ability to make decisions. I believe this was the deficiency in Washingtons model which led to its ultimate failure. Do we really want to produce graduates of an institute of higher learning that have no value to society beyond their ability to earn a paycheck? In Washingtons day such graduates ultimately proved detrimental to the accumulation of capital within the African American community. In todays world, the recipient of a vocational education seems increasingly likely to become a victim of disenfranchisement. Recipients of a vocational education seem decreasingly likely to protect their own interests; be those interests individual or collective. In Washingtons Tuskegee Institute, students were discouraged from striking in order to protect their collective interests. Marable writes, He (Washington) encouraged the Negro to seize the opportunity to work at his trade by taking the place of striking white workers. This proved to be a policy that would drive wages down for all workers, both black and white, thereby increasing antipathy between blacks and poor whites and eventually enabling what became the Jim Crow laws. We can safely assume that many of the recipients of vocational educations in our time to be the same persons who voted against their own interests with the passing of racist initiatives such as propositions 211 and 187. (That is if they voted)Of course, there are socio-economic factors that will contribute to the application of a Liberal arts education as favored by Du Bois versus a quick fix vocational education as favored by Washington. The level of education achieved by ones parents, the financial standing of ones family, the venue by which a person is raised, the education pursued by ones peers, just to name a few. I am reminded of a clich junkie as portrayed in the movies saying I just need a quick fix. In the end, a quick fix will not work for the junky, it did not work towards the advancement of African American...
