"Aria" By: Richard Rodriguez Reflection

When I first started out reading this piece by Richard Rodriguez I was not sure to expect. I was shocked by the second sentence of the reading that stated that children not being taught their family’s language are a “social disadvantaged child.” I have never thought about learning another language of a social disadvantage. When I think about learning another language I picture it to be an advantage because now you can talk to people of all different languages instead of just your native language.  As I read on about the disadvantages the narrator had I began to understand why he started out saying it is a social disadvantage to the children. After the teachers had come to the narrators house to explain to his parents that they needed to encourage their children to use more English at home I could not believe the changes that could occur in a house just because of the different languages being spoken. The narrator explains that at first the family just thought of learning to speak English as a joke and they would always have that Spanish language connection in the family and learning English would not change that. Little did they know it was going to change their family life drastically. One part of the reading that really said something to me was when he was unsure of what to call his Mother and Father. He no longer wanted to call them mama and papa because it reminded him of home much his life had changed but he did not want to call them by the generic names Americans called their parents. He tells us that he just did not call them anything and hoped to get their attention by eye contact. I felt like he was almost confused about what to call his parents due to the two different languages he had learned because one was no longer existent to him but the other one his parents could barely speak. I never thought about how this could affect bilingual children in a negative way. I could not even imagine not knowing what to call my parents or having to just look at them to try to get their attention. One more part that I really liked reading about was when he explains how much his family dinners had changed because his siblings and him no longer spoke to his parents due to the difference in language. I thought this was awful because I know in my family when I come home from school I enjoy having family dinners and talking to my parents about everything in my life. I think it is really unfortunate that some children have to go through the struggles learning to speak English come with. I think the reading really sent a message that something needs to be done to eliminate the cons of being lingual and illuminate the pros of speaking two languages. I really liked Richards’s message in his reading and the way he wrote what he wanted to say by telling a story.

Jonathan Kozol " Amazing Grace" : Argument

I thought that Amazing Grace by Kozol was really easy to read and very interesting and eye opening. I think everybody has an idea of how each class lives. Poor people are less fortunate than middle class and middle class less fortunate than wealthy people. But, I think no one seems to stop and think about what kind of lives each class really leads. The stereotype that is perceived for wealthy people is that they are happy and they have all the money they need and more and nothing else could be wrong in their life. In reality, their lives might not be perfect. I think we do not know unless we talk to someone from that class or experience being in that class. As Kozol gives us many examples of what it is like to live in the South Bronx it really starts to open my eyes about what kind of things go on and it is a lot worse than I had imagined. One part that really stood out to me was when Cliffe was taking him around town and he asks if he wants to go down a certain street. Kozol asks what is down there and the boy responds and says, "That is where they burn people." When they walk down the street we come to find out that the incarcerator is not really there to burn people but other things. When the boy and the narrator get back to the house and the narrator tells the mother about the incarcerator and what the mother said I felt like her response to what her son had said almost sent the message like anything could happen here and burning bodies there is a possibility. Another part that really blew my mind was when he is talking to the Pastor and the Pastor tells him about the Children’s Park. I found it crazy that volunteers bring condoms and clean needles to adults with their children who are addicted to drugs. I think this is very thoughtful to try to help these people but I just never knew something like this happened and it really showed me how different of a life I have from other people in the world.

One Quote from the article that really said something to me was, "The point is that they put a lot of things into our neighborhood that no one wants. The waste incinerator is just one more way of showing their affection." I liked this quote because this woman is living here because she is cannot afford as much as others but, at the same time our society is making it worse by adding things like the incinerator and other trashy things around town. I got the impression that it is offensive to the people who live there because there is no reason to put a bunch of trashy things all over there town just because they are less fortunate than other people. I think the society/institutions add to the problems in the poor areas by adding more areas that are trashy and unsafe to be around. I think this article by Kozol is very well written and eye opening to people like me who really do not know what life in the Bronx might be like because in my mind I had a totally different image than I have now after reading Kozol's piece.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/amazing-grace-by-jonathan-kozol-8545

This link is a little bit about Kozol and another perspective on his piece "Amazing Grace."

Me :)

Hello everyone,

My name is Kathryn Foos and I am a sophmore here at Rhode Island College. My major is Elementary Education with a concentration in Special Education. I am from Mansfield Mass. and I love to play basketball it is my favorite sport. In my free time i like to hang out with my friends or watch my all time favorite show on tv, Jershey Shore. I also have two jobs. I work at the Comcast Center in Mansfield which is a Concert venue and I also work at Hollister. I enjoy working at both of my jobs but they both have pros and cons. My favorite concert that I got to work at through out my experience at Comcast Center was New Kids on the Block. Everyone always makes fun of me for it but they were the most entertaining that I have seen so far, although, KISS comes pretty close behind New Kids on the Block. I am really looking forward to this class and going to the first grade class that I was assigned too since first grade is what I would like to teach in the future. I hope to learn many new things in my experience as well as helping the students that I work with.