At the turn of the 20th century, Mark Twain said, “I never let my schooling get in the way of my education.” The real irony is how true this statement is to this day, a century later, when people believe we are at the greatest point of advancement in our history. The question is, whose history? From a glance at history textbooks from elementary onto high school, the winners wrote the books. When brown kids are told that Columbus discovered America and when black kids are told that slavery happened a long time ago, but it’s better now because we have a black president, it is clear that there has been a grave mis-education of people of color. As Murase said, “Third World people have been portrayed as faceless, dumb creatures upon which some external actor (white man) had done something to them, rather than actors and doers in and of themselves who have played vital roles in shaping the course of American history” (206). In Carter Godson Woodsen’s Miseducation of the Negro, he proclaimed history as a weapon, and indeed it can most certainly do damage to young minds. In his own, Miseducation of the Filipino, Renato Constantino said, “The most effective means of subjugating a people is to capture their minds.” The effects of colonialism and imperialism have unjustly taken a true nationalist identity from developing countries all over the world. In developing countries everywhere, people are still told about the American Dream. In Philippine textbooks, the United States is portrayed as a hero who saved them from the tyranny of Spain. However the truth is that United States had and still have pure economic and political interests in its persistent influence on the Philippines from the beginning of its interests in the archipelago in 1898. Mark Twain himself also wrote against American involvement in the Philippines, “I cannot for the life of me comprehend how we got into that mess.” Once again, a century later, we still have it messed up.
    Most educational reformists believe that the schools are failing our children. The reality is that they’re not. They’re doing exactly what they’re designed to do (Morrell, 2).  Our educational system is not so much the problem as the society is. Our schools reflect a society that is systemically designed to maintain class privilege. This is evident in the fact that “failing” schools are predominantly people of color and the Master Plan of Education that only serves as a pipeline system of who has privilege and who does not. Only once we fix the system of social and economical inequality that is perpetuated by capitalist interests, can our schools reflect a society that is just and equitable. Dismantling the system starts with a true education, not the schooling that we have been given. From the mis-education of people of color, it is quite evident how effective an educational system can be at socializing people to believe what they are told. We must take ownership of our own education and pursue truth. As Andre Lourde says, “So it is better to speak remember we were never meant to survive.” We were never meant to survive, so now it is more important than ever that we live.