At my old school in Wisconsin, I remember my social studies teacher yelling at me and my friend Keef for not paying attention in class, we would always play around in that class. Every day he would try to get either me or him to sit in the front of class, but it never worked. Every time he turned his head, we would make our way to the back of the classroom. It happened so much, he eventually gave up and just let us do what we wanted. He thought we would fail his class, and honestly, we probably would have failed. But he always made the same dumb move. Every test or quiz he put an answer sheet under his desk like we didn’t know he put it there. That’s how we passed the class, we would get the answer sheet before the tests or quizes started and  put them back before it was over. He knew we cheated too because he moved the answer sheet around sometimes we always found it though. After a certain amount of  good grades in his class, he eventually just put us in a different room for testing.  I believed he cared  for us because  he still gave us those good grades knowing what we were doing.

Having this past experience with my social studies teacher was helpful and harmful. It was helpful because I never failed his class that whole year I actually got straight A’s in that social studies class so it was a good short term experience. The bad long term experience is that, that whole year I honestly can’t remember anything I learned from that class. So I'm uneducated about  almost anything  that  has to pertain with social studies. From that class I learned something that helped me excel in school though. I learned that I can’t learn how I was being taught in that class and that may have something to do with the reason that I thought it was okay to cheat my whole sophomore year in social studies. Throughout my whole sophomore year in my social studies class he would do all of his work, lessons, test etc. out of a textbook and just hearing that makes me tired. I believe that made me lose a lot of focus because it's like the book is teaching me and not the teacher. Me, as a student really didn’t know why I didn't like school because how his class was, that was almost every  class,  I just thought that I would be a C student and that was good because that was what the school i went to made see okay. Until I moved back to Philadelphia. Now I go to a school called Science Leadership Academy  (SLA), and its like they so far showed me a whole different side to learning.

Attending SLA as a Junior they have showed me there is a different side to learning. A lot of their learning is based off of a computer it's usually just the classwork, and homework so the teachers are still very live in the classroom they go through lessons have classroom discussions about an assignment that you may have have not understood, your allowed to email them at a respectable time, anytime about question or concerns that you may have. My old school would just have had to call the school or tried to catch the teacher at sometime. They don't give  you so many test during the quarter it's maybe two but at the end of the quarter they give you a project which is not bad because they give you enough time to complete them. Lunch is extended an extra 30 min for any body who feel like they need extra help with their class work there is something called Math Lab where you can get extra help math by a teacher or a student how is in a higher math class. So it honestly seems like they care about your education and the teachers and the school wants to see you succeed.

Going through these experiences showed me that learning is not hard it’s all about how you get taught. Not everybody learns the same, also that not every school is the same prime example the situations i just explained. The school I'm at now which is SLA cares more about my education they just come up with ways for any student to learn were as my old school taught everybody the same way. It's important to know your students as a teacher because you could get through to some who feel like school is not for them and slowly make them realize that you care about their education and want to see all of their students succeed.

Matthew Willson

11/25/15

Water Stream

Advanced Essay #2

Intro

While creating this paper the skills I mainly focused on were connecting the experience I had reading The Hunger Games and what I took out of that experience to a larger idea. I am proud of how I focused on a recent topic and related it to a book I read many years ago.  I have always been a good writer when it comes to creativity and making up stories. But I have never been that good or enjoyed writing and researching about real world topics. As I grow as a writer I hope to get better at writing bigger issues around the world.

Essay

Literacy is a way to communicate and a way to share ideas. This communication allows us to understand people's perspective through time. This communication can help humans understand and ideally learn from their mistakes so they are not repeated. Without literacy, good ideas cannot be shared and people also can’t learn about bad ideas, which risks bad ideas being repeated. By looking at the present Syrian refugee crisis, we can see that crimes are being committed against humanity. We have an opportunity to help the refugees. However, there is political pressure in our country to keep the refugees out because some people are afraid they bring the risk of terrorism.  This is important because we never want to repeat the history of not helping people in crisis.

