Literacy with an Attitude By Patrick Finn

Quotes;

First of all, happy Easter everybody.

    I share the same opinion of some of my classmate that this article was very difficult to get through because of how long it was but I felt that after reading it was very informative. here are the following quotes that I  selected ;

“Some minorities feel they have been wronged by mainstream Americans and that acting "white" is a betrayal of their people. They develop what sociologists call "oppositional identity."-(Preface I)

When I first read this quote, right away the author Rodriguez came to my mind, because in his article Rodriguez talks about how difficult was for him to manage going to school where he was not allow to speak his native language which created a gap between him and his family. Giving him the sense that he was betraying his own culture. I can also make a personal connection to it, after I graduated from high school, I started associating myself with people from different ethnicity than mine and stated speaking more English than Spanish, some of my old friends started treating me differently. They would said things like; oh do you think that you are an American now? It had been extremely difficult for me to manage being a Latina and also an “American”. The question if I’m betraying my “people” is always in my mind.

“Another teacher said, "You can't teach these kids anything. Their parents don't care about them, and they're not interested." Pg. 12

I picked this quote because it reminded me of how much I had learned in this class. Before I shared the same believe as the person who said this quote. I used to think that when a parent did not went to a parents and teachers conferences, or when I saw that  a child not dressed according to what I believed was the way they should be dressed, I thought that their parents did not care about them, that they were bad parents, but never for a minute did I thought that maybe it was because they were poor and couldn’t afford to buy new clothes or that they need it to work extra hours to make ends meet and that’s why they couldn’t keep up with their kids school. This quote can well be connected to the article written by Ullucci because it is a great example of what Ullucci calls “The Educability Myth” where parents are being blame of their student lack of success and also how being poor give the student a label as not being “that bright”. “That children in poverty are somehow categorically different due to their class, is highly problematic.”- Ullucci pg. 9

“People who have felt powerless are organizing and discovering their collective power. They are coming to realize that liberating education and powerful literacy is essential for their children. But demands for better schooling will not solve the problem alone. Teachers, parents, and older students need to understand the mechanisms that have subverted honest efforts to give working class children a decent education”

I really like this quote because it talks about how parents are taking charge of their children education. They know what their children need to be successful, but the parents cannot do this alone, if school’s officials don’t become aware that children from a low class background deserved the same type of education as children from a higher education background and how important is for the community to work together as a whole this type of chances will never happened. 

Point to share; Did you like reading this article?