Mis-education of the Negros

西方讲述的是在西方国家，黑人是一直受到不同程度的歧视，对黑人的错误教育阻止了黑人的自由解放。总体上，作者试着努力寻求造成这一错误教育的根源，并呼吁人们站出来保护黑人的权利，提倡平等。

The mis-education of the Negroes has made them of no use to the development and further liberation of the Negro race. The situation results from a number of factors, including historic malfunctioned operation carried out by the whites mainly, the outside control and the misunderstanding of their own position of both the educated and highly educated Negroes. The author conducts multifarious research both vertically and horizontally, drawing conclusions from the historic and contemporary facts of the Negro education—that the Negroes education is misleading from the very beginning, resulting from the unequal racial treatments. The education on the whole has prevented Negroes from generating outstanding figures in almost all fields of study and society, so the author calls upon people to find out what truly the Negroes need to serve the race and rise from the lower status.

Chapter 3 concludes the reason led to the miseducation problems: Those who participated in the education of freedmen in the south had more enthusiasm than knowledge; they tried to transform the Negroes, not to develop them. In various subjects taught, Negroes are told to ignore their past achievements, despise their own language and habits, etc. In all, the subjects taught to Negroes all started with the European or white perspective, while mentioning only a few or no black views. The Negro teachers of the system are also powerless to change the situation, those who have the chance to join the school broad or other higher status are too few, and the majority of Negro teachers have to perform in the “right” way that the Caucasians told them to do. As a result, these “mis-educated” Negroes are of no service to the white men and themselves, and the Negroes are being led to a dark alley by the education system. Woodson proves the point by referring to a number of important subjects taught to the Negroes, explaining explicitly how these subjects affect the way Negroes see about themselves. The chapter demonstrates the realities in the Negro education, providing strong evidence to prove the thesis that mis-education will enable Negroes of no use to their race. It also sets out to inhibit the possible means that can correct the situation in the future and latter part of the book.