After reading Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Lesson”, the reader is left with a sense of hope for the narrator Sylvia and her friends. Following her and her friends from the slums of New York to a Fifth Avenue F.A.O. Swartz, one gets an idea as to the kind of environment they came from, the type of education they received, and the sense of economic imbalance they bear to witness. Bambara demonstrates that education for children in poverty stricken neighborhoods proves difficult to attain, however it is the best way to move past poverty. Back in the day, it was not unusual for those of the lower class to have a meager education. Hence the characters of the story are stunned when a black college educated woman moves into the neighborhood with “proper speech” (377). Miss Moore is the primary source of education for the children. She has gone against all odds in a time where it was almost unheard of for a black woman to go to college. She is a role model for the children and wants to see them succeed. However the children’s parents are negative influences on the children. The parents mock Miss Moore for no apparent reason. Sylvia overhears the grown-ups talking about Miss Moore “behind her back” (377). They are gossiping about a woman who takes time out of her day to educate their children. Though the parents “shape and crisp” their clothes before they present their children to Miss Moore (377). The reader sees a double standard displayed by parents talking behind her back, but never saying anything to Miss Moore openly. If the parents are speaking of Miss Moore behind her back, what becomes of children’s attitudes towards education and their educators? Whilst Miss Moore strove for more and educated herself, the parents settled in the lower class. Sylvia and her cousin Sugar both have negative attitudes toward Miss Moore, applying similar views of education and educators as their role models. They “kinda hated her too,