Cultural Model, Identity, And Literacy, By John U.

In the article “Cultural model, identity, and literacy” by John U. Ogbu, he goes over the idea of why certain minorities may seem as if they are under a bar that is less or unequal to whites. Ogbu branches this idea into different segments that ultimately focus on the cultural differences between the two. Ogbu starts his article out by stating some of his reasons on why it may seem like the minorities fall under this bar. Some of the reasons he points towards in his article are the home environments, along with the environmental and economical differences between the two. In a deeper understanding, Ogbu explains how these home environments that minorities (black children in this case) are not substantial in providing these children with the …show more content…
Ogbu gives validation to the minorities’ cultures as a way where they can be held at an equal footing to whites. This can be seen in his explanation of the cultural model, which he describes as “an understanding that a people have of their universe – social, physical, or both – as well as their understanding of their behavior in that universe.” Many students view the cultural model as a representation of how the understanding of people for their world is organized in their head and how it relates to specific behaviors, but Ogbu focuses on the cultural model as a distinction of all the races and how they differ from one another. In Ogbu’s view on the cultural model, he looks at what the members in a population actually say or do as opposed to the organization that goes on in their …show more content…
I was born here in America, but I did have a friend who was an immigrant back when I was in high school. We were both Vietnamese, but there were clear distinctions in our characteristics and work ethics. He was keen on studying and doing well on the exams. It really showed through his performance in a lot of classes too. In many of his classes, he would rank in one of the top spots due to his hardworking nature. Since his main purpose of coming to America was school, it boosted his motivation to do well by a great amount compared to mine. Even though I was able to get by in a lot of my courses, there were a few exams where I would not put in as much effort or a couple projects I would slack on. This difference between immigrants and those born in America is a wary area though because not all students are built the same way. I think the fact of whether a student is an immigrant or not is important, but there are several other factors that can push them in a certain direction as well. The school in which they are assigned to may be that deciding factor. For instance, an immigrant student attending a high-prestige school will have great resources to work with, but an immigrant student who is placed in a struggling school may struggle him/herself. I believe there are too many outlying factors that could shape a student’s learning path, which makes it hard to hold