我站在两个人中间，左手边是一个酱色皮肤的男人，手握紧细长的绳，蓄势待发；右手边是个子稍高的有香草味皮肤的男人，看起也是胜券在握的样子。两个人在等待我的指令，一场激烈的拔河比赛就要上演了。每个人都想赢，但他们力量相当，所以我一直站在绳子中间的部位。在两个人角逐过程中，我听到他们在喊：
“做你该做的事”
“都怪这个绳子的颜色”
“我们必须从底部开始，而不是从顶部。”
“在这个社会，若我们真想赢，就是要获得社会平等以及更多的教育。”
声音变得越来越模糊。我的身体随着比赛的激烈进行，伸展地很宽，胳膊也伸的越来越长。最后，我终于喊道：“我不行了”
这是浮现在我脑海中的画面，我冥思苦想Booker T. Washington和W. E. B. Du Bois的哲学，这两个死对头为了回答一个看似永远不会消除的问题：“非裔美国人的种族地位是应如何提升的？”他们的回答在20世纪初期被认为是正确的，而且被弘扬。我试图在我的IB课程拓展论文里呈现他们的观点。当我在写这篇论文时，内心的想法蹦出来，我有必要选择一个观点来支持，但是我做不到，所以上面描述的场景就出现了。
一开始，布克·华盛顿像是已经输掉了这场比赛。当我第一次想起他的观点时，我想要一把抓住他，问问他，是怎么想的？作为从一名奴隶变身为一个种族的领袖，布克·华盛顿倡导就业导向教育而非高等教育，他的“在其位，谋其政”，实质是在要求全体黑人以经济繁荣的名义放弃社会平等。我读到这儿的时候，一个词突然出现在我的意识里：“汤姆大叔”。
我觉得当布克·华盛顿宣布放弃社会平等时，他背弃了他的种族，社会平等不是每个人生而就有的权利么？
思考完布克·华盛顿的观点，开始思考杜波依斯的观点，这感觉像是刚刚在一汪牛粪地里被从头浇完了以后，再去洗个热水澡那般舒服。这个知识分子强调的高等教育和社会平等正好符合非裔美国人中的中产阶级的需求。杜波依斯所陈述的观点正是我长大后一直尊崇的观点。他本人也是毕业于哈佛大学的激进分子。他所倡导的引导非裔美国人的“天才十分之一说”毫无疑义地是指今天的黑人中产阶级。
我很赞成杜波依斯的观点，以至于忘记了布克·华盛顿关于自救和繁荣经济的实用理论，我目睹着他的理论每天在我们的日常生活中上演。我从贫民窟中的一位亚裔老板那里买来焗油的美发产品，也从拐角处的伊朗人商店里买来薯条和糖果。
这些事实让我想到也许非裔美国人早已将布克·华盛顿的言论束之高阁了。在这个时间点，布克·华盛顿开始于杜波依斯展开单边战争：经济繁荣意味着实力；一个具有经济实力的种族是不能被拒绝享有社会平等权利的，对吗？
为了解决由这场拔河比赛造成的困境，我将目光转向了我的生活。布克·华盛顿呼吁其中一部分我去忘记社会平等，那一部分我只想随遇而安，着重自我发展。杜波依斯呼吁另一部分我要时刻记得只有拥有社会平等，人才完整。不管怎样，两者都告诉我要像一个非裔美国人那样生活。
事实是这两位在二十世纪初倡导的思想影响着一个90后非裔美国人的小女孩儿，这说明他们所传递的讯息并没有随着时间的流逝而被人遗忘。
谁也没有赢得这场拔河比赛，也许这场存在于我脑海中的比赛，并不是一定要争出个输赢，因为他们的哲学观点都同样对我影响深刻。布克·华盛顿侧重的是社会进步中的实用主义元素，而杜波依斯则是更侧重的是在社会进步中的精神层面的元素。非裔美国人必须同时评估两者的观点，然后决定这些观点是如何促进种族的发展的。我依然站在两者的中间，但是现在我要说我要平等的接受他们。
分析
民族认同对于大多数人来讲向来是一个很大的话题，如果用来写大学入学论文，会很长很长。在一篇文章中写关于个人成长的部分，你的观点要足够深刻。招生官总是试图从你的文章中了解到你是一个怎样的人和你的价值观，这种以小见大的写作方式要好过自顾自的写为民族认同所做出的努力。Freelon写两位黑人领袖来呈现给大家她所理解民族认同是什么。小女孩儿在文中也饶有兴致地展示了历史是如何被投射到她的生活中的---这样的写法也吸引招生官的兴趣来窥见她是怎样的一个人。
Freelon的文章写得很好，也很有条理。她从具体的描述开头的拔河比赛到论文正文有很好地过渡，而且在正文中写两位领袖的哲学观点力道均匀。她也举出了具体事例来说明一开始为什么喜欢杜波依斯，后来又为什么改变了对布克·华盛顿看法。从文章中我们也可以看出人类本性---她说自己是“中产阶级的非裔美国人”，说明她是有偏见的，有时候也会犯错。
这篇文章最危险的地方是过于简单。将两位领袖的观点在短短几个段落中讲述清楚是很困难的事情，因此Freelon并没有在这篇文章中将他们的观点讲述完全。她假设招生官对民族认同感的话题是很熟悉的，这点并不一定正确。
总体来讲，Freelon的这篇文章是一个很好的范例，从一个人的思想挣扎可以看出这个人的内心是怎样的。
注解：
（1）Washington，布克·华盛顿（Booker Taliaferro Washington，1856年4月5日－1915年11月14日）是美国政治家、教育家和作家。他是1890年到1915年之间美国黑人历史上的重要人物之一。他大力倡导黑人教育，以教育作为提升黑人地位的手段，教育黑人忘记社会不公带来的创伤，着力为美国社会的繁荣贡献一己之力。
（2）W. E. B. Du Bois，威廉·爱得华·伯格哈特·杜波依斯：美国作家、教育家，与布克·华盛顿基本同时，尽管同样重视黑人教育，但某些观点正好与华盛顿相反，——他毕生都在追求黑人的平等，甚至不惜牺牲美国经济的繁荣。
（3）“在其位、谋其政”是华盛顿的一句名言，意在教育黑人身处美国的社会，就应当位美国社会的繁荣贡献己力，尽管这个社会可能不公，但不要因此忘了自己对这个社会的责任——是一种无私的奉献精神。
英文原版ESSAY参考：
ESSAY11：”The Tug of War”
I stand between two men. The caramel-skinned man on my left holds his cane as if the world is waiting for his entrance. On my right the taller vanilla-skinned man stands erect as if he must carry the world. Each man reaches for my hand and before long, a tug-of-war ensues between them. Each tries to pull me over the line of agreement but my body stays in the middle. During this struggle I hear their voices saying:
“Cast down your bucket where you are!”
