- An identity im most proud of is being Slavic. Our culture isn’t very well known about in the west due to the language barrier. Most people from Slavic countries don’t know english, so not many people know any cultural aspects of my country except a few common stereotypes that are for the most part inaccurate. I love my culture and fully embrace it, and I’m glad to be a part of it because if it wasn’t for my parents teaching me Russian as my first language, I wouldn’t be who I am today. As for an identity i’m not proud of, I can’t think of anything. In my opinion, all identities are valid and people should never be judged based upon who they identify as. The only aspect that used to bother me is that I have a slight accent and people can immediately tell english isnt my first language. But I learned to love my accent because of how unique it is. People know i’m not a native english speaker, yet most of them have no idea what my first language is. This used to make me insecure but I learned to love how unique it is.
- After reading the article “The Potential and Promise of Latino Students, I learned that Latino kids face a lot of difficulties on their educational path due to having limited opportunities. Just as with other minorities, Latino communities are often very low income and schools are extremely underfunded. The author of the article states, “Nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of Latino children live in or near poverty, and less than 20 percent of low-income Latinos live in households where anyone has completed postsecondary education. Taken together, these circumstances almost inevitably result in children living in poor areas with few recreational resources and attending underperforming schools where other children like themselves are isolated from mainstream society” (4). It’s very unfortunate that kids in certain communities don’t get a chance to receive high quality education just because of their ethnic background. Funding should be the same for all schools regardless of what communities they’re located in.
- The video “What Being Hispanic and Latinx Means in the United States” shows perspectives of multiple latino college students who all come from different backgrounds. They talk about their ethnicity related struggles growing up. Some talk about how their parents didn’t want them to express their culture and be more American, others share how people perceive them based on their looks. People are judged on whether they look Latino enough and every student has had an experience where they were told they’re either not American enough, not white enough, not Latino enough. The main point of the video is to show that Latinos come from so many different backgrounds and just because they don’t fit the stereotype doesn’t mean they’re any less of a Latino than someone who does fall into some of those stereotypes. Sometimes these misconceptions lead to stripping people’s cultures away. Parents don’t teach their kids their native language in fear they’ll be discriminated against at school, but later in life those same kids face discrimination either way for “not being Latino enough”. I think some Americans have a set idea of what a Latino person should look, act, and sound like, which is an extremely hurtful mindset to have because it causes Latinos to feel alienated and misunderstood.
Powered by:
top