Growing Up In Oswego School

Growing up with parents who are immigrants can present many obstacles for the children of those immigrants. There are many problems people face that we do not even realize. Things happen behind closed doors that we might not even be aware of. Writers Sandra Cisneros and Amy Tan help us become aware of these problems. Both of these authors express those hardships in their stories about growing up with foreign parents. Although their most apparent hardships are about different struggles, both of their stories have a similar underlying theme.

As a first-generation American I’ve had to face certain challenges that people from non-immigrant families wouldn’t have to face. The most obvious challenge is subtle racism. I’ve had people, speaking directly to me, imitate the way other Indian people speak, make racist jokes (some people think racist jokes are validated if they’re speaking to someone from the race in question), justifying themselves by telling me things like “but you’re not like that.” I come from people who are “like that.” I may be an American but that doesn’t mean anyone can make comments about my family and where they come from. Another such challenge is that my parents often can’t help me navigate American life. But their experiences, the difficulties I’ve seen them face in their lives, and the values they’ve picked up and passed down to me have shaped how I approach life’s problems. Seeing their struggles to create a good life for our family in the US has taught me the importance of education, hard work, risk-taking, and optimism.

My Mother and Father relocated from Costa Rica to New York City where they met got married and where I was born. When I was just two years old, always wanting the best for us, my father moved our family from New York City to Jacksonville, FL in search of a better paying job and the American dream so he could provide us with a better quality of life. To ensure we were always clothed and feed, my father sacrificed everything for us and worked long hours to do so. Though I did have a pronounced, safe and active upbringing the North Florida school system didn’t expect much from the Hispanics that were starting to move to the then small town; unfortunately since my parents worked so much they expected the school system

I am a U.S. born citizen. My parents moved to the United States in 1984 without knowing anything about this country. Looking for a fresh start and new opportunities, my parents settled in Houston. With hardly knowing any English, my parents knew this was the place to make dreams become a reality. Luckily, I had older siblings to look up to whenever I needed help. Like Lahiri, I was trapped in between two different cultures while I was growing up. At home, I only spoke Spanish, but in school it was English. My habits and customs were different than others. Life as an immigrant’s offspring can be very difficult. As I grew older, I allowed myself to open my eyes and see the beauty of being an American from Hispanic descent.

My parents both came to this country at a very young age. My father was 16 when he first moved to the U.S. and my mother years later moved when she was 19. I am a child of immigrants and it was hard growing up. I consider myself a Mexican American or Chicana. I grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles and later moved to Las Vegas. As I asked my father what he had to deal when he first moved he said “people would discriminate me just because I couldn’t speak well English and because of my brown skin”. “I was only 16 and wanted to live the American dream, but it was more like hell in America”. A lot of people are discriminated every day just because they aren’t Caucasian/white Americans, but they’re still American they live here and have a living here.

My biggest weakness and my economic status transformed me into a better student, and help me grow up as a person. I moved from a Spanish speaking country, where I did not know English at all, to The United States of America about six years ago. As a newcomer and the first generation of my family in attending to a university, I had had to overcome the language barrier, and work while studying in order to help in my household, without let my grades be affected by this. This two barrier teach me time management, responsible and, most importantly, that everything may be possible with hard work, dedication and determination. I have kept a significant high grade average point (GPA) of 3.81/4.0. I am actively participating in research projects. I am a member of PSI CHI, the International Honor Society in Psychology, and the Association for Psychological Science (APS). I am planning to pursue a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Columbia University, Teacher College.

Growing up in America has been one of the most unexpected and surreal experiences. I am only twenty three years old but being from the Big Apple, New York and being raised by single parent, nothing in my life has ever been a walk in the park. I am considered a minority because I am Puerto Rican and African American and it has always been tough for me living in such an urban area. Not having the best financial status is what made thing even harder. My mother had to struggle to make ends meet for me, but we made it and are still making it. I have always seen my neighbors, friends, and family also experience the same hardships as me. Many of the people I know had to fight to

After these 2 F’s I wanted to continue being enrolled in course work because I thought I would be able to complete these having learned my lesson with the F’s I got. Very, very wishful thinking. On the first day of the winter quarter my mother suddenly became abusive. I did not inform her about the F’s so that didn’t cause it. It was due to me getting the accounting books that were necessary to do my course work which I bought. She proceeded to physically and emotionally abuse me because of it, but this grew worse and worse in degrees such as threatening to call the sheriff on me for no reason whatsoever. Because I relied upon her at the time for pretty much everything, ranging from transportation to the bus stops and money due to her having complete control over my finances, she was able to constantly abuse at every point in time. Due to the fact that I didn’t have the means to live on my own I was afraid to tell anyone about what was happening, because worst case scenario I would have become homeless. I was afraid for my life and I just wanted it to stop, I never reacted to her during all this, I stayed silent because if I said anything she would have twisted my words around. Due to this I failed assignments in the accounting course, forgot to upload a file in my spreadsheets course, and plagiarized in the English course. After that I didn’t want to continue being enrolled but my mother told me point blank that if I didn’t enroll for the spring she would kick me out. Given this I went against better judgment and enrolled in the spring of 2012. She became however even worse during the spring and I couldn’t handle it so my mind actually broke and I almost became suicidal in nature. This caused me to skip

