In the reading “To Live In Spanish: An Immigrant Commentary” by Trinidad Villegas, the subject of inequities in language is discussed. She explains her own account of dealing with intersecting identities. When immigrating to the U.S. she spoke only Spanish. This became a problem. She says, “All my classroom instruction was conducted in English by mostly white teachers, who had very little understanding of our live or our world”. (Villegas, pg.2) She states that she feels caught between two worlds. To answer the demand of the Latino parents and community for more assistance, administrators offered the “Migrant Education Program”. However, this program ended up being far from educational. This program was used more as a tactic for the administration to claim that they were promoting diversity and providing cultural programs. Villegas uses the term false generosity to explain this situation. The teachers were more interested in their teaching status than the learning …show more content…
In the testimonial by Goreti, she explains her experiences of discussing undocumented immigrants in class and hiding the fact that she was one so students would not acquire racist beliefs about her. “ Racist perceptions are ideologically tied to the meaning of being an undocumented immigrant. “ (Huber, pg. 85) As described in the reading, the beliefs support the idea that immigrants contribute to social decay of the U.S. society. This type of intersection puts undocumented immigrants into a situation where they try to hide their identity instead of maintaining their cultural habits. “Acknowledging and understanding the complex intersections of race, immigration status, class and gender present in dominant constructions of Latino identity and in particular, a Latino undocumented immigrant identity, is an initial step towards deconstructing negative perceptions of this group.” (Huber, pg.
Se Habla Espanol is an essay by Tanya Maria Barrientos, whom discusses her struggles with learning her native language as an adult after years of discrimination for the color of her skin, regardless of being raised in America. Initially when I read the essay, I believed that it could only apply to Latino women, due to it being published in a magazine directed towards Latino women, but before I finished reading the passage I realized that her story could apply to anyone struggling to learn their native tongue or a language in general. So I quickly discovered that you can’t judge a passage by the periodical it’s published in. Her social development and sense of belonging were greatly influenced by the way she perceived stereotypes against her
A Rhetorical Analysis of Gloria Anzaldua’s, “How to Tame A Wild Tongue.” The latin american and mexican diaspora have continuously been at odds as to which dialect of spanish tends to be the most proper or rightfully utilized, in being examined by each other as while as the anglo society. Well the multi-ethnic diaspora that resides within Gloria Anzaldua’s (the writer) home, the Borderlands, tends to exude the conceptualization of multiple dialects of spanish speech into one.
After reading Miguel and Valencia’s “From the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo to Hopwood,” I was shocked to find how Mexican Americans were treated in American students. I was expect poor treatment from our discussions in class as well as other readings, but after reading what the authors reported, including schools failing to address learning issues and pushing kids instead into economic mobility, I am deeply troubled I was not made aware of this sooner. Along with segregation on race basis, I would argue the struggles of Mexican American students was the greatest struggle for education equality in the 20th century, though the struggles gone through by other minorities surely should be discounted or overlooked. I found the role of religious institutions
The author of “Hispanic Pride vs. American Assimilation,” Stephanie Cox, presents and explains Hispanic immigrants’ hesitancy to learn English very effectively. She begins by telling a personal story about meeting a Hispanic woman who wanted her son to learn English but refused to learn it herself. Cox was confused as to why the mother would refuse to learn English, so she did some research and found three possible causes of this situation: a pride in Hispanic peoples’ native countries--most specifically, Mexican-Americans, a close proximity to their native country, and the lack of support from other Hispanic Americans to assimilate to American culture and ideals. Cox’s explanation of the Hispanic reasonings aids in further understanding their situations.
In the essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Gloria Anzaldua insists that one’s identity is deeply bonded to the language in which they speak. She explains how the Chicano language has developed and sustained abuse. She insists that Chicano is a whole, complete, and not a bastard language. Gloria warns, “If you really want to hurt me talk bad about my language.” Gloria becomes passionate about her wild tongue and encourages others to embrace theirs.
The negative stereotype that Latinos are indefinitely stuck in poverty is created by the tendency to average the progress of new immigrants to those of older immigrants. “Since Latino immigration continues, averaging together the poverty rates or homeownership levels of large numbers of people who arrived recently with those who have been here for decades can provide a skewed view of progress,” (America’s Assimilating Hispanics). However, longitudinal studies, when properly measured and displayed, show that Latino immigrants are making economic progress. Latino assimilation transcends the realms of politic and economic to touch culture, as English language acquisition shows. Supporters of anti- Latino immigration legislation tend to cite the prevalence of Spanish-speaking communities across the U.S, and even North Carolina, as evidence that Latino immigrants are failing to assimilate.