When I was 11 I read The Hunger Games, a series of three books written by Suzanne Collins.  These books take place in a world called “Panem” which is divided into a very wealthy capital and twelve very poor districts that exist solely to support the capital.  At the start of the first book, each district sends one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 to the Hunger Games, a televised fight to the death.  The children are chosen by lottery, with the event staged for the capital’s entertainment and as a “reminder” to the districts of the time when they attempted to revolt against the capital and were defeated. When I first read the scene where the children, called tributes, are chosen, I was shocked.  I just couldn’t imagine being at the whim of a person picking my name out of a raffle to be killed. The characters had done nothing and it was just a sick game for the powerful people from the capital.  I thought of what my world would be like in the future.  Would it have districts and segregation?  Reading the book emphasized how cruel it is for some people to make life decisions regarding other people. Power becomes the force that decides the fate of peoples’ lives, whether they live or die. Humanity is not even considered in this type of power relationship. It’s not about what's right or wrong, it's about who has power and who doesn't.  As an 11 year old this was a lot of me to comprehend. As humans our duty should be to make sure everyone is fairly treated. Throughout history people have done many sick evil things to set people behind due to their race or beliefs like Hitler or Slavery. The human race needs to look back and make sure that those things don’t happen again. We have to make sure the world doesn’t end up in a scenario like The Hunger Games.

Right now, the Islamic group ISIS has claimed responsibility for attacks in Paris that killed over 130 people. The group is forcing people in Syria and other Middle Eastern countries to either join them or abandon their Muslim religion.  At the same time, there is a civil war in Syria between the government led by Bashar al-Assad and the rebels.  As a result, there are hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees, without homes because of the civil war, attempting to flee the country and avoid both the conflict and ISIS.  Many countries including the US are questioning whether they should allow the refugees to enter their country.  People are afraid that some ISIS terrorists will be hidden amongst the refugees, and so they feel it is just safer to say “No”.  This is not the time to abandon people we should be helping.  During the first Hunger Games, the main character, Katniss Everdeen, did not attack the other tributes.  She defended herself, and actually helped some of the other tributes to survive.  The lesson is that it is important to do the right thing, even if it may put you at some personal risk. These are the values that define who we are as a country.  We should not be afraid.  We should do the right thing and help the refugees who are in need.  Just after the attacks in Paris last week, the French President Francois Hollande said that France would allow 30,000 Syrian refugees into the country, honoring a commitment they had previously made.  Despite suffering the worst attack on French soil since World War 2, that is the right thing to do.  We need to do the same.

I wake up to the sound of my phone, I grab my iPad and take it into the bathroom and play my music as I get ready for the morning. As I get dressed, I review my schedule on my iStudiez Pro app and look if there are any assignments I missed the night before.

Technology plays a major part in my life when it comes to personal advantages. However, technological literacy plays an even bigger role in my education. My school has a technology and project based learning curriculum. Everyday we are working on computers. People outside of the school is unaware of the effect technological literacy has on us.

People today can say that the way education was for them is different from how it was for them when they were my age. Technology wasn’t an easy go to thing in class for them. What's interesting about schools today is that we have different definitions of literacy, which you never expect to change. My English teacher’s definition of literacy is “To read the word and read the world.; literacy affects an individual and society”. However, my definition is the ability to comprehend and explain forms of writing. Literature is a conversation written down and it is an exchange from one person to another. When my teacher was in high school he didn’t have technology to give him advantages like I and my classmates have today. Now in this day in age we have a new branch of literacy, technological literacy. Due to this change, for the most part he learns as we do in the educational world; on some occasions he becomes the students and we become the teachers to show him the definition of technological literacy. Technological literacy from a dictionary, is the ability of an individual, working independently and with others, to responsibly, appropriately and effectively use technology tools to access, manage, integrate, evaluate, create and communicate information.

