Understanding the Low Income Undergraduate Experience

These videos talk about how the University of California, Berkeley are insensitive about their low income students and how hard it is to go to school and work to meet basic needs i.e food, bills, books, etc. Senior, Meng talks about how he is told don’t work, just focus on school, but he can’t because he has to provide for himself. He feels bad that he is in school because his  parents are getting older and are having to work so many hours to make ends meet back at home, so he feels he should be there helping instead of getting an education. Freshman, Darrin talks about why low income students even bother coming to school? He says that its their way out not to have to raise a family like he was raised as a child, not repeating the cycle. He also talks about how the price of books is ridiculously high and that they don’t think about the low income students who can’t afford the books, he said all they care about is making their money. Monica, Junior explains what exactly is low income and how she can’t participate in the fun activities that normal college students get to participate in. She also has working parents, but its not enough to provide for. She is in tears because her dad at the current time was only making a $100 a week. She was like how am I suppose to tell my parents that she did not eat lunch and can’t purchase books, because she know that they can’t help her.I really understand what they are going through. Because I am a low income student myself. So I really related to this. I also feel like even though this at the college level t still can be related to what the school age students got through as well. I also thought this was a great video because all of the students were minority.

Encouragement First Generation Students

Gerardo Escobar is a senior at Towson University where he is very involved. He talks about how thankful he is to his mom for moving him from  El Salvador  to the united states when he was younger for a better life. He is a leader and role model for other Latinos.

I was very encourage by this video because it shows us that minorities can be successful. I also like it because it is an example to other minorities.

Latino Cultural Center

November  12, 2011 I went to the Latino Cultural Center in down town Dallas. I had a great time. I arrived at 12:00pm. I watch a play called The girl who loved to read. Performed by a young lady from Mexico City who produced, directed, and wrote the play. She performs it for students at different schools in the Dallas area. The play is about how in the 1600s little girls could not go to school and could not learn how to read. The young lady took us through her childhood from age 3-17 telling us stories of how she loved to read, and how she did anything in her might just to learn how to read. When she visits the schools to perform she gets the students to see how important reading is. I enjoy a good book myself, and I could not imagine some one telling me I could not learn to read. This play was awesome! I really enjoyed because she really engaged the audience by having us participate.

Then the next session was cultural and identity. It was presented by a teacher from the Dallas ISD. She had open discussion and provide us with a wealth of information. Then all the kids in attendance got to draw and paint symbols of their culture and where they were from. I even volunteered! I got to make sure that the parents got tape to tape up the kids art work so the paint could dry. I should have painted me a picture as well. Instead of just watching everybody else. Then this family from the Aztec/ Indigenous tribe preformed their rituals songs and dances. It was so brilliant! The outfits and head piece were amazing. Not only did  do they perform, but they make sure they educated us on their culture. It was phenomenal!

I learned a lot. The thing I learned that I from their culture that never understood was the “Day of the Dead” The father of the family really broke it down. They also involved the audience and got some of the kids to learn some of the dances. This was an awesome experience. The only thing I would have done different was ask more questions, but my mind kept going blank. So I agree with Mrs.Summers that it is hard to get out of your comfort zone. I thought oh it won’t be hard, but it was. This event helped me see that yes we are addict to our own culture it is hard to learn about others. I think this pushes me to keep learning about this cultures along with others.

PANIC NATION!

On September 21, 2011 I went to see the documentary entitled Panic Nation, one of the events UPC put together for Hispanic heritage month. This documentary is about immigration laws that are in place in California and Mississippi. I did not realize that these very strict laws were in place. The story about this one couple Rita and her husband Mario was so sad. Mario had went to the store to pick up a few things, and while leaving the store to head back home, this police officer stopped and harassed him. Mario was not U.S. citizen and was handcuffed and taken away. Rita was worried that her husband had not came back and tried calling his cell but did not get an answer. She knew that he was taken away by the cops. Her and her family tried hard for him to come back, but nothing could bring him back down. The only choice she had to be back with her love was to move back to Mexico, but here husband told her to stay and have a better life. It so sad that they had to be separated from one another. Another thing that really got under my skin was the immigration law in California that does not allow illegal immigrants to go to school. We talked about this in EDBE 3470, so it was interesting to hear from students and parents who were going through this. This is so upsetting, seeing that, that’s the one of the reason why these families leave their native lands for a better education and life. This made we realize yes we are living in PANIC that the “brown people” are going to take over, and they will do anything to keep us in the same state we have been in for years. This documentary opened my eyes to the dark side of the immigration laws, and how unfair they really are. It made me realize how our nation is scared of change. This encouraged me to look more into the laws, so when I have these children in my class, I can give them the emotional support they need.

El Alfabeto Espanol

I AM GOING TO LEARN SPANISH SOON! I LOVE THE LANGUAGE! THIS VIDEO HAS ME PUMPED! ITS SO CUTE! IT EVEN CHALLENGED YOU! AWESOME STUFF! THINKING ABOUT TAKING A SPANISH COURSE NEXT SEMESTER! EXCITED! 🙂

EDBE 3480

Hello EDBE students! You will have the pleasure to explore Hispanic Culture with me. I am very excited about  learning more about this culture!