Summary Of Of Borders And Dreams By Chris Liska Carger

A student’s home life and schooling experiences have seen to be heavily affected by their race and the way in which they were raised. In “Of Borders and Dreams” by Chris Liska Carger, the lives of the Juarez family, who are Mexican-American Immigrants, are explored through their educational and home experiences living in Chicago. Due to their race, class, and parent’s level of education, the opportunities in which they were granted were heavily limited.

Dumais writes, “Children who have more cultural capital (having been exposed to it in their upper-class families will feel more comfortable in the school setting, will communicate easily with teachers, and therefore will be more likely to do well in school” (Dumais 2005, p. 421). Alejandro

Sommerday’s religion classes. Mrs. Sommerday taught with the means of funds of knowledge. Funds of knowledge is defined as “to refer to the historically accumulated and culturally developed bodies of knowledge and skills essential for household or individual functioning and well being” (Lopez, pg.1) Mrs. Sommerday taught in a way that got across to her students, where they actually learned something that was culturally relevant to their lives. She takes classic religious curricula and transforms these ideas into a way that is enjoyable to junior high school students. Unlike Mrs. Wrights strict classroom, the children are working together, talking and actually participating. They are able to say wrong answers, and form opinions without the fear of being reprimanded. In the spring, the students performed “Stations of the Cross”, a very prominent catholic tradition that all the students were familiar with. She allowed the students to have fun with this event and interpret the scenes in their own ways. (Carger, 1996) Allowing the children to do this will help them remember the key events better than if they were just reading it out of a book. It was always positive in this classroom leading to happier students and a better learning

Growing up in a lower to middle-class environment, my educational experiences were very split from year to year. I attended Eagle Elementary in Medford, New York. Medford is very diverse in terms of economic and racial status so our classrooms were filled with different cultures and ideals. Attending a “high need” school district has provided me with opportunities and resources that Alejandro did not receive. My district offered inclusion classrooms throughout elementary and middle school, and received grants in order to better support our English Language Learners and their needs. The teachers throughout my schooling were very in touch with the ideal of concerted cultivation and stressed the importance of cultural capital in our lives. We were exposed to different cultures, languages and the arts at a young age in order to broaden our horizons. Our teachers took more of an interest in our backgrounds than the teachers at Sorrowful Mother had. I never had a teacher that looked at me simply as a passing or failing grade, and they always made sure to adapt to our needs as students. Being a “mainstream” student, I took the advanced track through high school being involved in several honors and AP courses. However, my school provided the resources for us to succeed. We had peer/professional tutoring, full