What many people get wrong about technological literacy is well described Albert Einstein who said that, “I fear the day when the technology overlaps with our humanity. The world will only have a generation of idiots.”, technology is making each generation worse to the point that we have children that simpletons. Others would disagree claiming that technology is helping us reach the peak of society. There are upsides and downsides to technology making it a grey area of good and bad. I think technological literacy do not make us dependent, they help us prosper as learners. Technological literacy in schools do not effect anything in school except how the student learn, and in doing so it doesn't make the students learning habits better or worse. Technological literacy only allows another option to a method of learning.  It does not resolve in students being more intelligent people or resolve in students being idiots. That's not even how school works at all. From how the school system works, you can't determine either case. Technology in school just makes things more convenient and easier. In an article I read, a reporter at a technology based school quoted “When students are using technology as a tool or a support for communicating with others, they are in an active role rather than the passive role of recipient of information transmitted by a teacher, textbook, or broadcast. The student is actively making choices about how to generate, obtain, manipulate, or display information. Technology use allows many more students to be actively thinking about information, making choices, and executing skills than is typical in teacher-led lessons. Moreover, when technology is used as a tool to support students in performing authentic tasks, the students are in the position of defining their goals, making design decisions, and evaluating their progress.”

When I was younger, my father would always read to me, every night, before I would go to bed. He would sit on my bed, and I would lay next to him, with my head on his shoulder, which you might think would be for comfort, but in reality, it was so I could just read along. It wasn’t just the story my dad would read me that made me look forward to this nightly event, it was the way he read. He made me imagine and create a world just like the places in the book. It was never just one book though, and that’s what made this so wonderful. Everything he read was my ticket to escape reality. I soon began to imagine my own worlds. I stopped listening to my dad read, because I would just think about my perfect world. My head would no longer rest on his shoulder, and my eyes no longer rested on the pages of the book. It was those nights of reading that helped me fantasize of a world where everything and anything was like a dream. 

I can’t say I don’t fantasize today, because that would just be a complete utter lie, and an ugly one at most. It’s because of literacy that I allow myself to daydream from time to time. It’s because of literacy that I fear less of reality.  It is something so delicate and specific, that if you don’t practice it, you won’t understand anything. Literacy, words, are used as a way to show physical emotion that you are too scared to show on your own. It took me a while to understand that. I would always hide something, or fear to express how I felt. For that reason, I became a shy child, one who refused to go out into the world and explore. Instead, I’d explore in my books. I came to the realization that in most of the books I read, the characters were just like me. They were able to express their emotion, their feeling, in writing, or more to say, the author was able to express their feeling and emotion in writing. I envied them for being able to do that. Personally, I am unable to write the way I intend to. It’s hard to write down who I am, and easier to write about someone else.

Rumer Godden once said “When you learn to read you will be born again...and you will never be quite so alone again.” Literacy is nothing but a way to represent who you are, and who you want to be. You not only gain knowledge about the world, but you also gain knowledge about who you are. There are some people who read and write because they have to, and there are other people who read and write because they have a strong desire, a craving, that can only be fixed with literacy. Once one learns who they are and who they want to be, there’s no stopping them. Those people are the ones that inspire the next generation writers, the next generation of book worms. Literacy inspires people to do the things they once thought to be unimaginable. Literacy is merely just a way to escape. That is why you are never alone. You read a book to imagine yourself completing those desires, you feel as though you’re invincible.

 For this essay, my goal was to try to fully utilize the quotes into making my essay better. In other words, I want to use my quotes in a way to make my essay more understanding to my readers. One part in my essay that I am really proud of is the first paragraph because I tried something that I never done before. I contradicted my own argument, so that my thesis can be more clearly understood. I want to continue thinking of ways to make my writing more powerful and understanding to the writer. I think this time, I've been more proactive in asking my friends to check/edit my essay, and that helped me a lot.

“So, if you want to really hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity; I am my language.” This quote was pulled out of, How to Tame a Wild Tongue, by Gloria Anzaldua. This is great story that revolves around culture because she passionately explain her culture and her people very specifically. With that, we can most definitely say that she is proud of her nationality and ethnicity. “There are more subtle ways that we internalize identification, especially in the forms of images and emotions. For me food and certain smells are tied to my identity, to my homeland. Woodsmoke curling up to an immense blue; woodsmoke perfuming my grandmother’s clothes, her skin.” When she is not at home, there is a lot of things that remind her of home like some of the examples provided above. This same type of home sickness goes for a lot of immigrants in the United States today. they are out here working hard to be able to provide for themselves and their family. Maybe once in every couple of years, they travel back to visit, but for the most part, it is the same hard working life for them. As interesting as her story may be, it is sad to say that not all of the immigrant’s experiences are like that. As a matter of fact, majority of the immigrants that came here to make a life, end up having the complete opposite experience. They often are too busy to celebrate their culture and perform their rituals and traditions. With that, it puts a negative impact towards the kids and their future of remembering their culture.

