Annotation of James Baldwin article:

“The purpose of education, finally, is to create in a person the ability to look at the world for himself, to make his own decisions, to say to himself this is black or this is white, to decide for himself whether there is a God in heaven or not. To ask questions of the universe, and then learn to live with those questions, is the way he achieves his own identity.” This quote interests me because it makes you flashback at all the things you have learned.“It is rich – or at least it looks rich. It is clean – because they collect garbage downtown. There are doormen. People walk about as though they owned where they are – and indeed they do. And it’s a great shock. It’s very hard to relate yourself to this. You don’t know what it means. You know – you know instinctively – that none of this is for you. You know this before you are told. And who is it for and who is paying for it? And why isn’t it for you?” I agree with this quote because areas are different where people live.

Response to James Baldwin:

What James Baldwin is trying to say is that American history as a whole is excruciating, yet positive at the same time. He is talking about how students have the right to ask questions and do research. What he means is that the world is getting larger which he is explaining how there’s a big population of history to tell. The student should examine everything whether or not it’s true or false. While reading the article Baldwin points out some key points. He states “The purpose of education, finally, is to create in a person the ability to look at the world for himself, to make his own decisions, to say to himself this is black or this is white, to decide for himself whether there is a God in heaven or not. To ask questions of the universe, and then learn to live with those questions, is the way he achieves his own identity.” Baldwin mentions how in schools usually bypass or refuse certain topics. We shouldn’t be afraid to ask questions that might not be relevant.