Keeping The Torch Lit

I am an 18-year-old student currently residing in Indiana. I’ve been living here with my family for the past eleven or so years, ever since we moved in 2004 from California, my birthplace. My parents both originate from Central America. My mother is from El Salvador and my father is from Mexico, so I’m a mix of Salvadorian, Mexican, and American. I was homeschooled by my parents for most of my adolescent life, mainly by my mother during my infant years. As I grew up my father took charge of my education from kindergarten to middle school. When it came time for highschool, I decided to attend a public school. My first endeavour in the public education system was with an online school known as INCA(Indiana Connection Academy). I eventually found

Education, or the lack thereof, has always been something that plagued my immediate family. I come from a background of immigrant parents—hard-working, yet unable to acquire academic achievements. My father did not graduate out of high school in Vietnam because he was drafted into the Vietnam War and escaped as a refugee thereafter. My mother, on the other hand, graduated from high school but was not able to pursue higher education due to the burdens she had working and raising me as a child.

I’ve demonstrated unusual academic ability since elementary school. During my time at River Oaks Elementary, an International Baccalaureate school, I enjoyed and excelled in the Gifted and Talented program. My second-grade teacher told my parents at the end of the year that in his opinion I already knew all the material that I would learn in third grade. Therefore, he recommended that I skip the grade entirely. Although my parents didn’t let me skip third grade, I continued to challenge myself. I asked for extra homework and devoured half the books in the library in my spare time. My wonderful teachers let me work at an accelerated pace and gave me higher level problems to keep me interested and enthusiastic about school. Similarly, my eighth-grade Spanish teacher strongly recommended that I skip Spanish II and head straight to Spanish III my freshman year. This time, I was old enough to express my desire to accelerate my learning; I urged my parents to let me skip the class and reassured them that I wouldn’t be too overwhelmed. They trusted my judgement, and I’m so thankful that I made this decision. I borrowed my teacher’s book over the summer and pored over it for an hour every day until I was confident in my abilities. It was intimidating walking into the sophomore- and junior-filled class on that first

Leaving home at the age of 18, loving on my own, figuring how to become an adult, and moving out to college, there were many things being thrown at me in which I was not fully prepared for them. Moving out at 18 is normal for any high school graduate in The United States. Being a Mexican American women it was more than just the net step to life , but a huge accomplishment. Being ascribed into a poor family increased the desire to move forward. My parents did not want me to follow their footsteps into the world of low waged labor, they wanted more. Growing up all I heard from teachers and family members was to go to college. For many it’s the normal thing for a high school graduate to do. For me it was more than socialization it was the path

The concept of schooling, and how it differs from education, takes center stage in Angela Valenzuela’s Subtractive Schooling. The book is the culmination of a three-year study of Seguin High School in Houston, TX. Using data analysis as well as extensive observations and interviews, Valenzuela puts a face to the numbers. A significant portion of the book focusses on the role of language in terms of its application to culture. The book also shows a road map to creating relationships with our disenfranchised youth that will lead to authentic learning and positive changes in school culture. Valenzuela’s Subtractive schooling offers a sordid and shocking tale of “what could have been.”

Throughout the book, it is evident that predominantly only the observations and perspectives of Anglo-American males were presented rather than the ones belonging to native Latinos men which, arguably, can be problematic as the audience is only exposed to what Americans have to say on Mexican- American culture adaptation. This exclusion of the native voice can especially be seen at the section regarding targeting women as the crucial point in infiltrating the Mexican home with Americanized ideals. According to Sanchez, during 1915, there was a clear mindset that thought the “housekeeper creates the atmosphere” in the family and should “the female adopt American values, the rest of her family would follow” (Sanchez 99). Home teachers were told to teach women songs in English about the duty of women such as “…like to wash, to sew, to cook”. Yet, after six years, women stilled lacked behind men in English skills which, were seen as the a crucial part of Americanization. Unsurprisingly, the lack of success in the Americanization of women was perceived to be the “patriarchal nature of the Mexican Family”(Sanchez 101). Disappointingly, Sanchez did not include the Mexican female voice into this section, which could have provided more insights on how the women themselves felt about the Americanization programs and how they perceived the roles they played within their family, as he felt that professors such as Emory Bogardus (Sanchez 101) from University of Southern California has a more right to talk about Mexicano family structure than the Mexicans

Being born of 2 immigrant parents, who work menial jobs and have no education has always had its weight on me. Neither one of my parents are high school graduates and no one in my family has obtained a collegiate education. I have been able to experience first hand how difficult a life with no education is. I recall other students sharing how their parents provided aid with their homework and read to them, knowing I did not get to experience that made me gloomy. I had no other choice but to learn everything on my own and then attempt to teach my parents. This peculiar lifestyle has pushed me harder in academics and has given me a genuine appreciation for the value of an education.

