Reflective Essay: Diversity In Middle Schools

Improved Essays
My middle school days were not the best; I encountered many instances of bigotry from students. I was teased endlessly and disrespected because of my diversity. Born and raised of
West Indian Heritage, students made my life a living hell because I spoke with an accent.
“Where are you from?” instantly began the conversation. It indicated what I said and how it was said, especially since it was delivered with a Caribbean accent. I quickly realized that my accent was the first thing people noticed about me. Answering questions in class became a struggle; students didn’t quite understand what I was saying because words were pronounced differently.
Class was followed by silly, ignorant remarks and the automatic assumption about my background which aren’t
…show more content…
My parents made a lot of sacrifices to send me to the United
States. It was made to further my studies and become a well-rounded student. However, students failed to realize that. They didn’t understand the struggle my family experienced to get me here.
My family sent me to the United States to receive the best education possible and that what I was doing.I maintained perfect attendance throughout middle school. I was never tardy and I excelled on all exams and homework assignments. Branched from a family of doctors, RNs, and teachers, I had no other choice than to be a profound student. All of my good qualities didn’t seem to impress the pupils in my class. I was referred to as a nerd, a geek, and even a teacher’s pet. I couldn’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve heard students laughing at the way I spoke.
The most outward display of injustice directed at me occurred in the sixth grade .In social studies class I had to do a presentation in front of the class. I was beyond terrified, one I was shy and also I was insecure about the way I pronounce words with that strong accent of mine. As I was doing the presentation someone shouted, “I can’t understand you, I can’t understand you!”

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    A Mighty Long Way Essay

    • 723 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A mighty long way essay In the book a Mighty long Way it tells the story about a girl named Carlotta and her peers starting an all white school. When they first started they got picked on and they got yelled at and hit with spitballs. During this book we learned about the segregation and there journey about how Carlotta and her peers made it through the change. In the book Carlotta went through some hard times when she first started the school she had to be escorted in for almost 2 years because the students didn’t think it was right for them to go to the all white school.…

    • 723 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Throughout the many years of my life, there have been many inspirational people who have impacted me personally, but the person who stood out the most to me has been Diane Guerrero. Guerrero is an actress that plays a role in the show Orange Is the New Black known as Maritza Ramos and in the show Jane the Virgin as Lina. What amazes me the most about her is how she was able to overcome the difficult circumstances that she had to face alone, due to her parents who were deported when Guerrero was only 14 years old. She was raised in Boston and remained there after her family was deported back to Colombia. Even after being orphaned, she faced society alone and successfully became an actress and was able to achieve it all on her own.…

    • 1568 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “How my Lone Star Experience Influenced my Life” When I was 17 years old I came to the United States. Just fresh out of high school, my goal was to study hard, ace my tests and get my degree. However, as the situation worsened in my country, I realized that I would have to worry about much more than just developing academically. Soon, I was not only learning to get along with the five more people living with me, and studying for my finals, but I was also looking for a job, searching for scholarships, and worrying about every cent in my bank account. I came to Lone Star as a way to save money until I got into the big universities, but with all the changes in my life I cannot be more thankful that I did.…

    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Despite this, I knew that my parents had not come to the decision lightly and respected their decisions. In the midst of this, I kept my composure and overcame the language and cultural obstacles before me. To this day, there have been many obstacles that have come my way. Each time with determination and grit I have been able to conquer these hurdles to gain a steady footing in my journey towards attending a four-year university and achieving my dreams. My journey from Texas to my motherland and back again has not been without its setbacks, but I would not change what has happened in my life.…

    • 978 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    My parents came to America through school because where there from colleges are not so great. My parents are from a small place in Africa called Rwanda, it’s a pretty small country and not a lot of people know about it. Well my parents didn’t know each other back in Rwanda but met in America. They came here because they were given the option to come to America paid by the government to take studies and come back. My parents obviously didn’t do that but they got that privilege because they did good in school and over there school shapes your life more than it does here.…

