Hernandez's Auto-Ethnography

He explains an encounter where a teacher told him, “‘Sit in the encounter until you learn English’”(Garcia & Castro, Blowout! pg32). This quote shows that even in the first grade Castro realized that racism was alive and present, and it was wrong. He believed that it was wrong for the school to be treating him a certain way (badly), simply because of his culture. Through the testimonio, these early encounters show us how Castro’s identity and core values were shaped. Furthermore, Castro’s testimonio allows him to tell a fuller story of social activism. For example, Castro vividly recalls the Watts Riot that took place in Los Angeles. The Watts Riot was the result of the community reacting to allegations of police brutality against an African-American motorcyclist. Castros explains, “If you lived or worked anywhere near Watts, located south of the downtown area, you saw and smelled the smoke from the burning cars and buildings.”(Garcia & Castro, Blowout! pg131). This demonstrates how the testimonio gave us a different view of social activism that was occurring during the time period. It is portrayed to us through a personal response of someone who experience it first hand. As the Blowouts progressed the Chicano students attitudes changed. A student explains after the movement, “‘were the first time that we began to develop consciousness...It was very affirmative. Thats where you began to have an identity’”(Garcia & Castro, Blowout! pg 322). The Chicano

During the pinnacle of his bittersweet life, Rodriguez eventually realized that he had sacrificed one of the biggest things in life to do what is best for himself, his family. Being from a different

Growing up Soto’s life at home wasn’t ideal and he never had high hopes for it. Soto’s family was Mexican American so he was born into a Chicano culture. Every one of their jobs, even his as a child, was some type of physical labor, “and he worked in the fields as an agricultural laborer and as a low-paid

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.”

During Enrique’s home life he has dealt with many obstacles that shape his decision of setting forth into the United States. The average American will need to get an insight about the struggles and difficulties migrants like Enrique must face in their journeys north and what they endure in the United States after they arrive. Enrique’s hand of justice has been quite different than the average American because of the strong economic disadvantages, his childhood and family struggles, and his journey north to be reunited with his mom. In this essay I will begin to tell you about Enrique’s pre-birth/childhood, his neighborhood, and his journey in Honduras and the United States.

It is strange to comprehend how all people are so different from one another. Every single person has gone through personally unique experiences and has a unique set of memories. People are the sum of their own experiences. However, people connect with others too often intertwine and have similar experiences together. In Rudolfo Anaya’s “Bless me Ultima” the young Chicano Antonio learns about the world through his own personal perspective. Since he lives with others and sees and hears similar things as they do, he is influenced similarly, but he still develops his own ideas through his own noticings. What stands out to him in his environment is the base for his ideas. Environment shapes identity because outside pressures, such as family and

In this Chapter I feel that Anzaldua is trying to get the reader to understand the differences and atruggles amongst cultures. The clash of cultures results in mental and emotional confusion. Living inbetween more than one culture, you often get opposing messages from these cultures. Sometimes when living within the Chicana culture common white beleifs conflict with the beleifs of the Mexican culture. They both hold beleifs of the indifinous peopel and their culture. It creates a problem that the dominant cultures views and beleifs are defiant to the others. This is very wrong because it creats the problem of one being superior to the other. This especially relates to the Mexican culture and white culture. This creates the assimilation problem when one culture is not accepted or considered below another.

The boys, thus, grew up in a patriotic, uniform society where defecting is traitorous. A critical aspect to unifying the nation was to educate everyone around a central curriculum based on every detail of the revolution that transformed the country and the governments version of events.(“Victory”). Billboard signs, erected all around Cuba, state, “In Cuba- Children in School 100%”; they proudly display that Castro has successfully catalyzed a 100% literacy rate (“Victory”). The manner in which Castro induced exemplary education was by providing it free to all children for six days every week and encouraging after school activities, such as boxing. Cuban boys have the freedom to chose if they wish to take government-provided boxing or other activities. The boxing boys learn to interchange their wits and patriotic lessons with discipline and passion; all of which will create a strong, intellectual man. With only one day to be spent with the family, the boys are provided, through government means, a new father figure, their coach. Their coach, a civil servant, molds them into young men through intense, omnipresent training and routine, thus focusing on their habitual self-discipline for the future of Cuba. Coach Yhosvani Bonachea tells the boys while tucking them in at night, “We’re going to put the book here (under the pillow), so you dream dreams of an Olympic champion. Sleep with the angels,

In his book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Brazilian educator, philosopher, and author, Paulo Freire, informs us, the readers, of the difference between an oppressive education system and a libertarian system. Freire first published this book in Portuguese in 1968, just four years after his imprisonment and exile on the charge of spreading revolutionist teachings. He uses verbose language to further emphasize the importance of learning and a passionate tone to show his anguish at the loss of knowledge and education. In his lament for the awakening of his people, Freire’s effective use of the rhetorical situation persuades his audience to reject their country’s current oppressive system and to fight their oppressors who refuse them the right of free thought.

“Education is the single most powerful tool in the fight against poverty and disease, and that the point of greatest impact is the primary education level where simply placing a pencil in a child’s hand is the first step toward unlocking the promise of a self-empowerment and a higher quality of life” (Braun, 72). Comparing education to a dominant tool did just that. Somewhere in the world, a child still stands with an outstretched hand asking for nothing more than a pencil. According to the Unesco Institute of Statistics, over 57 million children does not have access to education. Braun’s informational tone tells the reader that it’s a crisis that urgently needs to be solved.

He extinguishes the students’ lives of light and hope. ‘Creí que encontraría a mis vedaderos compañeros. No a unos ilusos.’ Ignacio believes that he has been cursed in life with his disability of being blind and tries to share his dark feelings of depression with his fellow students. But to his surprise they have positive hopes and dreams for their future and believe that they can have lives just like everyone else in the real world. In Ignacio’s opinion the students have been ‘envenenados de alegría.’

Many of us are very family oriented and believe that family should always be present in our life no matter what do in life. While some of us feel that, our desire is worth more important than family due to the lack of communication with family members. In the “Achievement of Desire” by Richard Rodriguez, Rodriguez recalls some of the difficulties he had at a young age, which was balancing his life academically and practicing the Mexican traditions. His desire was more important to him than his family because communication with his family was not as strong as before when he began to get more involved in his education, which separates him from his family mentally and physically.

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

Elizabeth Ettorre, an sociologist who using a feminist participatory action research process to analyze voices. Particularly, the theme of this auto-ethnography she wrote is a vision of is it truly equal? Or are we still trap by other, more on society expectations view? The author of this journal wants to challenge every of having an loving eyes not the arrogant eyes to those lesbian. In my opinion, this challenge is most fulfillable since in Canada, part of America, and other more country have approve and set LGBT right for loving the same sex, one woman love another woman. It is only the matter of time, how long can all the people can view them normally and not to push them alway from the society. In conclusion, using loving eyes to see

     I had many different reactions to this book. At first, I was horrified and shocked to learn about the conditions of these poor schools. Growing