America has become a really diverse country consisting of many different cultures. One of the main reasons why is because of its capitalist society. Owning property and making business has become a easy way to make money to gain wealth for a lot of immigrants in America compared to the work force they were involved in back at their native location. As for many great systems and ideas created in this world, there is always a cause and effect.

I came here when I was 4 years old because of my parents looking for a better life. My father worked as a delivery man, delivering different packages of food and beverages to different companies that purchased them, so he is hardly ever home in the daytime, and he comes home late at night. My mother work with my grandpa in the restaurant, so I am just left with my sister. My parents are working extremely hard for money and sometimes forget about taking time off to celebrate some of the most important holidays in the Chinese culture. For example, Chinese New Year, Ching Ming Day, etc. For a lot of my childhood, I was very independent, and the only way I would learn is through school. As of today, I have been asked why I do not have an accent because it is common for Chinese or Asian natives to have an accent. A lot of times, I really do not know how to answer that question. For the most part, I think that it is because most of my time is spent on critically learning English. I do not really have religion or rituals or traditions to distract me from it, although I wish that was the case. In other words, if my family was more involved in our Chinese traditions instead making wealth, it would have made a big impact in my understanding of my culture as well as the “accent” I was suppose to have.

Being able to create something that is yours and make gains and wealth out of it, is an amazing achievement to a lot of the foreigners coming here. But people are often too caught up in making money and forget to celebrate their rituals or traditions. Even if they do, a lot of people do it to get it over with because it is like a yearly chore to them. It is important for kids to know who they really are and where they came from. With them not taking their culture rituals/traditions seriously, it puts a negative impact on the kids growing up. Money needs to be made to provide for their family, but culture also needs to be taught and primarily defined to the new generation of kids, so they have somewhere to start off on.

Using the theme of literacy as our focal point of this essay I wrote about an issue that directly affects me as a student. In my advanced essay I am most proud of the way I was able to express my opinion. The essay revolved around the question about the narratives that schools teach about minorities. In my experience I have seen a myriad of approaches to the teaching of minorities in history. However, in my essay I tried to target the idea of empowering minorities instead of continuously degrading them. As a growing writer I plan to continue to analyze different perspectives in order to gain a proper understanding of the core issue that will help me better formulate my ideas and clearly articulate them to others through my writing.

1. Malcolm X. Dir. Spike Lee. Prod. Spike Lee. By Spike Lee and Arnold Perl. Perf. Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Albert Hall, and Al Freeman. Warner Bros., 1992. Online.

2. Alexie, Sherman. "Superman and Me." The Most Wonderful Books: Writers on Discovering the Pleasures of Reading. Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 1997. N. pag. Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 19 Apr. 1998. Web. 23 Nov. 2015. <http://articles.latimes.com/1998/apr/19/books/bk-42979>.

In this paper I focused on the definition of literacy and why we cannot assess how literate someone is. I am very proud of my thesis and think that I was able to clearly articulate the point I was trying to make. I focused on trying to connect my scene to my thesis. This is something that I would like to work on. There is always something to improve on as a writer. For the next piece my focus will be on transitions and connections.

We all have moments in our lives that shape our definitions of literacy. For me a big factor was living in a home where three languages were spoken. Farsi with my father, Italian with my mother, and English with my siblings. I learned early on that being literate did not only refer to how well one wrote, but if you understood what a person was saying, not only in your mother tongue but any other languages you have picked up on your way to adulthood.

One of my favorite memories that has shaped my definition of literacy is of when I was little and my sister and I would curl up beside our mom and read italian fables together.This is one of my earliest memories of reading. She’d ask us which story we should start with that night. The answer was always the same.

