Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

COLUMN: Education remains key part of King's enduring legacy
By Lewis V. Baldwin
Vanderbilt Hustler (Vanderbilt)
01/21/2008

(U-WIRE) NASHVILLE, Tenn. — We too often forget Martin Luther King Jr. was an academic and a thinker long before he became a major advocate for creative nonviolence and a recognizable force in organized social protest. From the time he matriculated at Morehouse College, which he attended from 1944 to 1948, King highlighted the significance of education as an avenue to both personal fulfillment and social transformation.

While a junior in college, he wrote what was perhaps his first essay on "The Purpose of Education," focusing especially on the virtues of intellectual and moral enlightenment. That essay raised issues that would figure prominently in King's rhetoric in later years, especially as he sought to relate education to the quest for what he called "the American dream" and "the beloved community."

King's thoughts on the processes of education and their importance in creating what he called "a new humanity" should be seriously considered on several levels. First, he insisted education is essential for the enlightenment of the self. He praised the Greek philosopher Socrates for his devotion to self-enlightenment, academic freedom and the search for truth, and he cherished the open and analytical mind and receptivity to what he often termed "the best lights of reason."

King understood the significance of a liberal arts education for every individual who strives for excellence in life and in the higher spheres of human activity, and this too is important as we recall his legacy today.

Second, King held education is a necessary ingredient in the struggle for freedom, justice and peace. He valued what Paulo Freire called "education for critical consciousness," and his own struggle for civil rights amounted in part to an effort to translate much of what he had learned as a student at Morehouse, Crozer Theological Seminary and Boston University into practical action and practical reality.

Throughout much of his public life, he worked closely with student groups and agencies that employed educational methods to achieve the ideal of the integrated society. His thoughts on "the intellectual-activist type" are still relevant for students who are interested in making constructive contributions to the struggle against all forms of bigotry, intolerance, violence and oppression in our society and world. Undoubtedly, King's insistence on an inseparable link between education and social praxis remains one of his greatest challenges to the academic community.

Third, King maintained education prepares one to live and function properly in a democratic society. For him, ignorance and a carefully orchestrated system of miseducation accounted largely for the failures of participatory democracy in the United States.

King believed through the proper educational methods, individuals become well equipped to participate in a society in which the rights and privileges of all are appreciated, embraced and celebrated. He called education "a most vital and indispensable element" in the workings of democracy, and he often said revolution must be brought into the educational system before it can be successful in the social and political arenas of society. Clearly, King's legacy reminds us a culture of genuine participatory democracy always hinges on a healthy and inclusive culture of learning.

Finally, King emphasized the idea education is an essential component in creating human community. He insisted education should instill in people a healthy sense of their own essence as social beings who find authentic existence through wholesome relations with other selves. Through education, he noted, internal feelings of prejudice and hatred can be changed.

King's insistence on the brand of education that makes people think critically and creatively and forces them to keep an open and analytical mind is still meaningful for those who seek to overcome the maze of myths and stereotypes that have too long separated people along the lines of race, class, gender and sexual orientation. Fortunately, we still have King as a model for reflection.

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