The Lesson Toni Bambara - The Lesson 1 Miss Moore an educated African-American teaches the children a very valuable lesson She takes the kids to F.A.O

The Lesson 1. Miss Moore, an educated African-American, teaches the children a very valuable lesson. She takes the kids to F.A.O Schwartz and the first thing the children realize are the outrageous prices of the toys. One child, Q.T. says, “It must be rich people that shop here”. The kids also agree that “white folks crazy”. However, the entire time Miss Moore is teaching the kids about the inequality in the society. She refers to their homes as “slums” in which the protagonist, Sylvia is not too happy about. Instead of Miss Moore flat out teaching the children something that they would think was boring anyway, she forces them to apply their knowledge. For instance, rather than telling Sylvia how much the 10% tip will be for the cab, she tells her to figure it out. The kids realize that the toys in F.A.O Schwartz cost more than what their family spends annually on food. The children also gather that they are so disadvantaged that they do not even have papers to be weighed down with a $480 paperweight. Although Sylvia does not want to give Miss