“Fiabe italiane”

There came a point when we knew the story so well we’d say the next line before our mom read it out loud. My favorite part of the fables was the cover of the book. It was an elephant holding the same book we were reading. Within his cover there was a smaller elephant holding the book. It went on until I could no longer see the elephant holding another book with another elephant on it.

This got me to thinking, what if each elephant was reading the same story but seeing it differently. I thought there was a universal definition for literacy but found that each site I visited had a different definition for literacy.

“a person's knowledge of a particular subject or field” -Dictionary.com

“the quality or state of being literate” -Merriam-Webster

“ The condition or quality of being literate, especially the ability to read and write.”-The Free Dictionary

“Literacy is the ability to use printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential.” -National Center for Education Statistics.

All of these definitions have one thing in common. They assess someone's knowledge and their ability to write. But through all I have experienced I have learned that because there are so many different dialects and accents, we cannot and do not tell someone that the way they speak is incorrect. We acknowledge that there are accents and dialects within one language. Why is it different when we write or read? Isn’t writing and reading a type of language that is spoken? It is an expression, an art, that must be interpreted by each individual person. The artist's feelings might be different than the observer's feelings. That is the beautiful thing about art, it allows us to express what we are feeling and allow another to see our work and let it become something to them, even if it is different from our interpretation. Just as each elephant on the cover of the italian fables may have interpreted the story they were reading differently. Just like how my sister and I had different reasons for loving the stories in “Fiabe Italiane”

Literacy is unique because it has to be molded to the person it is describing. In some schools English class is labeled as Literacy class, but are the teachers teaching them what it means to be literate? They are teaching them grammar, rules of the English language, how to read, how to analyze a text. They are not teaching them to express themselves through the things they read and the stories they write, or the drawings they draw. As I write, I realize that I am writing with bias, but rightfully so. My definition of literacy has shaped the way I have written this essay. But in a way to you, the reader, I am allowing you to see my views and allowing you to form your own opinions about the questions and opinions I am raising.

I’ve often wondered if we can assess how literate someone is. We each obviously have a different definition of what it means. I understand not writing with correct grammar. But grammar is something that has a set of rules that must be followed for each language. In class we wrote down our definitions for literacy, but in the end we were given a definition(“Reading the word and reading the world”) to follow for our project. The thing that makes literacy so unique is the vast amount of different definitions people have. These definitions show how the person grew up and how they see the world around them. I read books to see the world through the main character's eyes. I love to see and understand the way others read the world. My definition is different than yours. Isn’t that the great part of literacy? It has so many interpretations, meanings, and impacts. It sets us apart and lets us appreciate how one act or image can be described in so many unique and diverse ways.

Work Cited:

Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.

<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literacy>.

Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.

<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/literacy>.

"National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) - Definition of Literacy." National Assessment

of Adult Literacy (NAAL) - Definition of Literacy. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2015. <https://nces.ed.gov/naal/fr_definition.asp>.

"Literacy." The Free Dictionary. Farlex, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

<http://www.thefreedictionary.com/literacy>.

In September 2015, members of the Pennsylvania Legislature issued an “English Only” legislation, Bill 1506. Currently, 31 US states have similar legislation. The bill would require all state and local government business to be conducted in English. Some are against this bill, like opinion writer Charlie Deitch who says “It’s hard to make meaningful gains in government when most of the time is spent parsing crap legislation meant to appease the citizenry sitting with closed minds.” As a child, I was born into a bilingual home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Both my parents were born in Nicaragua, a multilingual but predominantly Spanish speaking country. My mother grew up in the United States and does not speak fluent Spanish. Her parents spoke Spanish but did not teach their children. My father lived in Nicaragua until he was 27;  he speaks Miskito, Creole English and Spanish. As a child, I primarily learned one language, English. My mother would say a few words in Spanish. My father prefered Creole English and Miskito to Spanish.  Then, when I was five years old, I was enrolled at Independence Charter School, a school with a bilingual program so I would become fluent in Spanish. Some members of the  Pennsylvania Legislature apparently fear multilingualism and multiculturalism. My story should alleviate their fears.

