I could just hear the words hollering through my ears, over and over. The slight echoes that can still be heard moments after the words were spoken as my cousins spoke their rage about school. While they may have had a chance to finish their education, they never bothered to. Simply because they got tired of being told what to do, and thought they earned enough with their part-time job and asked themselves, what good is a high school degree? That’s what I saw over the years, one by one I would see them drop out, struggle financially and emotionally. This was just a never ending cycle that I can’t get out of. I felt a bit apprehensive of when will that time come. Yet, before the feeling of giving up could get a grasp of me someone snapped me
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But today my mom and my brothers went out to do an errand, so it was just my dad and I at the table. We had dinner together and talked a bit. Soon enough the topic of where I’m heading after middle school came up. I told him that I don’t care where I end up going to, I just wanted to get this over with since I might drop out anyway. Those were the words he did not want to hear. He sighed as he rubbed his eyes and asked me “What did you say?” I was afraid that he would yell at me so I didn’t say a word. He slowly stood up and walked to the living room, grabbing a random book from the table. It was Dr.Suess’s “Oh the Places You’ll Go”. I was a bit confused once I saw the book in his hand; I saw no point of reading because he doesn’t understand English so I asked, “Why? You won’t understand a word I’ll say.” He nods his head and said “Exactly, you know why? Because I never bothered learning the language, I lived here for almost sixteen years, not once did I consider ever learning Basic English.” I gave him a perplexed look thinking about what point he was trying to get across, he further emphasized “I never told you this, but to tell you the truth, I never finished middle school, in fact, I didn’t even finish the first grade, because I was stubborn.” What did stubbornness had to do with anything, I asked myself, is it because “Most lived up to those expectations inside the classroom but subverted them on the outside (Alexie pg
But today my mom and my brothers went out to do an errand, so it was just my dad and I at the table. We had dinner together and talked a bit. Soon enough the topic of where I’m heading after middle school came up. I told him that I don’t care where I end up going to, I just wanted to get this over with since I might drop out anyway. Those were the words he did not want to hear. He sighed as he rubbed his eyes and asked me “What did you say?” I was afraid that he would yell at me so I didn’t say a word. He slowly stood up and walked to the living room, grabbing a random book from the table. It was Dr.Suess’s “Oh the Places You’ll Go”. I was a bit confused once I saw the book in his hand; I saw no point of reading because he doesn’t understand English so I asked, “Why? You won’t understand a word I’ll say.” He nods his head and said “Exactly, you know why? Because I never bothered learning the language, I lived here for almost sixteen years, not once did I consider ever learning Basic English.” I gave him a perplexed look thinking about what point he was trying to get across, he further emphasized “I never told you this, but to tell you the truth, I never finished middle school, in fact, I didn’t even finish the first grade, because I was stubborn.” What did stubbornness had to do with anything, I asked myself, is it because “Most lived up to those expectations inside the classroom but subverted them on the outside (Alexie pg