“The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line!”
“It is at the bottom we must begin, not at the top!”
“The only way we can fully be men is with the acquisition of social equality and higher education!”
Their voices blur. My torso stretches wider and wider. My arms grow in length as each man pulls and pulls. Finally, I yell, “I can’t take it anymore!”
This is the scene that plays in my head when I contemplate the philosophies of Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois, two foes attempting to answer a question that never seems to go away: “How shall the African-American race be uplifted?” their answers represented the right and lift of the social spectrum in the early 1900s. I attempted to present their views in the IB Extended Essay. While I wrote the paper something inside of me felt the need to agree with and choose one philosophy over the other. I couldn’t. So this struggle developed.
In the beginning, Washington looked as if he had already lost the tug-of-war. When I first encountered the ideas of Washington I wanted to grab him and ask him,“What was going through your head?” The former-slave-turned-leader-of-a-race,Washington advocated industrial education over higher education, When he said,“cast down your bucket,” he meant relinquishing social equality in the name of economic prosperity. When I read this, one word popped into my mind, “Uncle Tom.”
I felt that Washington had betrayed his race when he renounced social equality. Wasn’t that a right every man wanted?
After examining Washington, examining Du Bois was like jumping into a hot bath after sliding headfirst through a field of cow dung. The intellectual’s ideas of higher education and social equality sat well with my middle-class African-American stomach. Du Bois represents everything I grew up admiring. Du Bois was the radical who attended Harvard University. His idea of a “talented tenth” to lead the African-American race starkly resembles the black middle class today. I had no choice but to agree with Du Bois.
So enamored with Du Bois was I that I forgot about Washington’s practical ideas of self-help and economic power. I witnessed Washington’s ideas acted out in everyday life. I bought my “black” hair products from an Asian owner in the middle of the ghetto and the corner store owned by Iranians supplied me with chips and candy.
These facts made me feel that maybe African-Americans had shoved Washington too far back into the closet. At this juncture, Washington began to give Du Bois competition in a formerly one-sided war. Economic prosperity means power; a race with economic power cannot be denied social equality, right?
In order to resolve the dilemma presented by this tug-of-war, I looked at the ingredients of my life. Washington appealed to the part of me that wanted to forget about social equality. That part of me wanted to live as it came and focus only on self-advancement. Du Bois appealed to the part of me that felt no man was a man without social equality. Either way, both appealed to my life as an African-American.
The fact that two early twentieth-century advocates affected a ’90s African-American girl shows that their message was not lost in the passage of time.
Neither man won the tug-of-war. Maybe this tug-of—war in my head was not meant to be won because their philosophies influenced me equally. Washington provided the practical ingredients for social advancement while Du Bois provided the intellectual ingredients for such advancement. African-Americans must evaluate both philosophies and determine how both views can facilitate the advancement of the race. I still stand between two men but now I embrace them equally.
ANALYSIS
The question of racial identity can be an enormous one for many people and often makes a great college essay. Writing an essay about this part of your development is insightful into your person and your views. Admissions officers are trying to get to a portrait of who you are and what you value, and little is more revealing than a struggle for racial identity. Freelon chose to write about two black leaders to show what her racial identity means to her. Her essay also shows a keen interest in how history can be applied to her life – an interest that would appeal to admissions officers trying to pick thoughtful individuals.
Freelon’s essay is well written and well organized. She moves smoothly from her opening thoughts into the body of the essay and devotes equal time to each philosophy. She also shows clear examples of why she originally liked Du Bois and why she changed her mind about Washington. Her essay show important elements of human nature – she admits that as a “middle-class African-American,” she has a bias, and she is also wrong from time to time.
The main danger in this essay is oversimplification. It’s difficult to condense the arguments of two leaders into a few paragraphs, and Freelon doesn’t present the total view of their philosophies. She also assumes a familiarity on the part of the admissions officers with issues of racial identity, which may or may not be true.
Overall, however, Freelon’s essay is an excellent example of how a personal identity struggle can reveal a lot about the person inside.
注：ESSAY出自哈佛成功ESSAY50篇之第一版。
