Free Analyzing A Reading: Delusions Of Glandeur By Henry Louis Gates Jr Essay Example

In the article Delusions of Grandeur by Henry Louis Gates, it becomes apparent that most African American children and youth aspire to become professional athletes more than they do other professions that require solid classroom education. The sad reality is that there are very few professionals in sports as compared to those who pursue education to become professional lawyers, dentists, surgeons and even teachers. But again, it is the society that has conditioned children and the youth to think that athletics and sports are the only sure way of making it in life. But again, Gates mentions the fact that this problem can be attributed to the failure of the public school education system, society and the media because they encourage athletics and professional sports rather than the empowerment of African American children academically. African American children are supposed to be encouraged to take education seriously and not just look up to athletics and sports as the only way through which a person can make it in life. Through this article it becomes apparent that the problem of not taking education seriously by African American children stems from the society and the school education system.
I agree with Gates sentiments because I do identify with them personally. The education levels among black Americans remains low even in the 21st century when they have equal opportunities at it like their white counterparts. But African American children drop out of school at a very alarming rate and in cases where they go on to finish high school their academic performance is not all that good. One wonders why many African Americans reel in poverty even in this era and age. It is because they do not take education seriously opting not to pursue high end professions such as medicine and engineering. But the good thing is that there are good examples of African Americans who have excelled in fields such as medicine, for instance Dr. Ben Carson. President Obama too is a good example of an intelligent lawyer and author.
When it comes to ethics, the article appeals to the reader because the author has a moral and educational standing to probe the issue and come up with conclusive findings that support his argument. He is an educated African American. He is an award winning university professor and he is very successful at his work. He defies belief that African Americans can only pursue sports and athletics in order to achieve their dreams. At the same time as an African American, he has had firsthand experience because he was born and brought up in the same community as many other African Americans and may have been made to believe that he could only make it in sports. When he says that African American children should be taught that sport is not the only avenue of opportunity, he means it because he is a living testimony of that ideology.
The article also appeals to logic when the author uses facts in proving his points and thus provides information that provokes reasoning. For instance, the author uses statistics to prove his points when he says the number of professional athletes, lawyers, dentists and doctors there are among the African American community in the United States. He uses those statistics to persuade his audience, especially African American children to know that athletics and sports professionals are not comparable in number to other professional African Americans out there. He provokes reason and thinking that might convince his audience to believe in his school of thought and encourage African American children to take academics seriously. He also points out other successful African Americas such as Toni Morrison, Reginald Lewis and John Hope Franklin, perhaps as a way of convincing his audience and the African American community that it is possible to make it big outside of sports.
Also, the author appeals to pathos when he tries to make his readers see him as an African American who was and still is a fan of sports, but again one who has made it in life via another avenue which is education. He confesses that he is a fan of sort too just like many black people of his generation. He grew up listening to success stories of fellow African Americans, but that did not stop him from pursuing education. At the same time, the author creates an emotional environment and tries to invoke sympathy to the reader by pointing out that blind pursuit for sports among African Americans is having a devastating effect on them. African Americans will remain poor because even young children take basketball courts and football pitches more seriously than they do their classrooms.
It is not enough that African American children are encouraged to pursue their dreams without opening the gates to the possibilities that are there in all professional fields. It is as if they are locked up in a hole where they are only let to pursue one line of thinking and not the several that are available. It is true that African American children are trained to use their bodies for financial achievement and not their minds when even their minds are a perfect tool for financial achievement. And just like the author says, the school system should change and the African American children’s thoughts should change.

Works Cited

Gates, Henry Louis Jr. Delusions of Grandeur. PDF File