married and have a family at a young age, but it was not her fault that her husband became

This is a narrative of one Mexican American woman’s experiences and her views on the importance of passing down the cultural beliefs of her ancestors. In the section of the country in which I live there is a large population within the community of Mexican American culture. Although I have frequent contact with people of Mexican American heritage either through employment or interaction out in the community, I have a limited understanding of their culture. For this reason, I chose to learn more about the population of people I have frequent contact with and as a professional work with as clients in the field of mental health counseling. The quest of finding someone knowledgeable to discuss the population, their cultural background and some of their necessities, as well as some past experiences, led me towards contacting a church. This took calling two different churches before the person at the second church informed me that I needed to speak with, Mrs. Socorro Garcia head of their Hispanic Ministries. Unfortunately, Mrs. Garcia was on vacation when I called, but I was able to speak with her over the phone the following week, setting up an interview in person at her office a couple days later. This was a relief because I was becoming concerned about locating someone for a personal interview.

In his essay, “The Achievement of Desire”, Richard Rodriguez describes how his educational journey changed his life, particularly resulting in a cultural and emotional separation from his parents. In the essay, Rodriguez writes, “If, because of my schooling, I had grown culturally separated from my parents, my education finally had given me the ways of speaking and caring about the fact” (355). Rodriguez’s unique understanding of his family and education fundamentally alters his interactions with them, which influences his ways of speaking and caring about this separation throughout various stages of his education. These unique understandings are exhibited through specific dialogues

One’s family’s history, culture and environmental factors can influence a great deal of who they are. In fact, all three of these factors have influenced a great deal of the young woman I am today. To begin with, I am an African-American woman of Haitian descent. My family immigrated from Haiti years before I was born seeking a better life. I grew up in a close-knit family that worked odd jobs to reach ends meet. I remember fondly, my mother, a single mother working three jobs struggling to put food on the table, clothes on me and my three sibling’s backs, and electricity in the house. My mother never had time to rest, enjoy her day or spend time with me or my siblings. We often took cold showers, and had many hungry nights. Due to the amount

Our education system is perhaps one of the most complex institutions in the United States. Students are taught to be their most authentic selves but yet are told to think a certain way. In reality, students really don’t have the freedom to be their genuine identity. Our society tells us that a typical student speaks the language, excels in all areas of study, and loves to read. Children who do not fit this mold are often at a disadvantage and do not attain the same acceptance. In the essay, “Achievement of Desire” Richard Rodriguez was a first generation immigrant from Mexico. His parents spoke little English, and had no education. Automatically, his family is an outcast. Throughout Rodriguez’s schooling career he learned to fit the perfect mold of the “typical” American student. He finds himself to be in an internal struggle between social versus family isolation, authenticity and finding his place in the American society.

Growing up, people realize that around the time of reaching a mature state, education has affected their personal family life in one way or the other. With that being said, in his essay, “The Achievement of Desire”, Richard Rodriguez headed towards a path where he was unconsciously distancing himself from his family and becoming much more independent than he had expected. Rodriguez gives the reader a sentimental idea of the two contrary lives he had growing up, the life he had as a child, and the life he has as an educated man. He continued believing in his aspiration of how benefits of education can remarkably outweigh the past struggles of both his family and himself. Like Rodriguez, I also, in the past, found some form of solitude

Holding the Fire In the novel The Road by Cormac McCarthy, a father and his son learn to survive in a postapocalyptic world where everything has been burned and destroyed and for as far as the eye can see the earth is covered in ash. A world where starvation is so controlling it makes people challenge their morals and consider the idea of eating human flesh for dinner. However.

“Flame on!” The Human Torch yells as he burst into flames and glides through the night sky as he looks like a shooting star. But this phenomenal superhero can do much more than turning himself into fire and fly, as he can,thermokinesis (the ability to control the temperature of any object) and agility just to name a few. He is also known as the reckless, but lovable Johnny Storm. He has received his superpowers from cosmic rays after crashing on a space flight along with his sister, and two other scientists . This group all received unique powers like invisibility and strength and have formed the crime fighting team known as the Fantastic Four. This team consistents of : The Invisible Women (Johnny’s sister), Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards) and The Thing (Ben Grimm). Although he is the youngest team member, he is by far the brightest star. The Human Torch is the ultimate superhero because he has: a fearless personality, an amazing uniform that can withstand extreme heat, and an magnificent fiery superpower .