Society gender differences - Essay Example

The present research paper concentrates on the works of Richard Rodriguez and Malcolm X in a comparative way in order to find out similarities and dissimilarities they present in their valuable writings. The works reveal the very fact that both the writers have depicted their views on the significance of education and learning in the life of individuals. Both the authors belong to divergent racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds with absolutely different parentage and socioeconomic status. In addition, both the writers, under study, had experienced quite different socialization process, atmosphere and environment during their learning process.

Even then, the most dominant of the similarities between the two include their passion and eagerness regarding quench their thirst for knowledge and wisdom by studying more and more and seeking new dimensions of awareness, vigilance and insight from the books offering depth of knowledge and wisdom to them. Both Rodriguez and Malcolm X have identified the existence of racial discrimination in their society, where the population as well as ethnic group, other than the White Anglo Saxon Population (WASP), is looked down upon by the overwhelming white US majority.

Richard Rodriguez, in his essay the Achievement of Desire exclaims how his Spanish background had become a grave hurdle on his way to learning and seeking knowledge offered at American schools in English language. Similarly, Malcolm X also views education as the way of broadening one's views and eliminating racial prejudice and biased attitude towards other groups and communities of societies, though he also looks annoyed and irritated because of the hatred of the white people towards the minority races, particularly towards the blacks.

Human societies, in all parts of the globe, have been divergent since ever; this diversification is on the foundation of caste, class, clan, community, region, religion, race, gender and socioeconomic status. Though all the above-given bases of differentiation polarize the societies into different groups, yet racial background and socioeconomic status play the most influential role in unraveling the individuals from one another. Hence, all man's belongings, schooling, education, financial activities and life-style determines to which class he has come from.

An individual can facilitate himself and his family on the foundation of his resources. If he is well-to-do and earns money in plenty, he can offer his family a comfortable and luxurious life. On the other hand, if he has to work hard to make both ends meet, his family will also sure to suffer and is forced to lead a miserable and sorrowful life. Both Rodriguez and Malcolm X discuss the problem of social discrimination in their works; Jonathan Kozol's "Savage Inequalities" also portrays the same while keeping special attention towards school children belonging to different socioeconomic status.

Jonathan Kozol is a renowned American writer, researcher, educationalist and reformer. In his award-winner book "Savage Inequalities", he has described the pathetic condition of innocent school children at the school