Being Literate Research Paper

My grandfather Frailan Sendejo’s father Gregorio Sendeja would take him to work in the fields every summer. So, just like his father, my grandfather got married and had my father Enrique Sendejo and worked in the fields every summer just like they did with him. My father said to me “My dad and I went to multiple states like North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.” (Sendejo) It was tough for my father because he never got to go to a full year of school, he had to leave during the school year and then come back late in the next school year. My father told me “Some summers were harder than others because I would go on a bus to another state and work without my parents to pick cucumbers.” (Sendejo) He also said ”I had to walk on my knees all across the fields and back to help support my family, and I would only get paid $40 for the day.” (Sendejo) When he went back to Crystal one year he went to school and met my mother Gina Sendejo. My father was going to have to leave to the fields again, so my mother decided to go with him. Though, after a few years they decided to stop migrating up North to focus on their careers and family. I never realized how difficult it was for my father to get to be the person he is today, but I’m glad that he and my mother brought me to where I am today, so I can continue to share their

Gospel music has always been a good outlet for me. It has also spoken to me and gave me answers nothing nor anyone else could. It helps me connect to my roots and remember who to turn to in a desperate time of need. The most important songs have helped through the darkest times in life. One song that stands out to me and lifts me up is Greater is Coming by Jekalyn Carr. This is a song that supports me while going through obstacles, staying optimistic, and overcoming obstacles.

For more than 300 years, immigrants from every corner of the globe have settled in America, creating the most diverse and heterogeneous nation on Earth. Though immigrants have given much to the country, their process of changing from their homeland to the new land has never been easy. To immigrate does not only mean to come and live in a country after leaving your own country, but it also means to deal with many new and unfamiliar situations, social backgrounds, cultures, and mainly with the acquisition and master of a new language. This often causes mixed emotions, frustration, awkward feelings, and other conflicts. In Richard Rodriguez’s essay “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, the author

Coming from a Latino household, I’ve learned that anything is achievable – there are no walls nor boundaries to stop me from reaching my goals. Whenever it came to achieving something in school, I could hear my father’s words “si se puede” – meaning “you can do it” – playing in my head. So long as I believed I could excel and go beyond in my studies, I felt that I could open doors of opportunities for myself.

In the narrative called ‘Scholarship Boy’, by Richard Rodriguez. One can say that the biggest turning point is when Mr. Rodriguez himself realizes, at the age of thirty. The biggest attribute to his success and determination is schooling as a young boy. This is when Mr. Rodriguez had to live two separate lives. One as a young boy eager and willing to learn and develop, and another as a son and sibling to his family. At the age of thirty he finally is able to come to terms with this fact and be able to talk about in public and not have to keep it bottled up any longer. During this time in his life he is writing his dissertation and finds a written piece by Richard Hoggarts called, ‘The Scholarship Boy’. At this point in his life he sees that he is not alone with his life struggles. This was figuratively like lifting weights off of Mr. Rodriguez’s shoulders, you can see how while telling this part of the story stress is taken off of him. It is interesting to see that during the entire narrative Mr. Rodriguez seems unappreciative and ungrateful for the life his parents had given him. He is obviously resentful to the idea that his parents didn’t appreciate or value the idea of education, or at the very least learning the primary language of a country they moved to. Nothing in the story states that they were ignorant parents and didn’t know how to do simple math, the struggle that kept his parents from being able to give Mr. Rodriguez the attention and affection but most of all

In the “The Achievement of Desire” and “Para Teresa” Richard Rodriguez and Inez Avila describe the troubles of balancing life at home and at school. Rodriguez conveys the difficulties he had to face separating from his own culture to achieve academic success. His article portrays the cultural world and the educational world as separate institutions that cannot coexist in America. Throughout his text Rodriguez provides detailed experiences in order to explain his thought process. Inez Avila however presents her article as a letter dedicated to a school bully. In contrast to Rodriguez perspective Avila wrote her poem in English and Spanish to appeal to Mexican -American culture. She walks the reader through an argument between her and a fellow classmate as she was cornered in a bathroom. Her poem depicts how children who share the same culture discriminate within their own community. Both these articles are told from a Latino-American point of view yet they radically differ from each other.

In the article “Status of the Historiography of Chicano Education: A Preliminary Analysis” Guadalupe San Miguel Jr mentions Several factors that have altered and molded Chicanos throughout time. The cultural imbalance, geographical and society changes caused Chicanos to feel unfit for the Anglo-Society. This prevented Chicanos students from attending school and developing English literacy. For instance, the article mentions how schools located in California and Texas excluded Mexicans from attending primary and secondary school because Chicanos lacked an understanding of the language English. After the Bilingual Eduction of Act of 1968 was passed, school districts created special programs to encourage students of low-income to develop a better understanding of English. In reality, Chicanos felt welcomed and not motivated to continue to pursue a career and further their education. Overall, the article analyzes more reasons of as to why Chicanos are not pursuing an education.

