African American Students are a social group.

The White Kids vs. African American Students

“The white kids would pretend to be Galileos and Madam Curies, Edisons and Gauguins, while our boys (the girls weren’t in on it) would try to be Jesse Owenses and Joe Louises” (Angelou, 82).
As illustrated in the essay, this feature would undoubtedly trouble African American students because it looks down on their intellectual capacity while appearing to applaud their athleticism. Mr. Donleavy, the speaker, states that he had arranged some changes for the schools in Stamps, including the Central High School, a white’s learning institution, had been awarded laboratory equipment whereas Lafayette County Training School was being considered for sports facilities (Angelou, 82).

Intellectual Capacity vs. Athleticism

This move insinuates that the students in the latter school are more athletic oriented than intellectual. It presents the notion that the learners in this institution, who are African Americans, are not destined for careers that require them to use their mental capabilities but rather their physical.
As Maya Angelou indicates the white students were being groomed to become scientists, inventors, and artists whereas their African American counterparts were being directed towards sports. However, not all of the African Americans were curved out to be athletes such as Maya Angelou’s brother who she says, “was obviously always going to be too small to be an athlete” (Angelou, 82). As such, the only way for them to make it through to the professions made available on a silver platter to the white students was to work extra hard and to go through daunting perseverance.

Implications for African American Students

Besides, Mr. Donleavy does not take into account the fact that there are intelligent students with high levels of ingenuity in Lafayette County Training School who would benefit from laboratory equipment as opposed to sports facilities. Members of the African American social group may perceive this ignorance as a way of putting them down by limiting their societal progress. This move appears to restrain them to a certain level in the community whereby they will not have the opportunity to be influential individuals owing to the low educational standards. Consequently, they will always be at the mercy of the white students who were offered the opportunity and access to careers that made them powerful people.

Call for Affirmative Action

For the contemporary African American social group, this aspect is troublesome as it warrants affirmative action. For a long time they had been subjected to inferiority complex which made them fail to climb the societal ladder. Additionally, such incidences may be a call for concern since some people may have been denied an opportunity to be great individuals in the modern society despite having potential by not having access to facilities such as laboratory equipment.

Counter-Argument

“Their lives are difficult not because of laziness, but because of other factors they cannot control.”
This statement is not true because numerous people who are financially disadvantaged are in that status because they are lazy. Almost every individual has access to facilities and resources that can get them out of poverty, the only thing that they have to do is utilize the little resources that they have access to. These facilities may not make them rich but they would not be poor either. In essence, such people are lazy not to find the little resources that is at their disposal and utilize them.<\/p>