From kindergarten through fifth grade, I spent 80 - 90% of my school day learning in Spanish. Besides Spanish Language Arts, math, science and social studies were in Spanish. I had one period a day of English. For example, I learned the world's’ countries in Spanish. I never knew Switzerland, England or Belgium. I knew them as Suiza, Inglaterra and Bélgica. Math operations were la adición, división, multiplicación, and resta or subtracción. Classes had a “Spanish only rule.” You couldn’t speak English in classes;  if we have something to say, it had to be in Spanish. What I learned in Spanish in third grade, SLA students learn in Spanish II.

Despite the challenge of learning in a second language, I enjoyed learning in Spanish.  Most of my teachers were Latina and born in Spanish speaking countries. They spoke Spanish from birth. I learned proper pronunciation. In addition, they exposed us to their cultural traditions. This helped me embrace my heritage. Because of my physical appearance, especially my freckles, most people assume I am only white. But when I learned Spanish, I gained the confidence to embrace and love my complex heritage.

When I started middle school, the language demands increased. Now, math and science were in English. Only Spanish Language Arts and social studies were in Spanish. It was difficult and frustrating to shift and learn new information in English.  I had to learn more new vocabulary in a month than I had in five years. I almost lost five years of Spanish to a month of confusion. I wasn’t alone; many of us found learning math and science in English challenging. I learned to say “integers and acute” instead of “agudo y enteros”  and “DNA and ecosystem” instead of “ADN  y ecosistema.” In addition, my ADHD made it difficult to focus. There was also enormous pressure to have high grades and test scores to get into a magnet high school.

Nevertheless, while being bilingual has its perks, it made the infamous PSSA’s, extremely stressful.  The PSSA’s are the standardized test in Pennsylvania; high test scores are required to enroll into a favorable high school. The tests are in English. The teachers couldn’t help me during the test. No definition of terms. No explanation of a math  concept I had learned in Spanish but could not explain in English. The only thing my teacher could say was “try your best!” This response instilled more fear. This is when I realized my education was partially flawed.

A bilingual education made standardized testing very stressful because I was not fully prepared in English but there were significant benefits. Since entering high school, I have become a more confident student. Many of my peers from the immersion or bilingual program are succeeding in quality schools. My complicated heritage and bilingualism have made me a more insightful and creative student, rather than a textbook student. I believe I have the skills and drive to succeed.

While bilingualism assists my learning in school and is a bridge with my family, there are many other benefits to being bilingual. Being bilingual is a skill that will always be in demand in the work force. I learned from teachers, parents and extended family who see and experience life through many different lens.  Whether the Pennsylvania Legislators who support “English only” like it or not, by 2050 less than half of the United States will be of European descent.

Apparently, some members of the Pennsylvania legislature want to deny Pennsylvanians who either do not speak English or prefer another language second class citizenship. Many other countries encourage bilingualism or multilingualism, far too many people in the U.S. fear bilingualism and want to legislate against it. The bill has reached some support. The bill's’ authors suggests “Bill 1506 is meant to bring the country together under one language.” The bill will do nothing but hold our language skills back. But Although learning in school in my second language was often challenging, I am better student and citizen because of it.  

My bilingual education gave me real world skills to work skills. I had cultural experiences that I would not have had in a monolingual school.  My language skills have given me opportunities that I now appreciate.  A bilingual education is a privilege, not a burden. The proposed “English Only” bill in the Pennsylvania Legislature is grounded in fear and narrow nationalism.  Rather than limit our learning, the Pennsylvania Legislature should encourage bilingualism and cross cultural experiences. Learning in two languages may take a toll on a young learner but the benefits outweigh the initial burden. Rather than promoting “English Only,” the Pennsylvania Legislature should be funding multilingual public education and expanding opportunities for cultural exchange.

While I was writing this essay, one thing I tried to do was tell to my mom’s personal story and my personal story with code-switching in a way that engaged the reader and could allow them to relate.  We all code-switch at one point or another.  It is just if we notice when it happens or not.  There is not just one part of this essay that I can say I am the most proud of.  I am proud of all of the essay.  As I continue to grow as a writer one thing I plan on working on is my storytelling skills.  

