Education Narrative by Sorbari Zegenee

Spring 2013


‘’Knowledge is power’’ is what I have heard my entire life of going to school, but going to school and trying to be educated did not make me feel empowered--it only made me confused and angry. The lesson I learned is somewhat similar to Frederick Douglass, in that he believed being educated was more painful than delightful, because he is awake to understanding how his fellow slaves are mistreated. During my education I have felt just a minimum of what Douglass felt, because sometimes I did feel that I had lost my innocence to what was occurring around me, and that I had to also wake up to my responsibilities.

My story begins in July 1999; the day was so chilly like any other day. No matter if the season was fall or summer, Minnesota was always cold. My family and me are flying to America from Nigeria, because of the war that had begun from the oil that my village acquired. It was six months earlier, but I can still recall how we had to quickly pack our things and flee to a camp for safety as my friends and neighbors' homes were burned down in front of our eyes. Living in America was so hard for my family and me because we do not know anyone, and my father was the only one who knew a basic level of English.

On July 28, a man, who wears a black suit, knocked on the door demanding things and speaking so fast we did not comprehend what he was saying. But my father interrupted him by saying ‘’what you want?’’ Then  the man allowed three other men with black suits into our apartment. The three men are so tall they look like they could be 6’4. My father and they began to put boxes filled with clothes, food, and shoes on the floor. My mother, who is so flustered and dumbfounded, begins to walk towards the boxes but my father intercepts her. One of the men has invited a man, who looks like he could also be Nigerian, to speak to my family and me. The man claimed that these men would be signing me into an elementary school called Foreman Miller and my father is going to be working temporarily at the Sunny Company where he would be manufacturing goods. As my family and I try to understand everything that occurred, the man then says "now you all will live the good life and become happy with no hard times because you are in America now.’’ At first, I did not know what he meant when he said that but now I can honestly say that he lied, because America might be the land of the free, but nothing is easy or free.

Two weeks passed since the men with the suits came to our apartment and now my mother is beginning to prepare me for my first day of school. I am so excited but I am also nervous because I am not ready to be surrounded by people I do not know, and who will laugh at my accent when I speak. But I am thinking about wanting to be like the little girls in my neighborhood who wear cute dresses, read books, and speak fast. Monday is here and I am prepared to go to school; wearing my new snow boots, which has the coolest logo of a polar bear and are pink. Then my father carries me inside the minivan, where my mother begins to sob and that is making me sad I begin to cry. My homeroom teacher, who is a tall and skinny man, walked me to my desk where I noticed it has pencils, books, and erasers on it. My teacher began to speak saying it is time for the pledge of allegiance, but as I tried to repeat everything I could not keep up with everyone so I am told to stand up and say the pledge all by myself. The teacher gave me the pledge of allegiance on a sheet of paper and told me to say it aloud but I cannot do as my teacher insisted so he walks me to the principal’s office where they both decide that I just do not know the basics, so they will transfer me to a class called ESOL.

ESOL stood for English for speakers of other languages. I went home sad and disappointed that I did not know anything and that I was going to have to explain to my parents why I learned nothing because I understood nothing that I was being taught. Frederick Douglass narrates that his mistress "was a pious, warm, and tenderhearted woman’’ who had heavenly qualities and who began him on the journey to knowledge. I also feel that my ESOL teacher Mrs. Newfield is benevolent and understanding when it comes to teaching me how to use pronunciation while reading a word I am unfamiliar with; even when I tell myself to quit she advises me to not give up and keep at it. I began to practice more and more so I could understand the world that I lived in, but as I continued to become more curious, discoveries that I had come upon were saddening. Frederick Douglass said, ‘’I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing.’’As Douglass emphasizes this, I also believe it because knowing how so much of my fellow Nigerians died because of shell oil, which they involved military action, makes me hate that I was knowledgeable to read about it in the newspaper.

Frederick Douglass believes that "it was this everlasting thinking of his condition that tormented him." In comparison to Douglass,  sometimes I believe I overthink situations that make me feel like I have to put everything on my shoulders. For example, as I read and see images of the many hundreds of people that died because of that war that makes me want to learn more for all the people who do not have an opportunity like this. I am telling myself to use my knowledge to build something valuable like a career, which I can then take those skills, back to my village and take care of my people. I believe Frederick Douglass overcame his sadness and he did great things with his knowledge like helping Abraham Lincoln with the Emancipation Proclamation.