Reflection 1 what is your learning foundation? 

To understand my learning foundation one must learn the writing by two educators.  These individuals are W.E.B. Dubois and Herbert Marcuse. Marcuse stated that, “education is the teaching and learning of knowledge considered necessary for the protection and enhancement of human life.  General education is a very recent concept.  Previously, education was restricted to the ruling class because:

a) The underlying population could not and should not be freed from procuring the necessities of life, that is, time to get educated;

b) The ruled classes were supposed to be “ protected” and consoled by the ruling classes.

Education is not general even today.   In fact, it is still largely an upper class privilege because educational inequality is an expression of social inequality.  The restrictions on education testify to the “subversive” element in education.  Knowledge, intelligence, reason are catalysts of social change.  They lead to the projection of the possibilities of a “better” order and the violation of socially useful taboos and illusions.” (Herbert Marcuse)

This statement written by Marcuse was from a lecture on education at Brooklyn College in 1968.

     I find Marcuse's statement of subversive element in education to be true then and today as well. Our education system has been funded by property taxes for over a hundred years hence revealing the disparities in education by school districts. Also, I say this because overcoming the subversive element in education was my learning foundation.  My elementary and high school experiences were filled with questions. For example, why are their school's facilities, test scores, and sport uniforms better than my school? Why don't we have a golf team? Why are there so many kids in my class? Why do our books look so old? Why do we only talk about slavery and the civil rights movement during black history month?  Why are the negative images colored black? Why does the word black mean “bad” in the dictionary? This storyline of social inequality that Marcuse spoke about unconsciously created a psychological disorder in my mind. Often times, it was difficult not to think of myself as a second or third class citizen because of my environment.  Ironically, these feelings pushed me to learn and be better than average. Although grade wise I was successful, I was only motivated for very short-minded reasons that surrounded materialistic gains.  The thoughts of gaining knowledge for the protection and enhancement of human life was never considered or a motivation of mine.  

Surprisingly, my learning foundation did not occur until after my academic career was over.  It was not until my personal goal of discovering the meaning of life that I begin my learning process.  W.E.B. Dubois stated that there are two forms of education; one that someone gives you and one that you give yourself; the latter is more important.  I find this to be true because it was not until I went on my own personal quest that I began to read books by John G. Jackson, Esther Hicks, and Dr. Ivan Van Sertima who increased my desire as a learner.  

 John Glover Jackson (April 1, 1907 – October 13, 1993) was a Pan-Africanist historian, lecturer, teacher and writer. His masterpiece, “Man, God, and Civilization” opened my mind to become a critical thinker and analyze society on all levels. 

     Dr. Ivan Van Sertima is a literary critic, linguist, anthropologist, and writer.  In 1977 he wrote, “They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America”, now in its sixteenth printing, for which he won the Clarence L. Holte Prize for excellence in literature and the humanities relating to the cultural heritage of Africa.  My numerous questions of “why” were answered through reading his literary works.

   Esther Hicks (born Esther Weaver) is an American inspirational speaker and best-selling author. Her books gave me the understanding of the power of the mind when focused.