The Lesson

Donald So Miss Fadem

English 12

March 14, 2006

The Lesson of Education

Toni Cade Bambara demonstrates the value and importance of knowledge and education in young children's lives through her short story "The Lesson". She utilizes the theme of education to show the audience the positive affects it can possess on the youth, thus having a poor education will result with a negative impact. Although there are numerous other themes in this short story, the theme of education is the key because it goes hand in hand with class mobility, identity, etc., a domino effect. In this short story, the young children will find that they are the ones missing out while they take their education for granted.

From the very beginning, we see that Miss Moore is an educated African-American woman. Through Sylvia's description of her, "this lady moved on our block with nappy hair and proper speech and no makeup. [. . .] and her goddamn college degree" (The Lesson, lines 2-32), you can assume she is very educated. Miss Moore seems to be a successful woman. She chose a career of teaching, and with use of her past education and college degree she puts it to use in teaching the kids a lesson about the rewards of a good education. She tells the children referring to an expensive toy they saw at FAO Schwarz:

Imagine for a minute what kind of society it is in which some people can spend on a toy what it would cost to feed a family of six or seven. What do you think? (The Lesson, 647) There is when she explains to the children that there is so much wealth out there that something as minuscule

as a toy can value as much as a years worth of food for a family. Miss Moore wants the children to learn that education can lead to a better life, in this particular case, becoming wealthy and coming out of their ghetto childhood lives. Sylvia is one of Miss Moore's students. Throughout the story she seems to dislike Miss Moore for always teaching them values and lessons, even when it seems like they don't want to be educated. Sylvia usually remains unmoved by Miss Moore's field trips. The trip to FAO Schwarz proved different though. They all encounter these fascinating toys and notice the expensive price tags that go along with them. At this point, Miss Moore is lecturing them about economics and society. And now Sylvia is