    • 1189 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    My Racism Experience

    • 900 Words
    • 4 Pages

    1. What is your first recollection of race? Or encountering of racism? I went to private school my entire life and there were always very dominantly white.…

    • 900 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Four thousand fifteen days ago as I stepped my foot in this Country where people called “The land of opportunity. ” I worked hard several zillion minutes to get where I am at today. When I write this essay, I imagine you at your desk reading every word meticulously. Writing this essay today opens up my past, present and future. Eleven years ago, April 12, 2006.…

    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I was four years old when my family immigrated to the U.S. We lived in a predominantly white city. My first introduction to the American education system was a few months later when I entered kindergarten. As a recent immigrant, I had no knowledge of the English language. My memories remain of the difficulty this created for me and my inability to connect with my classmates resulted in isolation very early on.…

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The school that I attended was a primarily white student school with about one tenth of each grade being Hispanic. Our teaching staff was also primarily white with a few Hispanic teachers in the whole school. During school, we were all in the same classes. In my Spanish class, my teacher used the opportunity of having a mixed class to her advantage. When we were allowed to pick our own groups, she encouraged that the Hispanics and the white kids worked together instead of being separated.…

    • 1155 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, diversity is the condition of having or being of different elements. Many times the word diversity is used in terms of people and cultures. This is the case because no two people are alike, and this holds true for cultures as well. Diversity of an individual encompasses three different areas: invariability, variability, and influence. While invariable characteristics of a person tend to remain the same over one’s lifetime, variable characteristics and environmental influences vary throughout a lifetime.…

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I identify as a Vietnamese-American, however, this was never the case. It was almost ironic how strongly I identified with American culture when my family’s time spent in America was fairly new. Since my parents traveled to America after the Vietnam War in the 1980’s, my siblings and I are the first American-born generation. I grew up as an American, so I quickly found out that I had no knowledge of the Vietnamese culture, language, or history. It came to the point where I realized, I couldn’t truly know myself before I knew where I came from.…

    • 408 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I was afraid to sharpen a pencil in second grade. My most vivid elementary school memories spring from instances when I was being reprimanded by an adult for doing something wrong. I did everything in my power to avoid those dreadful moments, but they still presented themselves on occasion. Even now I feel a pit in my stomach when I recall the way I felt during those times, regardless of the fact that almost all of them would easily roll off my back if they occurred today.…

    • 1604 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I have felt many pressures, race is such a big problem among black people but as community can get over the hump of being pressured into a few stereotypes. From my own personal experience being a young black man growing up in many places of black being the majority such as Detroit, Chicago, New York I felt an amazing amount of comfort around these areas. Once I move down to La Vernia Texas, being enrolled into an all white school with a lot of Mexicans and the only black people could only fit on a bench in a hallway that we called “The Black Bench” in high school, I attended La Vernia school district for 7 years from 4th grade all the way to 10th grade in high school. My first encounter with this whole move, and experience this new…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    One of the most important identities to me is my blackness. As far back as I can remember I knew I was black and was very aware of the meaning of that. I went to a majority-minority middle, and high school, I live in an all-black neighborhood and, of course, I live in an all black household. For most of my life, I have mostly been around black people and people of color, so just going to school with majority white people is definitely a different experience. Race has shaped my life because growing up, most people who I saw in the mass media was white people and this includes my books, or on the magazines I bought was white.…

    • 1489 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Whenever my parents took me to the doctor’s office, they would have a lot of trouble communicating with the doctors because of their limited ability to speak English. I would translate Igbo, my parent’s tribal language, to English or simply speak to the doctor myself. When I got into high school, I felt that it was my time to advocate for more diversity in my community and other communities. I became a part of a student diversity group in high school and attended a student diversity leadership conference in Washington D.C. my senior year to extensively discuss the need for diversity in communities and how to promote this.…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays