Reflection Paper

Once my parents became legal residents, my father had saved enough money to buy his own land in the U.S. He wanted to be like the other American landowners and start a business by selling his crops to agriculture companies. A friend informed my father about an elderly Japanese man that was selling his land. The Japanese man and his family were generous to my father by only asking $30,000 for 20 acres of land. This was the opposite of white supremacy because they were people with power in the town that they lived in, but nevertheless helped my dad a lot. My dad used all his money to pay for the land; therefore, the family lent my father the equipment to plow land. Selling those 20 acres to my father was what springboard our family into a more …show more content…
When I started kindergarten, I was one of the only kids that did not speak English. My parents only spoke Spanish to me at home and my siblings had moved out of the house by then. It was certainly difficult for me to assimilate because I did not have access to many academic resources. It was necessary for me to work harder in order to feel included in my classes because of that barrier. Growing up, I had not realized my parents were any different from other parents until it was time for my parents to attend a parent-teacher conference. I noticed how uncomfortable they were in attending for the reason that they were not fluent with the language and did not clearly understand the structure of American schools. I had to get used to the idea that my parents were not going to guide me through school considering they had not received a higher education. My father had only gone to 2nd grade while my mother only attended school until she was in 6th grade. Knowing my parents did not have the privilege or the opportunity to obtain a higher education has allowed me to fully fathom their situation. I wanted to make sure I took advantage of all my opportunities so I became self-disciplined in school and worked extremely hard to acquire my Bachelors from University of California, San Diego. With my fluent knowledge of Spanish I would be a great asset for migrant communities with English language barriers, which is the population I would like to serve when I complete my masters in Social Work. My parents were immigrants who experienced those obstacles. That is why I believe more social workers that understand immigrants are needed, and I would be one of