Read this excerpt from the land given the historical context, what does mister edward's decision to educate paul tell the reader about mister edward's character? but on that night after the boys had torn my book and beaten me, my daddy said to me, "i've decided to send you away to school." i stared at him across our campfire. "sir? " "i want you to have an education and a trade. i want you to have a means of supporting yourself." "b-but." i stuttered, "i know plenty already. i've been studying here and you and hammond and george, you all taught me - "what we taught you is only a beginning. now, there are some colored schools opening up in georgia and elsewhere where colored boys and girls are going for higher education and there's a school in macon you can go to part-time, and later on, you want to take more o educating african american children was common, so it shows he liked to follow the rules. o educating african american children was common, so it shows he approved of education. educating african american children was uncommon, so it shows he cared about paul's future. educating african american children was uncommon, so it shows he wanted to send paul away.