous and not allowing themselves to be defined by expectations, even if they are physically or socially imprisoned. What would it feel like to be completely stripped of all rights, like a prisoner? To live with the expectation that you were never going to be anyone special and that there was no point in even trying? Would you still have hope? Would you still want to try to better yourself, or would you let opinions of others mold you into their idea of what is expected? People deal with this in everyday life. The recidivism rate in this country is absurd due in large part to the idea that once you own the moniker “prisoner” that is all you will ever be. There are families that foster the idea of educating oneself as an unnecessary endeavor and perhaps even a lofty aspiration. There are people that fold to such expectations, and then there are those who defy them. Malcom X is an amazing example of a person who breaks the chains of expectations by transforming into a prisoner who pursues his “homemade education.” In “Learning to Read”, Malcom X advances himself in education and becomes an entirely different person. In the “Bard Prison Initiative”, on 60 seconds we find prisoners challenging preconceived notions by engaging in a rigorous academic program inside the prison. Sherman Alexie in “Superman and Me” goes against the grain of the common belief that Native Americans are not intelligent people, and that they are people who never engage in trying to better themselves. Alexie pushes with determination to discover that Native Americans are just like everyone else, and they can be whatever it is they desire to be. These examples all show that change is possible, and that expectations, stereotypes, and limitations do not undermine someone’s ability to have free choice. You can decide to be dangerous by pushing past the standard limits. This in turn helps others break free from their own form of bondage, cultural or physical. Education can make an imprisoned person become free. For Malcom X, pursuing his “homemade education” in prison not only broke stereotypes of recidivism, but also increased his knowledge in such a way that it inspired him to become a powerful and dangerous leader for social change. Society and statistics say that most prisoners will return to prison sometime after their release. It’s a reoccurring cycle, a revolving door. Most of us assume inmates to just be defects of the world. That once a criminal is imprisoned, they still attend to their criminal activities and steer away from any sort of rehabilitation. To Malcom, it was something he had to do. In “Learning to Read” Malcom defies the outlooks of society that people in prison will not change, and will continue to be defects in the world by continuously committing crimes. Malcom X decided that he wanted to better himself and became a dangerous person by breaking the mold of what a prisoner is supposed to be. By obtaining what he would call his, “homemade education”, Malcom became free even while his body was still imprisoned. “Months passed without my even thinking about being imprisoned. In fact, up to then, I never had been so truly free in my life” (Malcom X, 2). Malcom states that he felt greater freedom than ever before, all generated from reading and learning. Education was his liberation and his escape. “You couldn’t have gotten me out of books with a wedge.” (Malcom X, 2). Malcom writes about his love for books; it became his life. After Malcom began to read about what the African American people were still going through at the time, he found a new passion in helping them. It was in prison where Malcom X changed from a criminal into an activist. He defied the beliefs placed on him that he would be a criminal for the rest of his life. He became free because of education, and decided to take a stand against the horrors that were so devastating during these times. He became a dangerous man by choosing to be different and fight for what he believed was right, something everyone should take into consideration. Just as Malcom X was physically imprisoned and discovered his path to freedom, the prisoners in the 60 minutes profile of the Bard Prison Initiative had a similar journey. The inmates that were featured in the Bard Prison Project proceeded to break their limitations of being physically chained by pursuing an education, becoming dangerous and intelligent individuals. Freedom can come from education, even when someone is physically not free. Stereotypes insist that a person in prison will tend to continue with criminal actions, and such criminals will not aspire to change. At times it takes “radical incarceration” to obtain a “genuine love of learning,” and a decision to succeed in life to your fullest potential. The prisoners that are a part of the Bard Prison Project broke stereotypes by attending college with an intense drive to become increasingly knowledgeable people. At one point in the interview, prisoner Shawn Hughes stated, “It depends on how you define freedom. While at Bard I learned freedom was something much different than just a physicality, a space of physical existence. Freedom had a lot to do with your ability to think. Freedom had a lot to do with your ability to communicate with others, to see the world in a different view.” (60 minutes, 10:32-10:50) His statement is powerful because it shows that freedom is not always something physical, it is how you think and perceive; freedom comes from the mind. Hughes would have never been free if it was not for his education. He became dangerous and different because he broke the bonds imposed by accepted societal morays. Hughes and the other prisoners at Bard made the courageous decision to be upstanding and intelligent individuals, even when society had written them off. These prisoners have become dangerous by breaking the stereotype that states criminals have no desire for change or rehabilitation. They show that preconceived notions shouldn’t limit a person, and that with determination and courage, anything can be achieved. Again, education was the key to self-determination. This shows that no matter what a person’s background is or where they come from, obtaining an education is still possible. We should give anyone who desires education or liberation, a fair chance. Anyone who desires to progress in life should be given that right. Education can be a chance for change. Being stripped of your freedom does not always come from being incarcerated. Freedom can be taken away by society, family, or friends. Sherman Alexie was a dangerous man who pushed for his education. In the process he broke all cultural stereotypes that stated Native Americans were stupid, which taught a way for his people to better themselves and reach their full potential. Education can be the force to break from society’s stereotypes, and truly become independent. Sherman Alexie in “Superman and Me,” goes through a traumatic decision not to mold to the expectations that state Native American people “were expected to be stupid”. Alexie didn’t just receive such stereotypes and beliefs from society, but from his tribe as well. He states, “As Indian children, we were expected to fail in the non-Indian world. Those who failed were ceremonially accepted by other Indians and appropriately pitied by non-Indians” (Alexie, 2). The conclusion can be drawn that trying to progress for a better future through academics, in Alexie’s world, was greatly looked down upon. He broke through those barriers, or as Alexie stated when he was a child reading a superman comic, “I am breaking down the door.” He decided to take a stand and begin his education, even when he was ridiculed by others. “I read anything that had words and paragraphs. I read with equal parts joy and desperation. I loved those books, but I knew that love had only one purpose. I was trying to save my life” (Alexie, 3). Alexie states that he was trying to read and obtain an education out of a sense of desperation, a feeling that if he could not change his situation it would kill him. An education was a way to save his life from the barriers that society had placed on him and to become free in the process. He “refused to fail” (Alexie, 2), to become what others put on him to be. He decided to become much more, and in the end help others to achieve and to break the chains as well. He became a “dangerous person” by choosing to go against the grain and not form to society’s expectations of Native Americans. As a result, he made the decision to help Native American children who were facing the same barriers he did. Alexi showed them that books were their ticket for a meaningful life. As we have learned, education can be any person’s liberation, escape, and hope. The words of these writers have a powerful and uprising impact upon me. This proves that education can provide freedom to those that are socially or physically imprisoned, providing a way to break stereotypes, and that being dangerous or different is attainable. These men show that even though there are stereotypes placed against someone, no matter what they may be, that education and bettering one’s self is still possible. I relate in many ways to what these profound people went through, and I have found strength and understanding through their writings. I have been in a place where there were limitations and expectations placed upon me. Expectations that say I will never be anything special, or that my education will never exceed past high school. I have made some bad decisions in my life and have ended up in places physically and mentally were I never imagined I would be. Places so dark and traumatic, that a person could almost never bounce back from. They say that once you are a criminal, you will always be a criminal. Here I am today, pushing past every expectation that I was never going to surpass my addictions and my undying past. I can still obtain an education and I can be whoever I want to be. I will fallow and take the same determination that these men in these readings had. I will defy all odds and I will succeed by breaking every wall that comes in my way, just as Sherman Alexie stated, “I am breaking down the door.” I will break every chain that tries to bind me. I will be set free. Education will liberate me.