Monday, February 05, 2007
Booker T. Washington
Katja
ENGL 48B
Journal # 13, Washington
5 February, 2007
"As yet no free school had been started for coloured people in that section, hence each family agreed to pay a certain amount per month, with the understanding that the teacher was to "board ‘round"—that is, to spend a day with each family." (Booker T. Washington 756)
"[...] though expenses were reduced by the common practice of "boarding round," by which a teacher would spend a week or two living in the home of a student and then move on to another." (David S. Reynolds 58)
Washington’s Up from Slavery explains how the formation of schools for the newly freed slaves took place and how teachers were provided for. For comparison, I have included a passage form David S. Reynolds’ book Walt Whitman’s America: A Cultural Biography.
The two quotes show that the practice of the boarding teacher was common in both black and white communities and illustrates the importance of education to American families. Certainly, many families did not have much to share, but agreed to pay a fee and to share what little they did have in order to support the teacher, thus ensuring their children’s future.
The boarding system is fascinating because it certainly would make the teacher a part of the community in a very deep way. He (most often) would get to know not only his students but their families too, which I believe would make him more invested in his work. Today’s teachers struggle to get to know their students and have a comparatively shallow understanding of their family dynamics and capacities. While the arrangement that Washington and Whitman partook in may be somewhat too intimate for today’s standards it certainly puts into perspective how little we know about the people who spend several hours a day with our children.
Community-building aside, I can hardly imagine the mental energy it would take to have to socialize with a different family each day or week. The lack of having a place to call your own certainly seems like a drawback of the profession, as does living out of a knapsack, sharing meals with people you cannot stand and perhaps having to leave a rare comfortable situation to move on to the next unknown one.
Reynolds, David S. Walt Whitman’s America: A Cultural Biography. Alfred A. Knopf. NewYork, New York. 1995. 58.
ENGL 48B
Journal # 13, Washington
5 February, 2007
"As yet no free school had been started for coloured people in that section, hence each family agreed to pay a certain amount per month, with the understanding that the teacher was to "board ‘round"—that is, to spend a day with each family." (Booker T. Washington 756)
"[...] though expenses were reduced by the common practice of "boarding round," by which a teacher would spend a week or two living in the home of a student and then move on to another." (David S. Reynolds 58)
Washington’s Up from Slavery explains how the formation of schools for the newly freed slaves took place and how teachers were provided for. For comparison, I have included a passage form David S. Reynolds’ book Walt Whitman’s America: A Cultural Biography.
The two quotes show that the practice of the boarding teacher was common in both black and white communities and illustrates the importance of education to American families. Certainly, many families did not have much to share, but agreed to pay a fee and to share what little they did have in order to support the teacher, thus ensuring their children’s future.
The boarding system is fascinating because it certainly would make the teacher a part of the community in a very deep way. He (most often) would get to know not only his students but their families too, which I believe would make him more invested in his work. Today’s teachers struggle to get to know their students and have a comparatively shallow understanding of their family dynamics and capacities. While the arrangement that Washington and Whitman partook in may be somewhat too intimate for today’s standards it certainly puts into perspective how little we know about the people who spend several hours a day with our children.
Community-building aside, I can hardly imagine the mental energy it would take to have to socialize with a different family each day or week. The lack of having a place to call your own certainly seems like a drawback of the profession, as does living out of a knapsack, sharing meals with people you cannot stand and perhaps having to leave a rare comfortable situation to move on to the next unknown one.
Reynolds, David S. Walt Whitman’s America: A Cultural Biography. Alfred A. Knopf. NewYork, New York. 1995. 58.
# posted by Katja @ 8:22 AM 
