Malcolm X and Literacy Essay Example

Literacy has always been a dilemma in schooling. School is where most people are supposed to learn how to read and write. But what happens when you are unable to go to school or struggle with staying up in classes? You lose motivation and give up on trying to learn. According to  studies, about 32 million adults in America are illiterate. The upside to that terrible number of Americans is that they can overcome their difficulties with some hard work. Malcolm X, an American Muslim minister and human rights activist is proof of that. In 1946 Malcolm was arrested for burglary charges. While Malcolm was in prison at Charlestown Prison he noticed for the first time how little he knew and understood. In his article “Literacy Behind Bars” Malcolm writes about how he met a man named Bimbi who he envied because of all the knowledge Bimbi had. That's when  Malcolm decides to change his life forever and improve his literacy skills. 

Malcolm X grew up through the civil rights movement which made schooling very hard because the African Americans were not taught correctly. Because of this struggle he was not able to learn properly he missed out on a bunch of learning opportunities that are essential to life. He never truly worried about it until he was in prison and met a man named Bimbi. Bimbi was very intelligent; he knew and could talk about every subject. This made Malcolm envy Bimbi because he realized he did not know anything.  So Malcolm decided to change that but it was very difficult. Malcolm states “every book I picked up had few sentences which didn’t contain anywhere from one to nearly all of the words that might as well have been in Chinese.” Malcolm didn’t know or understand the words that he read. He tried to move past it and read on so he would have a little idea about the book but that was not enough. He ended up giving up until one day he got the motivation and found out that he needed to get a hold of a dictionary. 

Once Malcolm X got a dictionary he found out that was the best thing he could have done. He was lucky that he had the motivation and was determined to improve his penmanship. Malcolm goes on to state “ It was sad. I couldn’t even write in a straight line.” Which is what made him decide to request some tablets and pencils as well as the dictionary so he could improve every aspect of literacy. It was not easy for Malcolm at first he spent days flipping through pages not knowing where to start then he finally decided to start at page one. Malcolm began copying word for word down to the punctuation marks. He would spend every waking moment studying and learning as much as he could.  Copying the pages took a whole day due to Malcolm's “slow, painstaking, ragged handwriting” but Malcolm never gave up; he would write then read it back to himself over and over again. Malcolm would wake up every morning thinking about the words he had studied the day before to be immensely proud that he not only improved his writing but also he could remember the words that he wrote and what they meant. But Malcolm X didn’t stop there; he kept pursuing his passion of wanting to learn more. 

Malcolm continued to study the words A through Z coping every page and reading it out loud and reviewing the words he couldn’t remember. Although the dictionary was what he learned the most words and how to write better. The dictionary also taught Malcolm of “ people and places and events from history.” The dictionary taught him so much more than just words. Malcolm goes on to state “the dictionary is like a miniature encyclopedia.” He eventually filled up his whole tablet with just section A. He began to get a lot faster at copying the practice helped quicken his handwriting speed. Although the dictionary kept him pretty occupied it wasn't the only thing that he was reading Malcolm would go to the prison's library and check out many books to read for days. Malcolm would read well into the night because the book would engage him into wanting more. With all this reading it opened up a whole brand new world for Malcolm X.

Being able to actually read and understand books made Malcolm feel free. He states that “months passed without [me] even thinking about being imprisoned. In fact, up to then, I never had been so truly free in my life.” Although Malcolm left school early and slipped into a life of crime when arrested he self taught himself everything he could. For the first time Malcolm understood everything he read and more. He realized how important it was for him to keep learning and staying motivated to learn more no matter what. All the way through  his 10 year sentence Malcolm continued his journey of self education and once Malcolm was out of prison he took what he had learned and carried all the way with him until the day he died.  

Malcolm X's story is just a prime example of why literacy is so important to learn in school. Many students think it is not important but they are wrong.  Malcolm was the same way he left school early to jump start his life, he got into the wrong crowd. He gave up. Giving up is why there are 32 million illiterate Americans in today's society. No one sees that until they have to face it. The only thing that saved Malcolm is when he went to prison and got an interest in learning because of his envy. Malcolm's struggles and self determination is what proves that education is bigger than everything. Literacy can take you anywhere and can open your mind to the bigger picture. You just have to have the motivation and determination to pressure the journey of education.