Education is what we all strive to get. While for others it is a struggle to get one. It's often said that with education comes advantages and benefits; it's viewed as a ticket to success. The thing that is overlooked is that sometimes education can have its disadvantages too.
Richard Rodriguez, an Indian American writer and Malcolm X, an African American Muslim minister and a human rights activist have been smiled upon because of their interest in books and learning. In his essay "The Achievement of Desire" Rodriguez wrote that, "With every award, each graduation from one level of education to the next, people I'd meet would congratulate me. Their refrain always the same: 'Your parents must be very proud.' Sometimes then they'd ask me how I managed it-- my 'success'" (Rodriguez, pg.597). Basically, Richard Rodriguez is saying that because of his education he was being praised. In his essay "Learning to read," Malcolm X wrote that "As you can imagine, especially in a prison where there was heavy emphasis on rehabilitation, an inmate was smiled upon if he demonstrated an unusually intense interest in books" (X,pg.248). Malcolm X's point is that being educated gets you treated better than if you weren't. Being highly literate can gain you respect.
Being educated can get you into prestigious universities and give you opportunities. "I had been admitted into Stanford, one hundred miles away." In other words Richard Rodriguez believes that his literacy skills gained him a spot in Stanford (Rodriguez, pg.605). Universities like that don't just accept anyone. He went from being "the boy who first entered a classroom barely able to speak English, twenty years later concluded his studies in the stately quiet of the reading room in the British Museum" (Rodriguez, pg.597). Rodriguez is saying that anybody could succeed. .
Sherman Alexie, a Native American poet, is able to help students who are like him.