I was born in New York City in Harlem hospital on July 26 1989. My parents Gwen and Donald Ames grew up in Pensacola Florida and Norfolk Virginia. They had two different lives growing up. My mom being from Florida mainly grew up around mostly African Americans and in a more country like town. My mom’s father was a pastor at a Baptist church and my grandmother worked for the state. I remember talking to my mom and she said she grew up when segregation was big. She would march and protest against desegregation. My mom went to Florida State where it was predominantly white. She said she had trouble with the transition from being around mostly African American to a school with mostly Caucasian. She felt that she had to prove something. The drive

I am first generation French-American, born and raised in New York City in a middle class neighborhood, attending catholic school from kindergarten through to 12th grade. Those are the fact, however the details are that while being raised by both parents substantial dysfunction existed within the family unit, which translated in my life into a lack of belonging and identity for countless years. I knew the expectation of being French and American and understood the expected behavior and core values, however the house consisted of tyrannical father who remained absent yet influenced every aspect of the home life and this elusive

As a high school student, I knew I wanted to make my own mark someday. I wanted to better myself and take a different path than most of my friends. It is common in Mexico for those attending college to live at home. In the case of my graduating class, I was the only one out of 70 students to pursue my college degree in the United States. Transitioning from a Mexican education to an American one was not an easy task, but as my English improved I pushed myself academically to

In addition to that my mom would come home on Wednesdays and Fridays to pick me up from school and help me out with schoolwork. Those two factors aided me with my schoolwork and I met with triumph as I received my first progress report which translated into $40. My parents continued to pay me until the end of the semester and then stopped, yet their praise of how well I was doing and their increased attentiveness to my schooling was enough to keep me motivated through the rest of that school year. After receiving that initial push from my parents, my motivation concerning school work began to rise. I had discovered that when I put forth a bit of effort, I could easily excel in nearly any subject. The combination of not really knowing anyone too well at that school plus the discovery that I could actually do better than most in a few subject areas kept me really focused on doing well in school. By that point, school became something that I did just for the sake of it like I would have a sport, rather than just something I “had” to do in order to avoid punishment or gain a reward. Associations like that have motivated me to excel academically and have given me the opportunity to be taking courses such as this at a University that I have great respect for.

I grew up and lived out my childhood in Sioux City, IA. I am a first-generation American from two Mexican parents who immigrated to this great country. My mother is a full-time housekeeper at a hotel in the state over and my dad is a full-time carpenter. I would describe myself as blessed as I have never had to feel the pain of hunger. Even though I do have less than my friends I make up for it with work ethic. I had to learn to work hard as a young kid trying to call doctors and make appointments, this is so because my parents didn’t speak the language. Though some would say that it is a misfortune I beg to differ. Even though I had difficulties with some of the duties given to me, I grew up with independence. I was never a child who was afraid of asking questions, I often hear and see the anxiety some individuals have with simply asking for a ketchup packet at a fast food joint. Independence is an important attribute I believe I gained, because of something my parents lacked. Though I was never an awkward child I was an overly worrisome child. At a young age, I was involved in the financial aspect of my home. This meant that as a child I understood the value of money. However, this had its problems, it meant that at the age of 8 was worried if I spent that spare dollar on a packet of gum my parents would later find themselves in the need of a dollar. I eventually grew to understand how the spare dollar could be spent without the fear of Armageddon. As I grew older the

Growing up as a first generation student with parents who were new to America and could barely speak English was a difficult endeavor that I hated and cursed daily. I was constantly confused about my image, my culture, and my

After withdrawing from PLU, I decided to attend Bellevue College. Without wanting to waste more money, I decided to work harder, however I still did not receive the grades I wanted. I believe that the things that were holding me back were my mentality, and having no motivation. I taught myself to cook meals for my family. At first it was awkward siting at the same table with my dad, but as time goes by we started talking about the weather. Then I remember one time I was doing the dishes then my dad came and help me putting the dishes away without saying anything – I felt like crying. Slowly, without realizing it, we became a family again. However the thing that helps changed my mentality the most was that my brother was able to get into University of Washington despite being in the same situation as I. He was the little brother that used to cry and sleep next to me when our parents fight. What I learned from his is that he has a forgiving heart. May be our parents have wronged him in the past, but he told me that he just talk it out, and then he forgives them.