In Gary Soto’s essay, “Looking for Work,” he reflects back to a time in his life when his goal was to transform his family into the classic “white picket fence” family he saw on television. As a Mexican-American boy, Soto became aware of how different his family was from everyone else. Determined to change that, Soto embarked on a mission to find work and accumulate money to raise his social class. In addition to looking for work Soto also encouraged his siblings and mom to change. He harbored an idea that money represented and created the perfect family.…
Down These Mean Streets by Piri Thomas describes this issue in an account of a job interview at a construction site. Piri is questioned about his high school completion and tries to explain his extenuating circumstances. He had quit after his second year to work in concern of supporting his family. (Thomas 100-102) Piri sees the importance of education, as he attempts to include that he will attend “study nights”, however without the interview becomes speculative and further weakens his impression. Piri, like other Latinos, leave school to join the labor force prior to high school completion.…
Although people assume otherwise, I am Latina, and I'm proud to be a part of that community. I obtain my Latin blood from my father, who moved to the United States from Uruguay as a child. My parents divorced each other when I was young; however, when I was with him for either the weekend or the month of July, I embraced all the wonders of my Latin family. Latino culture entails prodigious amounts of cooking, and we always cooked Uruguayan food; it was almost taboo to eat out. From flan to the glorious empanadas, my family always ate homemade meals.…
3. The Best universities to attend if you are Hispanic 906 tikwiza All universities strive for diversity, but no one university fits every ethnic background. Hispanics, just like African Americans, are a minority group in the U.S. Some factors that Hispanics might consider when making a choice to go to a particular university are: Affordability Graduation rate of that particular ethnic group Hispanic friendly universities; and universities that strive to ensure protection of the rights of Hispanics and ensure they receive the same level of education as non-Hispanic students.…
By reading your answer it reminded me by being in a Hispanic environment. Some Hispanics are Catholics. Losing your virginity is a sin. My family members always question my cousins and I, if were still virgins. It is actually nerve wrecking!…
In the article, “Mexican Immigrant Families Crossing the Education Border: A Phenomenological Study” by Sandra Ixa Plata-Potter and Maria Rosario T. de Guzman, they examine Mexican immigrant parents that confront challenges to help their children succeed in school. Considering that Latinos now make up the biggest minority group in the United States, most Latinos are less likely to complete college. The study presented in this article is an attempt to examine the experience of Mexican immigrant parents as they guide their children to maneuver the United States educational system. Differences in performances between the United States and Mexico such as, language barriers and other challenges, caused these parents to sometimes feel discouraged…
My Hispanic heritage and the challenges my family faced shaped my character. My grandparents, uncles, aunts, and father picked cotton in the fields in order to get by and have food on the table. My mother worked seven different jobs during high school and college to pay for her academic studies. Their experiences taught me that it is important to focus on academics in high school and be resilient in college. Being bilingual in Spanish and English is another skill I have and will benefit my future relationship with patients, especially in Texas.…
A year or so ago, I sought advice from my lovely daughter about the best way to address our concerns and make positive impact on our son’s life, who is at his teen now. My daughter, heartily explained what I could do right to guide my son and where I could go wrong, as she had have experienced during her teen age. I am so glad that I had the conversation, it made me realize that we (the immigrant parents) are further apart in our upbringing than that of our first generation children, it is literally an ocean apart than one could imagine. These differences could not only stir up annoyance but can also become a major cause of frustration due to the communication gap that exists within us.…
The group I chose to research was the Hispanic culture. I do not know much about the Hispanic culture nor have had much experience working with this culture. Sometimes it can be hard to work with or surround yourself with people when your cultures are not the same, therefore getting to better know the values and customs of a Hispanic will help me to make sure my clients get the most from me Knowing more about the people that I am dealing with is the best way to ensure a good client to counselor relationship. The Hispanic culture is one of the fastest growing cultural groups in the United States. The U.S. Census data indicates that Hispanics will be the largest minority group by the year 2050 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1992).…
Where I was waving “Adios” to my mother, the others were waving “Goodbye” to their parents. Torn between two worlds is what I thought I would always be. As a Mexican-American I believed that I would never be fully Mexican or American. I believed that I would never really fit into one specific group and would be target of exclusion all my life.…
At an early age, I didn’t understand the concept of an immigrant family and that our resources were very limited. It wasn’t until I got older, that I finally understood and recognized the struggle that my family went and still continues to go through. My realization began when I was about 11-years old and I noticed that my father not only worked for his own small gardening service, but that he also took my older brothers to work with him. I knew it was a time for serious measures because my brothers started helping my father when they were close to my age, and they continued throughout their whole school years. Everything was going normal in my family then, we rented a house that was in the name of my aunt, had enough money for the bills,…
Although my mother and I have had countless conversations about her previous life experiences, I was surprised at how much I did not know prior to this interview. I had never thought to ask her about what networks and resources she used to adjust to her new lifestyle in the United States. Our conversation made me realize the importance of friends, family and professionals to shape her as an immigrant parent. Growing up, she was not only a mother but a mentor to me—she supported me endlessly and helped me overcome my challenges as an adolescent. Her story begins with her life in South Korea.…
The person I choose to interview was my mother Consuelo Mendez. She is 42 years old, which puts her in the middle adulthood stage. She grew up in a Mexican household with a huge family. She has nine sisters and one brother. She was only able to attend school up until her sixth grade, since she had to go help my grandpa in the field.…
The second person I interviewed was my neighbor. My neighbor is an American as well, but he is of Indian descent. Given the diversity of my participants, I wanted to discuss topics that would broach the similarities and differences in each culture. The topics that I chose to discuss for the interviews were romantic relationships, the…
My families’ migration story dates back to three generations. My great-grandfather came to the United States for the first time through the Bracero Program; a program that “brought millions of Mexican guest workers to the United States [which] grew out of a series of bilateral agreements between Mexico and the United States short-term, from 1942 to 1964.” Unfortunately, my great-grandfather passed away a while back when I was very young, therefore, for this assignment, I decided to acknowledge my parents’ migration story, a story that relies on a series of events that tore our family apart but simultaneously brought us closer together. I interviewed my mother and my father regarding, their own individual migration stories while also focusing…