In "The Souls of Black Folk," W.E.B. Du Bois talks about how black people are still seen as a
problem and are still deemed as less worthy in our society. Du Bois says that the Negro
i iste o do to was te pted towa ds ua ke y a d de agogy whi h was asi ally
caused by the way other people looked at them and has nothing to do with the actual value
of their work.
One could say that our society holds on to the thought of biological determinism and that some people still seem to believe that someone having a different skin color makes a statement about his mental capabilities—which is of course not true. However, theories like that have an influence on how people treat each other and as long as some stick with the opinion that our genes define our personalities, behaviors and mental capabilities, biological determinism will remain a problem.
Du Bois claims that issues like that will someday be overcome by the Talented Tenth. The Talented Tenth are—as he says—the ten percent of the human population that improve our society and build a better future. Can these ten percent really influence our society or is it our society that influences them? The Talented Tenth might just be the Lucky Tenth in that sense because they—unlike the other ninety percent—had the chance and the right opportunities to reach their true potential. Saying that only ten percent of all humans are naturally able to achieve such a status would mean that these ten percent are biologically determined to be leaders and would claim that their environment had little to no influence on them.
One could say that our society holds on to the thought of biological determinism and that some people still seem to believe that someone having a different skin color makes a statement about his mental capabilities—which is of course not true. However, theories like that have an influence on how people treat each other and as long as some stick with the opinion that our genes define our personalities, behaviors and mental capabilities, biological determinism will remain a problem.
Du Bois claims that issues like that will someday be overcome by the Talented Tenth. The Talented Tenth are—as he says—the ten percent of the human population that improve our society and build a better future. Can these ten percent really influence our society or is it our society that influences them? The Talented Tenth might just be the Lucky Tenth in that sense because they—unlike the other ninety percent—had the chance and the right opportunities to reach their true potential. Saying that only ten percent of all humans are naturally able to achieve such a status would mean that these ten percent are biologically determined to be leaders and would claim that their environment had little to no influence on them.
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