Bouuie On Education

After reading what Bouie wrote, I did noticed that he quoted many different people who have knowledge and opinions on talking white and the academic stigma on African-Americans. I was honesty amaze on what each person had to say as I can relate to struggles of being African-American who talks ‘proper’ and has been academically stereotyped by my peers and teachers. Growing up in an African-American family who has high expectations for you was I guess you would say a challenge, though it is different for every family.
Education is a big thing in my family mainly because most of my family member didn’t either go to college or didn’t even finished until later in life. I was born in Alabama while my mom was in college and I returned to Seattle when …show more content…
My private school was predominately black including the teachers and staff. I learned English just like all the other children at my school but we all didn’t talk the same. Even my cousins, who went to the same school, sounded different. When we are all together with our parents and grandparents, I notice that most of them talked with an Ebonics accent but I could understand them except for my uncles and older cousins because their accents are really thick. When I’m not around my family, I always get comments like “ what a pretty child you have, she’s so polite and well mannered” or “ She’s so smart, I wish I had more kids like her” or something to that extent. It never really bothered until I kept hearing it year after year like they never seen a black child who has manners. My mother and grandma were amaze at all the comments since at home I was a totally different way. I know realize until after the end of Bouie’s article that from even at a very young age, I would code-switch from speaking one way in public to another way at home. Going back to the beginning of the article where Bouie started with, “All right, hear me out” begins the young black women in a video uploaded…I don’t know why we’ve gotten to a place where as a culture—as a …show more content…
The transition was hard for me because the education system was entirely different. I was ahead in math and science but I was behind in reading and writing, and didn’t help that I was the only black child in class. For a few years I would always struggle with reading and writing, and I would dread reading in front of my classmates because I couldn’t say any of the difficult vocabulary and when it came to state exams like the WASL, there are no words that I could describe how I felt. I was in tears everything I would get a failing score on either section. I had to work extra hard each year to build-up my vocabulary skills and writing skills just so that I can prove not only to myself but to everyone else that I would not be another statistic, another black child who can’t read or write. I didn’t want to end up like some of my family members who didn’t finish high school or even elementary school. By middle school, I had a reading level of someone in high school or even in college and I was ecstatic to hear that I had finally reached my goal and didn’t stop there. My writing has improve but it wasn’t where I wanted it to be until my senior year in high school. I was told that I would never be able to read or write as good as some of my peers and it hurt yes, but I didn’t let it stop me. One comment that I read from a couple of anthropologist that Bouie referenced in