Booker T Washington Vocation Based Education Research Paper

Education is a key characteristic in defining an individual and their capability. Characterizing one’s education can be a complicated task as there are hundreds, if not thousands of unique fields that any one individual is educated in. A liberal arts education and a vocation-based education are two of the broader forms of education that manage to cover a vast majority of the fields. During the years of and after the period of Reconstruction, education became a primary goal in the lives of many Freedmen. To Booker T. Washington, teaching a vocation-based education became his utmost priority. Washington believed that a vocation-based education would allow Northern and Southern blacks to learn life skills that would advance their race as a whole,

Washington respected a strong desire to learn and a proper work ethic. “… I had the feeling that to get into a schoolhouse and study in this way would be about the same as getting into paradise.” Having spent the first years of his life working as a slave and having the concept of being education considered a taboo, Washington knew that if he could only have a sample he would become addicted. As he grew up and became a Freedman, Washington would spend his time fantasizing about the Hampton Institute. He knew that through hard work and proper dedication would he receive proper recognition for his tasks. Washington’s vocational journey properly began when he started working under Mrs. Ruffner. With her overly strict morals and upright sense of work, Washington learned to become proud of his work. It was with Mrs. Ruffner that Washington also learned how to properly take care of himself and how to represent himself and his values to

Washington wanted to help improve the lives of his students and he knew that it was possible through the use of a vocation-based education. He states on Tuskegee’s goals of vocation-based education:

We wanted to teach the students how to bathe; how to care for their teeth and clothing. We wanted to teach them what to eat, and how to eat it properly, and how to care for their rooms. Aside from this, we wanted to give them such a practical knowledge of some one industry, together with the spirit of industry, thrift, and economy that they would be sure of knowing how to make a living after they had left us. We wanted to teach them to study actual things instead of mere books alone.

By teaching the students the ways of agriculture, architecture, construction, and engineering, Washington knew that they could survive and even thrive in American society without relying upon other individuals. Additionally, the students were able to volunteer and even help the expansion efforts of Tuskegee. At times when money was tight, the students would assist in the construction, preventing the need of having to fundraise thousands of