Importance of Education
A leader is a person who takes charge of their own life by self education. Sherman Alexie
and Malcolm X demonstrate leadership by trying to further their people. In Sherman
Alexies essay Superman and Me he demonstrates how influential education is to him.
Once Alexie was able to read he wanted to show how smart he was in the classroom.
However, the other Indian boys kept trying to keep him quiet because they were expected
to be stupid. This infuriated Alexie because until his people became educated they were
going to continually be taken advantage of. In Malcolm Xs essay Learning to Read he
explains how education made him the person that he is today. After Malcolm X became
literate his whole world changed. Up until he started reading he believed that the best way
for African Americans to gain civil rights was to use violence. However, after reading the
history of his people and how they had been taken advantage of, he realized that the best
way to gain rights was through knowledge. Both of them try to lead their people to educate
themselves. Education was necessary for Alexie and Malcolm X to overcome the
disadvantages in their background because they were able to learn about their histories and
became examples to others.
Both Sherman Alexie and Malcolm X had obstacles to overcome in their past. For Alexie,
it was that of his childhood classmates whom fought with him daily (pg 13). Alexie was
constantly trying to speak up during class and participate but the other children told him to