The younger son, Richard Rodriguez, wrote his story of growing up and being educated in his family. He explains, very early in his life education change him and brought upon him. School focus his to speak only English, his parents encouraged him becoming an educated person and they pushed him to work hard at school. At the same time his parents didn’t want him to forgot his language and culture. After that he challenge himself, speak more English than Spanish until English become his primary language. The more he successes the less he connects with his family, this is a big effect his family life, his parents would feel so painful about his life had changed. In his reading see like he doesn’t happy with his successes.

The first person in my family that was born in Mexico is my dad. His name is Renan Uribe and he’s an excellent dad. Renan Uribe was born on November 12, 1971, in Jalisco, Mexico with his other 11 brothers and sisters. Each of his siblings is unique in their different ways since they all are either blonde with green eyes or blonde with light brown eyes. On the other hand, my dad was very different from them, he has light brown hair and light brown eyes! Uribe’s life was difficult. My dad didn't have an education, therefore, he grew up on the field helping his father, Maximino Uribe, while his mother, Rufina Pelayo, stayed at home watching over her children. When he was an adolescent he worked at a taqueria and played soccer. At age 17, Uribe

Born in the Dominican Republic, at the age of 10, my family and I migrated to this country to fulfill the American dream. As a girl from a small Spanish speaking island, I had to maneuver through the public school system in order to achieve the goals that I once never thought I would conquer. With language being the ultimate challenge, I fundamentally had to learn the English language on my own. Yet through the frustration of inequalities and lack of resources presented to children in inner-city communities, ambition grew inside me. My mother would say to me “Everyone deserves to have a fair share of what they loved to do.” However, at the same time, I was also taught that nothing is easily handed to you, and that “if you want it, then you have to work for it.” I live by the words of my mother, and when I receive the opportunity to continue my education at

A significant correlation between race and poverty exists, with Black and Hispanic Americans three times more likely to be impoverished than White Americans (Proctor and Dalaker 2002). The cycle of poverty and low-literacy functioning is well documented, as is the achievement gap between White students and students of color. Race is a persistent factor in employment statistics, educational attainment, and the acquisition of literacy skills, with significantly higher unemployment rates and lower educational attainment rates among Black and Hispanic Americans than among White Americans. The literature on learner attrition and on resistance to participation in adult literacy programs suggests that the

In The Hunger of Memory, written by Richard Rodriguez, he addressed education by describing his life after he became educated. One of the issues that arise in the piece is his identity. Before Rodriguez became a known speaker, he thought of himself as an unintentional “classmate to children of rich parents” (Rodriguez). From a young age Rodriguez considered himself to be different, especially because he was a mexican growing up in “extreme public alienation” (Rodriguez). Richard Rodriguez questioned his identity. Not because he embarked on a journey from being a “‘socially disadvantaged’ child” to becoming a fully assimilated American, but because that assimilation of the American identity was achieved only after a painful separation from his past, family, and culture. Rodriguez wrote in his piece, “Consider me… a comic victim of two cultures” (Rodriguez). One reason Rodriguez’ identity was questioned, in a “cultural sense,” (Rodriguez) was because he “wasn’t able to use his spanish in school” (Rodriguez). This not only had an impact on his journey of assimilation, but also on his relationship with his parents.

Growing up as the child may seem like easy to have a normal childhood, able to go school in peace having a permanent home to be comfortable, parents are stable with their job in one place. However, this is just a dream a child wants to come from a family of migrant worker. In the story “ The Circuit” illustrated Francisco Jimenez is about a boy name Pachito and his family has been moving place to place due to his parents are migrant worker there no place to settle down much.His family has stayed in small shack move again for the next job. Pachito see the manual labor his parents go through just to provide the family. Since his parents only speak Spanish do not have the time learning English during their job, it is best for their children goes to school learn English and have an education. First day of school Pachito timid all of classmate speaking fluently in English, he felt like an

Music is worldwide and there is so many genres out today that no matter what type of music you listen to, there's something for everyone. Music can touch others that hands and words cannot. Sometimes when you are going through hard times it may be difficult to figure out how to say it. Just the simple act of listening to music can make you feel something you can't express. Someone once said "when words fail, music speaks" and that couldn't be truer. Music takes over when there's nothing else left to say. Knowing that alone, should be comforting to fall back on. I would listen to so many different types of music that there was no certain type that 'saved' me. It was just all of it combined. I never connected with people the way I connected with music. It seems to understand me more than anyone I've told anything to. That what made me

I fell in love with polar opposite genres like Classical Music and Christian Rap. At my lowest point in music taste, I listened to Pop Country in order to try to relate to a girl I wanted to date. At my highest, I learned to love the Classic Country and Rock which grew me closer to my dad who grew up with these genres: artists like Eagles, Jim Croce, and George Jones. Finally, I