Do you think Jean Anyon's essay still holds merit today?

Digiannia Arbelaez
Professor Young
English 1100
September 24/2015

Such a Sad Reality

Fairleigh Dickinson University: $57,000.00

The idea that Jean Anyon brings to us is not the regular submissive idea of the educational system that is brought to us by all other mediums. Jean Anyon states that your quality of education depends on your economic class. It is sad and hard to admit that she is right, the way the poor are treated in this world is very different then the way the rich are treated, and this goes for educational purposes as well. The rich are taught to be creative, to generate and produce the next big thing, to have and hold power; while the poor are forced to follow orders and rules, they are taught to be good workers. The depressive part of this is the fact that this idea of this educational system is still relevant today, that we as a society follow this guidelines without even noticing it and that to a certain extend we are just generating “cheerful robots” and “successful owners”. “Work hard, because if you work hard you will get what you want” What I want is not to stay at the bottom, everyone wants to be successful and have money but that is not what we are all programmed to do.

Normal Superior de Envigado(Colombia): $0

The opportunities presented to the lower and middle class do not minimally compare to the opportunities that are offered to the upper class. Those with money have the resources to get the research and materials to make and create what will later on bring them profit, because that is what they are taught and given in schools. While the poor have outdated textbooks and old computers, the rich are filled with tons of luxurious “state of art” that gives them the space to make mistakes and start over again. “Sit down and shut up” “follow the rules” “Obey what you are told” Doctrines that are set on stone for those who do not have the opportunity to “ask questions” like the fortunate do. When you grow up surrounded with opportunities you are not expected to do anything less. Your father is a doctor? Well you should be a surgeon or at least a doctor like him. While growing up surrounded with difficulties might only bring you dreams and hopes as your career goals. Just how it was doing it back in 1980 as Jean Anyon stated the educational system is doing it now, because to my understanding and my own experience not much has changed. 

Public School Vs. Private School

Should inproper English be allowed in an academic setting?

Digiannia Arbelaez
Professor Young
English 1100
09/16/2015

Restricted Thoughts. 

     The freedom of speech is one of the most valuable rights granted to us as thoughtful individuals. Why is it so important to express ourselves as our own personal characters through our words but we are pressured to speak a certain way when we are in an academic setting?. This makes no sense to me, we should be able to express who we are in all aspects in all different types of settings. If a teacher or professor is asking for my opinion on a certain topic, why should I pull back on what I want to say due to the fact that she or he might considered it "inappropriate or nonstandard English"?. There should not be guidelines to my writing, there should not be restrictions to my thoughts. 

    "Do this", "don't do this", "remember this", "don't write like this". I understand there is a certain way writers are supposed to write but why should I be locked in a box when in reality the less rules the farther the mind can go. As a student I want to be guided but also pushed and motivated to be the best that I can be in that specific area being able to show who I am as a person through my work. We should have the right to our own language in an academic setting, it only makes sense to let me be "me" so that as a teacher you are able to get that "masterpiece" that you would not be able to find anywhere else.

Trapped.

Identity

Digiannia Arbelaez Agudelo

Professor Young

English 1100

09/02/2015

"I am Unique, there is noone in this world like me"

We always hear those who are "trying to figure out who they are", saying they are trying to "find their identity", their place in society, their place in the world. Do we ever stop to think what that means, what  identity is and how you gain it? Anzaldua speaks very passionatly about this topic in her writing "How to Tame a Wild Tongue". She strongly believes that language and identity are tied hand in hand and says that the language you speak is a part of you is a part of your roots. Could this be true, could knowing a different language really make us different in certain ways. 

I personally live this reality, because yes, in my opinion Anzaldua is right in every sense. When you grow up speaking a different language in a different country your values and morals are different. This comes to play a role when you are just a baby and you are thought how to speak, and in some way how to think. " So if you really want to hurt me, talk badly about my language." (pg 2) quote that brings out the truth in the way I feel when one trys to speak badly about my people, my country or my language. I take pride in all those things because to me that is who I am. All of my actions reflect on how I was raised and who I was raised by; so to insult my origen is to insult me as a unique indivdual. The way I portrey myself is how I was thought to show myself to others, therefore everything I do and say shows who I am.

"Colombia tierra querida"

Work Cited

Anzaldua, Gloria."How to Tame a Wild Tongue". Teaching Developmental Writing. Ed. Susan Naomi Berstein. Fourth ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2013. 245-255. Print.