The debate of education versus skill began with two of the most influential leaders in black history, W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington.
Booker T. Washington believed that with the development of a skill or professional trade, it would equal a higher social standing and acknowledgement from whites. Washington insured African Americans to allow the acts of discrimination to happen, and to focus on different strategies to climb both the social and financial ladder by using hard work and determination.
However, Du Bois highly opposed this theory and insisted that by following this plan it would only welcome the degrading treatment of white oppression.
Du Bois believed with education African Americans would be able to ascend to the top of the social structure. The way to accomplish this is by use of the “Talented Tenth”. “The Negro Race, like all races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men. The problem of education then, among Negroes, must first of all deal with the “Talented Tenth,” he said.
“It is the problem of developing the best of this race that they may guide the Mass away from the contamination and death of the worst, ” he said.
In today’s society both skill and education goes hand in hand, education can get an individual to the door, but skill is the key to open it.