To be brought N

Question

"The white worker in Negro institutions , too, can never be successful without manisfesting some faith in the popele with whom he has cast his lot, His efforts must not be merely an attempt to stimulate their imitation of things in a foreign sphere, He must study his community sufficiently to discover the things which have a trend in the proper direction that he may stimulate such forces and thus help the community to do better the good things which it may be capable of doing a and at the same time may be interested in doing.
If these people are to be brought the ideas of "foreigners," and must be miraculously transformed into something else before anything can be made of them, such effort will be a fruitless task like most of the so-called education and uplift of the Negroes in America. "(from mis-education of the Negro)

Could you clarify the meaning of the sentences in blue?

Dormouse · Accepted Answer

Eunjinny,  to clarify the sentences in blue I would first have to "clarify" the author of the entire statement, remembering how Butter is "clarified" -- boiling!  Sorry, but I would only be guessing at what he (and you KNOW it's a guy - no woman would write so sloppily)  is trying to say.   BUT OK - that said, here we go.  I THINK the author says that, when working with a primarily Negro clientele, Whites must use the native, local forces for good, rather than attempt to impose so-called "First World" "foreigner ideas" and methods on his clients.  I'm not even going to start to get into the ...  "....such effort will be a fruitless task like most of the so-called education and uplift of the Negroes in America. "(from mis-education of the Negro).." allegation.   The author obviously knows nothing about that subject.

BarbaraPA · Answer

Eunjinny, the text you are reading from is so outdated.

Must you read it for an assignment, or are you just trying to practice your English? If you are just trying to practice, then please throw this one out and find something written in the last year or so.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Dormouse The author obviously knows nothing about that subject.

Dormouse: The author did know quite a bit about his subject, he was a professor.. You would realize this if you knew that that this book was published in 1933. The world (and writing on this subject) was very very different then.
From Wiki:

The Mis-Education of the Negro is a book originally published in 1933 by Dr. Carter Godwin Woodson. The thesis of Dr. Woodson's book is that African-Americans of his day were being culturally indoctrinated, rather than taught, in American schools. This conditioning, he claims, causes African-Americans to become dependent and to seek out inferior places in the greater society of which they are a part.

GG: I agree with your advice to enjinny. The writing is very old school and erudite. It is, in places, difficult even for native speakers to decipher without re-reading the text several times and thinking about it. It is recent, though, being republished in 2006 (I suppose for the sake of a historical perspective, or "enlightenment" of societies where prejudice and repression of certain classes of people is still rampant.)

BarbaraPA · Answer

Good detective work to find exactly which text it's from.

We'll keep trying if the text is required reading, but I sure hope it was just a random pick and we can use more recently written (if not published) pieces to practice English comprehension.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Eujinny has posted (I think) at least one other excerpt. Maybe she will tell us why she is using this particular text. It is near the edge of my comprehension as a native speaker!
The (American) English language, vocabulary (especially on this subject matter), social conditions, and attitudes have changed radically since the early 1900's! And professors have a certain "academic approach" to writing that makes it a bit obscure. You have to interpret the text by putting yourelf at another point in history..

Eunjinny · Answer

It is a reference book for a course I am taking.
Since I am not a native speaker and learning English, I don't know the questions I am asking is of outdated English or not and I figured that whatever things I don't understand is because of my lack of English reading skills.
But it helps me to grasp the meaning with your explanations of whatever kind of English that is.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

eunjinny:
I understand your difficulties with this text. Please post the passages you have trouble with and we will try to explain them. I will anwer your first post shortly.
A-

s

AlpheccaStars · Answer

eunjinnystimulate their imitation of things in a foreign sphere,

In other words, the Negroes are imitating how to live in a society that is foreign to them. (imitation of ...)
Now the white worker wants to act like the Negroes do, so he is "simulating" (trying to copy) their "imitation".

eunjinny to be brought the ideas of "foreigners,"

It implies that the ideas of the white society are foreign (very different from) to those in the Negro society. These ideas must be changed so that the Negroes will be able to make use of them in their own society. The writer implies that this change has to be so large as to be nearly impossible, and so, it is basically a waste of time and effort. . .

To be brought N

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