The Meaning of Education

            Imagine your entire knowledge bank that has been built, in some cases, for over two decades, being completely erased. You no longer have any knowledge of written language, mathematics, or history. You can no longer continue to read this essay. Education is a tool that has been used throughout history and is enormously prevalent in almost every society. Most people reading this essay are unaware of the mental frustration and disastrous consequences of being completely uneducated. In the essays of Frederick Douglass (Learning to Read and Write) and James Thurber (University Days), this seldom thought of fact becomes overwhelmingly present in our minds. The connotation of education is diverse amongst all cultures, classes, and individuals. Though held behind such a simple word, the reason for this diversity can be better appreciated by uncovering an individual's past and discovering where they see their future. .
             One major discrepancy between the writings of Douglass and Thurber is the different historic eras that each stem from. It is clear that Douglass" experiences come from the nineteenth century when slavery was still thriving in the United States. Douglass, being a young black slave, is given the thirst for knowledge by his compassionate young mistress who begins to educate him. Unfortunately, she is later turned against his will to learn by the commonly held belief of the time; "for her to treat me as a human being was not only wrong, but dangerously so." (Douglass 71). Douglass must go through much labor to escape the ever watchful eyes of his mistress and finally succeed in his quest to learn to read and write. Douglass has "no regular teacher" (Douglass 71), he has only the obsession to be free that propels him to find any means possible to obtain education. Thurber, on the other hand, is from the late twentieth century, a time long after the abolition of slavery. He takes education for granted, to a certain extent; "I finally took a deferred pass, as they called it" (Thurber 170).