The year was 1973.  My mother was born in a small town in Ethiopia. Because my grandmother was not able to provide for my mother and uncle, she decided to give my mother up for adoption.  She knew that if she kept her that she would end up dying of malnutrition.  She lived in the hospital for the rest of the years and the nurses took care of her.  Then two missionaries from the United States heard about her though one of the nurses and fell in love at first sight.  The next year my mom was heading to the other side of the country with a whole another family.  Because of this she learned two languages.  Slang or “black” language she would use with friends and “white” language or talking proper.  The transition from one way of talking to another is code-switching. Growing up she would get teased by her black friends at school for talking “white”.  Her friends would say things like “Sara you talk so white.” or “Why are you talking like that?”  She felt different. She once told me that, she felt like she was between two very different worlds. I also had to go through the same thing.  When I talked to my family that was white I talked a certain way.  More proper.  When I am with my friends I talk another way.

Growing up in the 70’s and 80’s in both Philadelphia and the suburbs my mother still had to deal with the side affects of racism and the civil rights movement.  When she lived in the suburbs, white families would ask why that white family had a black child.  When her family lived in the city, black families would ask why that white family had a black child.  Since she grew up in a white household she adopted parts of the white culture including the language.  When she was at a school and social events with black people, the transition from one language to another was difficult.  The kids would make fun for the way she talked.  It wasn’t her fault because of the environment she was in on a daily basis.

Growing up I didn’t see that side of my family as white.  I honestly did not see color.  I knew my mom was adopted but I just saw them as family.  They were people who loved me and people who I loved back.  It wasn’t until a couple years ago I noticed that they didn’t look like me.  I remember the moment when I realized this.  We were in church and the pastor said “If you can please stand up for our final prayer.” As we stood up I noticed that my sister, mom and I were not just the only black people in our row but the only black people in the audience.  All I saw was white faces.  None of them looked like me, but it wasn’t until two years ago I realized that I spoke differently when around them.  I was going to visit my aunt and her family in Arizona.  I was going to a baseball camp at ASU.  It was my first time going to see them by myself.  When my uncle and cousin picked me up from the airport I noticed that I would talk differently.  When I first noticed it I hated it.  I was allowing my environment to choose how I talked.  I realized that the reason I was doing this to make up for the fact I wasn’t like them.  I didn’t look like them and I thought that the way we spoke our common language could make up for that.

Today our society in this country is divided in many different ways.  Gender, race, sexual orientation are just one of the many ways people group themselves.  Language is also one of the ways we group ourselves. Gene Demby of NPR said “When you're attuned to the phenomenon of code-switching, you start to see it everywhere, and you begin to see the way race, ethnicity and culture plays out all over the place.” We tend to stay with people who speak the same language as us.  We can overcome these divisions though.  We have to learn to accept that people are different.  I am not just talking about language but all aspects of someone’s life.  When we can accept people for who they are and not for what they aren’t we will see society come together.

Sometimes we as humans allow ourselves to get caught up into trying to fit in.  My mother and I experienced this first hand.  With her it was trying to fit into people to looked like her and with me it was trying to fit in with my family that had a lighter skin tone than me.  Matt Thompson, writer for NPR wrote a piece on npr.com called Five Reasons Why People Code-Switch. He said “Very often, people code-switch — both consciously and unconsciously — to act or talk more like those around them. While this can be effective, it can also be perilous…” I agree with this.  In some situations it is a necessary and useful skill.  In others it is not.  We should not allow pressure from society and our environment dictate how we speak.  If we allow this, we change who we are and who we will become.

Sources

Demby, Gene. "How Code-Switching Explains The World." NPR. NPR, 8 Apr. 2013. Web. 18 Nov. 2015. <http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/04/08/176064688/how-code-switching-explains-the-world>.

Thompson, Matt. "Five Reasons Why People Code-Switch." NPR. NPR, 13 Apr. 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. <http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/04/13/177126294/five-reasons-why-people-code-switch>.