(Blog 3) "Aria" by Richard Rodriguez

ARGUMENT

     For this story, I chose to talk about Rodriguez's argument, because I feel that it is very strong, and needs to be highlighted. Rodriguez argues that there is a difference between public vs private individuality. Being bilingual is a very good advantage in society, however, it it important to stick to your roots. Rodriguez lost his identity not only in public places like school, where he was forced to learn an alien language to him, but also at home. His parents did not let him keep in touch with his roots, and soon, Spanish became his alienated language. It is important to stay in touch with your native language, but it is also good to learn a new one too. Society (especially schools and parents) need to differentiate the two languages, and understand that children need both. They need to have a home where they feel safe to keep in touch with their roots, after speaking a new language in public all day. Only speaking the newly learned language can lead to quietness, uncomfortably, a loss of identity, and much more. 

QUESTION: How can we teach kids when to speak English and when to speak Spanish? 

     As educators, we need to differentiate the two languages, but make sure they understand not to lose sight of one or the other. Personally, I also think that all schools should teach another language. Learning a second language at a young age is much easier than it is for adults, and I think that being bilingual is very important and helpful in today's society. There are many misconceptions that prevent kids from being taught a second language. These need to be debunked. This reading is also closely connected to most of our other readings, since most segregated kids will also speak a different language. 

(Blog 2) "Amazing Grace" by Jonathan Kozol

QUOTES

1. "By and large, the words of the children in the streets and schools and houses that surround St. Ann's more than justify the grimness in the words of journalists who have described the area" (Kozol 4).

     This quote immediately got my attention. This article was very blatant and shocking. It was sad and hard to read for me. Though it is a harsh reality, I think that this point is harsher than the author needed to make it. He is justifying authors for shaming poor children. No matter the income or what they are wearing, they are still human. No one should be able to talk down on people's appearances or incomes. I know it is important to get people to realize how bad poverty affects people, but we do not need to be rude in the process. We should not focus on how they look, but rather how we could help. 

2. "There are children in the poorest, most abandoned places who, despite the miseries and poisons that the world has pumped into their lives, seem, when you first meet them, to be cheerful anyway" (Kozol 6).

     This really is an eye opening quote. It shows how strong children can be. They always see the best in life, and are able to stay positive. Even when they have to deal with things much worse than a child should have to, they are able to keep their childhood innocence. They can always see the good in the world, even when dealing when family illnesses all around them. The author even states that every child knows someone who has died of AIDS. I think that this is a powerful quote for the author's main point. It almost makes you wonder if we should be the ones learning from children. 

3. "At 96th Street, all of the other white people leave the car I'm in, but several black and Hispanic women, two or whom are in maids' uniforms, come in and sit together on a seat beside me" (Kozol 17).

     The child poverty statistics in New York are extremely shocking. It gets even more upsetting when you look at the other factors behind these statistics, such as race or gender. The majority of children are living in poverty, under horrible conditions. There are so many descriptive quotes in this article, and almost all of the tragic scenes involve people of color. It was shocking to read about a world still so segregated to this day. 

Question: We know the statistics of children living in poverty, but what can we do to help? How can we bring more awareness to the issue and raise the funds to get parent's needed medication or necessary clothes for their children? In a perfect world, you could say something such as equaling out everyone's income. But realistically, is there a solution that we as a society could do to prevent this? Can teachers help in any way?

(Blog 1) "U.S.A., Land of Limitations?" By Nicholas Kristof

The Article 

REFLECTION

     This article was very relatable to me right from the beginning. Growing up, my family struggled a lot with money. There were days where it nearly seemed impossible to ever move out of my small town and make better money. Just like the article says, we are living in an economy with no mobility. Here is a link given in the article. I found it very useful because it shows statistics of how unlikely a child born into a less wealthy family is to become wealthy in their future. The facts were very shocking to me. Personally, growing up with little to no money always inspired me to want more for my future. I was very surprised to see that most kids don't grow up and try to make a different, better life for themselves. 

     However, it does make sense when you start to think about it. If you come from a family with little money, you have no one to support you financially while you begin to better your life. This is why I have very strong feelings about how expensive college tuition is. I definitely related to the small percent of kids mentioned in this article, who bettered themselves financially. Through many loans and scholarships, along with a part time job, I was the first in my family to attend college (other than my mom). 

     I could also, however, relate to the kids that did follow their family's footsteps in income. My brother did not have any of the motivation to change his life like I did. By 16, he dropped out of high school. Though he is doing a lot better now, there were many years of seeing him living at home, sad and jobless. He used my dad's unemployment as an excuse to not need a job either. It was a really hard thing for me to watch at a young age, but thankfully, it only motivated me more. It encouraged me to get extremely good grades, and work my hardest to get into a good college! Having personal experiences to both sides of this article (me and my brother), this article made me think a lot. I realized that this issue is not discussed as much as it should be. More research should go into the kids that follow their parents financial footsteps, in order to figure out how to stop it. We should be economically encouraging these kids to go out there and achieve big things. Motivation is so important for kids to have if they want to succeed in their educations and futures, and it can be hard to get motivation in a house full of struggling, unmotivated families. 

QUESTION: What can teachers do at school to help motivate their students? It can be hard to want to learn when you have a bad home situation. How can we get through to kids and send them the message that education is important?

About Me

Last summer, I went to Spain, France, and Italy. My favorite part was seeing the Colosseum. Here is a picture of me in Rome, Italy, at a famous fountain called "Trevi Fountain".

I am a huge cat person! These are my two cats, Linus and Levi.