Education Vs. Non-Education

Education vs. Non-Education

There are two important stories called, "Front Seat Brahman" and "Teachers of Import" that have a common conflict. That common conflict is education vs. non-education. The character in "Front Seat Brahman" is Sushil Rao. He is from Bombay, India. The characters in "The Teachers of Import" are Amarel Collymore and Elke Walcher. Amarel is from Bridgetown, Barbados and Elke is from Austria. They all moved to Queens, New York for a particular reason.

Sushil did not mention whether or not he went to elementary or high school. However, from the story it sounds like he took school lightly compared to Amarel and Elke. Sushil states, "I went away to agriculture college to learn how to be a farmer, but they made me dissect frogs in a botany class so I quite. So I enrolled in a philosophy college. A year later, my father died and I was kind of out of control. I quite college and became a traveling hippie" (Lehrer/ Sloan, 32). This proves that he did try to go to college, but was not dedicated enough to finish college. He thought there were better opportunities and prospects out in the world than just going to college. That was not the case for Amarel and Elke.

Amarel was a college graduate and taught high school English. She had decades of teaching experience and decided to come to New York. Elke was also a college graduate and taught science. Both teachers came to teach in New York because there was a shortage of teachers and the New York City Board of Education was looking to recruit teachers from different countries. Amarel was not used to the student's behavior the first week of classes. She states, "In Barbados, if a student acts up, they get put out the door right away. When I first started teaching here I thought the kids were raging all the time. Then I figured out its just normal for them to curse and swear" (Lehrer/ Sloan, 55). This shows the differences between the way students act in Barbados vs. America. I think American students, depending on the school though; have very low respect for their teachers compared to certain countries. Elke had a different experience. She said, "It's a prejudice Europeans have against blacks anyways. The movies give the impression that all blacks are criminals and they all live in the Bronx. I couldn't believe the class was half black. Most of the guys are wearing gang jackets and bandanas" (Lehrer/ Sloan, 59). This proves that Elke was in for a big surprise and they were not like the Austrian students that she was used to. Sushil was more of a spiritual person rather than educational. For example Sushil says, "You can live without food for days at a time. But water you need almost every four hours. Water is like diamonds. Our life depends on it" (Lehrer/ Sloan, 36)! People know they cannot live without water, but I have never heard anyone phrase is quite like that. This shows that Sushil is such a deep and meaningful man. Sushil has