Immigration is deeply rooted in the American culture, yet it is still an issue that has the country divided. Marcelo and Carola Suarez-Orozco, in their essay, “How Immigrants Became ‘Other’” explore the topic of immigration. They argue that Americans view many immigrants as criminals entering America with the hopes of stealing jobs and taking over, but that this viewpoint is not true. They claim that immigrants give up a lot to even have a chance to come into America and will take whatever they can get when they come. The Suarez-Orozco’s support their argument using authority figures to gain credibility as well as exemplification through immigrant stories.
Ideally schools would provide equal education and opportunities for all children, but in reality racism, sexism, classism, and other forms of discrimination still exist, albeit more hidden, in our schools today. Rather than stressing academic enrichment, the elementary schools that Chicanas/os attend to focus on academic remediation and a deceleration of the curriculum. The primary curriculum itself generally excludes or minimizes Chicana/o experiences, while also reinforcing
In, Se Habla Espanol, Barrientos’ family move from Guatemala to the USA where they wish to cut ties with their Hispanic culture. Barrientos
He shows this through his many experiences with bilingual court and education. At the end of his essay, Espada concludes with a basic summary of what he has learned. Espada claims “The repression of Spanish is part of a larger attempt to silence Latinos, and, like the crazy uncle at the family dinner table yelling about independence or socialism, we must refuse to be silenced.” Through the summary the reader understands despite English being the prevalent language the in the U.S. today the Spanish culture is still being preserved through bilingualism. On the other hand Rodriguez argues that in order to gain a public identity, one must be willing to sacrifice some part of their own cultural identity.
The increasing numbers of Latino youth who obtain college degrees are become active in politics, with the biggest trend of Latino population is youth and growth we can only hope for even more support in politics. “For the first time ever, Latinos accounted for one in ten votes cast nationwide in the presidential election, and Obama recorded the highest ever vote total for any presidential candidate among Latinos, at 75%” (Barreto and Segura 145). The Latino vote is becoming a crucial element to politics because of their size in population. . “While turnout declined nationally from 2008 to 2012 (by 2%), among Latinos there was a 28% increase in votes cast in 2012 (from 9.7 million to 12.5 million) and Obama further increased his vote share among Latinos in 2012 compared to 2008” (Barreto and Segura 145). In recent polls
Living In Spanish Living in Spanish is an essay written by Marjorie Agosin. Agosin was born and raised in Chile but is of Russian and Australian Jewish descent. During her time in high school, she was forced to leave the place she had called home her whole life due to the government of Salvador Allende being overthrown by dictator Augusto Pinochet. In Living in Spanish Agosin expresses her love for her native tongue and tells the audience what it was like to have to live in translation. Agosin appeals to the reader's emotions in hopes to get the reader to understand the alienation in language and fear of confusion she lived.
Richard Rodriguez and Gloria Anzaldúa are two authors who both immigrated to America in the 1950s and received first hand experience of the assimilation process into American society. During this time, Rodriguez and Anzaldúa had struggled adjusting to the school system. Since understanding English was difficult, it made adjusting to the American school system increasingly difficult for Rodriguez. Whereas Anzaldúa, on the other hand, had trouble adjusting to America’s school system due to the fact that she didn’t wish to stop speaking Spanish even though she could speak English. Both Rodriguez and Anzaldúa had points in their growing educational lives where they had to remain silent since the people around them weren’t interested in hearing them speaking any other language than English.
(2) A line that the writer could barely pronounce. Amy wrote this essay based on her life experiences and it radiates to many immigrant children who grew up in similar circumstances. She uses her essay to channel that discrimination towards people’s literacy skills is unacceptable and unpleasant. Tan highlights the influence that teachers may have on their students and to be open and considerate of their influence.
“The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named María” by Judith Ortiz Cofer and “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan depict the endeavors people take on in an attempt to integrate into society. Cofer demonstrates how stereotypes of Latina women have led others to misjudge her and explains the difficulty she had disassociating herself from those stereotypes. Tan demonstrates that the “broken” English her mother speaks has led others to think less of her and disregard her. One’s appearance instantaneously causes others to judge them. For some it is easier to blend in and be accepted by their community, but what is it that keeps some people from assimilating, and what effect does their otherness have on them?