Krasner Assignment #3 in Philip Cusick's a Passion for Learning, We

Krasner_Assignment #3 In Philip Cusick’s A Passion for Learning, we receive an analysis of the education, formal and otherwise, of seven people who are deemed by Cusick to be ‘eminent Americans.’ His ‘pillars’ of their education include such areas as reading, serious study, religion, associates and work, among others. In conducting a more in- depth inquiry into how Eleanor Roosevelt’s education, one of the seven profiled, was affected by her associates, the link provided to the website for the PBS show American Experience, for me, provided the best overview of how Roosevelt’s relationships with men and women of her acquaintance furthered her education, making her a force to be reckoned with. Although a variety of websites for Eleanor Roosevelt were provided, only one of the sites, in my opinion, truly addressed the inquiry of how her education is represented. The American Experience website, from PBS, gives a broad, in-depth look at Roosevelt’s life, from her lonely childhood to her position as ‘First Lady of the World’ and ends with her death in November of 1962. On the website, it is the study of Roosevelt’s associates, and how they influenced her, that shows us the importance of mentors in the role of education. I feel that I should briefly address the reasoning behind my choice of the American Experience website over the other websites in developing my inquiry into the education of Eleanor Roosevelt. While the other sites are adequate resources for the discussion of Eleanor Roosevelt, only the American Experience website addresses Eleanor as a person in her own right. To me, the other sites dealt with Eleanor, and her influences, only as secondary to her husband, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Because of this, I will focus my inquiry on the PBS American Experience website. The website for American Experience is well laid out and easy to navigate. While the main page that the course link leads to is very basic, entry to more information is quick and easy. Most helpful to our understanding of what made Eleanor Roosevelt the crusader that she is known as is the information provided in the biographies of such Eleanor Roosevelt associates/mentors as Mademoiselle Marie Souvestre, her teacher at the Allenswood School in England, found in the sections titled ‘Interview: Blanche Weisen Cook’ (section titled Life at Grandmother Hall’s House) and ‘Biography: Eleanor Roosevelt’s Life’ (paragraph 3); Louis Howe, the ‘man behind Roosevelt’ (both Franklin and Eleanor), found in the section titled ‘Biography: Louis Howe’ (paragraph 6), in which Eleanor acknowledges his contribution to her ‘political education’; Mary McLeod Bethune, educator and director of the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration during the Roosevelt administration, in the section titled ‘Biography: Mary McLeod Bethune’(paragraph 8, from an Eleanor Roosevelt ‘My Day’ article titled ‘Race Issues’); and friends Marion Dickerman, Nancy Cook, Lorena Hickok, and Frances Perkins, the Secretary of Labor during the Roosevelt Administration, from the section titled ‘Biography: Eleanor Roosevelt’s Life’. In addition, the writings of such Roosevelt biographers as Blanche Weisen Cook provide insights to Roosevelt’s informal educational process that took her from a society woman with no outside interests to the woman who helped change the nation with her stance on women’s suffrage, civil rights and social and political issues that had not previously been part of a woman’s world, thanks to the guidance of Souvestre, Howe, and others previously mentioned. An especially fascinating part of the website are the Primary Resources sections, including those of the FBI file created by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, on the ‘subversive’ activities of Eleanor Roosevelt. In this section, titled ‘Primary Resources: FBI Files’ we are given an opportunity to view documents related to what were considered to be Eleanor Roosevelt’s ‘subversive’ activities, including supporting progressive, liberal schools such as the Highlander Folk School in Monteagle, Tennessee. Her support of this school speaks to the educational support her mentors gave her to look outside of formal schooling for wisdom that would lead her for her entire life. But it is in the section of the website where we can read the actual transcript of the show that we truly are able to see the importance of the mentors and associates in Eleanor’s life to her education. In the transcript of the show we are able to explore the full investigation into the life of Eleanor Roosevelt, how she was able to acclimate herself to the influences of people such as Mlle. Souvestre and Louis Howe, among others, which allowed her to become a lifelong learner of people and the world around her. It is through their support and encouragement of her, pushing her outside of her comfort zone and allowing her to learn, respond and grow, that we can truly appreciate how the pillar that Cusick identifies of ‘associates’ adds to a person’s education, enabling them to become a strong and vibrant contributor to our society. .

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