Lessons a Student Can Learn from Trevor Noah’s “Born a Crime”

Going into detail about the importance of education and resources.

Trevor Noah is a South African comedian who lived during Apartheid. Trevor’s book, “Born a Crime”, has two main themes: The importance of education, and the importance of resources.

The Importance of Education

Education is an important and recurring theme in “Born a Crime”. For example, Trevor’s school taught the students about the Holocaust but never taught them that Hitler, in fact, inspired the makers of Apartheid. What’s even more is that Black people during that time were never taught who Hitler even was, and since they were required to give their children an “anglicized” name, many children were named “Hitler”. How were they supposed to know, if they weren’t given an education?

“We were taught history the way it’s taught in America. In America, the history of racism is taught like this: ‘There was slavery and then there was Jim Crow and then there was Martin Luther King Jr. and now it’s done.’ It was the same for us. ‘Apartheid was bad. Nelson Mandela was freed. Let’s move on.’ Facts, but not many, and never the emotional or moral dimension. It was as if the teachers, many of whom were white, had been given a mandate. ‘Whatever you do, don’t make the kids angry.’”

“Facts, but not many, and never the emotional or moral dimension.”

In other words, education is more than just knowing a few facts. The emotion is just as important. Teaching history without context to the present world is useless. People will only learn if they see how that past affects the present: good past and bad past.

The bad past is arguably more important to teach than the good past, yet is the most downplayed in many school curriculums. If students don’t learn the wrongs that someone has done, and how it affects the present, what’s stopping the student from making the same mistake again?

“In America, the history of racism is taught like this: ‘There was slavery and then there was Jim Crow and then there was Martin Luther King Jr. and now it’s done.’”

This particular way of teaching is very harmful and can cause many problems in the future. For example, in America, racism never ended — rather it just evolved. Redlining, at the time, was acceptable. Today, there are laws forbidding the practice. However, just because there are laws that forbid redlining, the people originally affected still feel the effects to this day. (Further education -> Systemic Racism Explained.)

The Importance of Resources

“People love to say, ‘Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for a lifetime.’ What they don’t say is, ‘And it would be nice if you gave him a fishing rod’”

Someone might know how to gain a decent amount of success, but just knowing gets them nowhere if they don’t have the resources. For example, knowing how to use Excel gets you nowhere if you don’t have a computer.

As a student, it is important to know what resources are available to you. For example — many colleges provide IT resources, a career development center, and libraries. Yet, many students do not take full advantage of these resources. For younger students, many middle and high schools provide free tutoring.

This goes beyond just students. Perhaps your local library provides tickets to museums, or maybe they have a 3D printer for public use. Maybe you have Amazon Prime, but you don’t take advantage of the free books, movies, and audiobooks that come with it.

Teaching Yourself When the Teacher Doesn’t

If your teacher isn’t teaching you, how are you supposed to know what you’re missing? Well, you wouldn’t know, but luckily there are many people, such as Trevor Noah, who are helping us see, “Oh hey, something’s missing here. Maybe I should investigate?”

Trevor’s mom understood the importance of education and made sure that Trevor knew how to speak multiple languages and question the rules.

We are lucky to live during a time where we have the internet and can use it to our full advantage. Maybe some of us don’t know the best way to find information on the internet, which is where we start to look for other people who left behind breadcrumbs on what to search for. @soyouwanttotalkabout on Instagram leaves behind not only breadcrumbs on problems in our world today but also a handful of detailed notes and analysis. They show you what the problem is, why it’s a problem, and the history of that problem. From there, it is a lot easier to research on your own.

Conclusion

Trevor Noah looked up to his mom as a role model, yet his mom didn’t have a role model herself. By writing “Born a Crime”, Trevor Noah became a role model for many people, and many more to come. Perhaps, by sharing educational resources, you could become a role model for many, as well!