Never Leave Your Past Behind
I grew up in a low-income, single-parent family on the far south-side of Chicago. My sister and her family also lived with us. They needed a place to stay while they looked for a more affordable house. One thing my family doesn't do is turn our backs on each other. Sociologists who claim to be experts on non-white families have their own words for this type of situation. They derogatorily label this as a poverty-stricken, Black matriarchal extended family who lives in the ghetto. Yet all in all, we were happy because we helped each other. We were not the type of family who wondered what the next meal would be. We always knew we would have food on the table, but the type of food was a different story.
Plain and simple, our goal was to survive. Survival to us was to get a job and hopefully wake up the next morning. I didn't think about college. Why should I? I didn't even like high school. But, somehow, somewhere an idea was instilled in me. "To be 'somebody,' I must go to college; if I didn't go, I would be a nobody." Because I believed this, I became more distant from my family and friends. I felt ashamed of my family because no one went to college right out of high school except for me. I felt my friends were not worthy of my time because I was in college and they were not. My biggest mistake in life was when I tried to leave my past behind me. It took me nineteen long, painful years to believe and learn never to be ashamed of who I am or where I came from.
Since I lived in an area where there were only Blacks, I wanted to get away from them. I didn't want to witness another murder in front of my house. I couldn't tolerate another ten-to-twenty year old drug seller stopping me and asking, "...
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... love myself and to love my family. After I knew my family supported me in whatever I did or said, my life began. Mentally, I grew stronger. I no longer felt ashamed of my family or friends. Most of all, I no longer was ashamed of being Black. In fact, I love myself because I am Black.
I feel empowered because of what I have seen and experienced. I am proud because I am the first one in my family to attend college.
I am happy because the people I love have helped me the best way they knew how. The only thing I needed to do was to love myself for who I am and where I came from. In order to do that, as my favorite high school teacher said, "You have to know where you came from before you know where you're going. And, you can't do that by acting like someone else." After all these years, I am proud to announce that I am a Black woman who knows where she's going.
I decided at that moment that I would return to school and graduate with my bachelor?s degree. I made a promise to myself that I would finish my education. If I complete my education, I would make my parents proud of me. Plus, I want to be the first person on either side of my family to attend graduate school. Adults return to college primarily because they desire a higher paying career or a professional job. This could be a registered nurse, an elementary school teacher, a policeman or an attorney. It could also be an accountant, a journalist, a librarian, an interior decorator or a beautician (Smith, 2001).
The African-American family is defined as networks of households related by blood, marriage, or function that provide basic instrumental and expressive functions of the family to the members of those networks (Hill, 1999). It is one of the strongest institutions throughout history, and still today. Family strengths are considered to be cultural assets that are transmitted through socialization from generation to generation and not merely adaptations or coping responses to contemporary racial or economic oppression (McDaniel 1994; Hill 1999). This definition is contrary to the belief that the Black family is an adaptation to harsh conditions, instead of an ongoing establishment. Hill (1999) discusses some of the qualities as effective for the survival of black families: strong achievement and work orientation, flexible family roles and strong kinship bonds, and strong religious orientation. These strengths, along with others can be emphasized in schools and used to motivate African-American students to succeed.
Academic excellence is the primary desire of every parent and student. However, there are varying perceptions of the role of education in the life of and individual. According to the survey carried out on the perception of the role of education in the life of an individual, it was established that eight out of ten students were of the view that they pursued education for the purpose of economic gains. Additionally, six out of ten students viewed education as serving the purpose of broadening their view and perceptions in life. Accordingly, the widening of the will help them rethink their ideas and values. This essay will focus on the reasons why students attend college and barriers to education in light of the book Rereading America.
Even though welding has been around for a long time, most of the best inventors were around during the 19th century and have changed the way thing are done today. During the 20th century, many technological advancements developed and have made welding easier because of the different types of welding that have been developed. Welding impacted the world during World War l, because during the war armaments that were going to be utilized were ordered in tremendous amounts. Therefore, welding has been around since the Iron Age and has let people build strong steel and powerful armament such as Weapons, tanks, and planes. Finally, welding has had many advancements, and will continue to do so in the future, because the world needs
The main reason why people go to college is not because they want to but because they have to. Most high school seniors are pressured by their guidance counselors and parents to go to college because it is "the right thing to do." In the essay that Caroline Bird wrote "College is a Waste of Time and Money", she states that students go to college because " . . . Mother wanted them to go, or some other reason entirely irrelevant to the course of studies for which college is supposedly organized." (481) The student may have different ideas about what he or she wants to do in life, but because they think that these "mentors" know what is best for them, they probably end up doing something they do not want to do, resulting in being miserable and resentful.
The Natural Support of African Americans in poverty is to lower food bills in families by cooking instead of buying fast foods. The culture of poverty “is perceived to be a worldview and ethos contributing to poor people staying in poverty.” (Rogers, 131) it is seen as people who are in poverty are the connection of their offspring who seem to also have a difficult time to move up higher in society. “Children learn from their parents that laziness is a way of life, as is receiving food stamps every month; children never gain the motivation to work their way...
Some techniques of welding started a thousand years ago, it was not till 1800 modern welding started (“Welders”173). Welding had its major uproar in the start of World War I (“Welding and the Society”). In the beginning there was a very high demand for all metal ships, some of the first tanks, and planes. Col. Scott Ritchie said, “welding has done much to keep us above and ahead of the enemy” (“Welding and the Society”). Welding as played an important part in modern wars for America from from sea to air and the land between. On the other hand welding goes back to the year of 1877 resistance welding was first created (“Welders and Welding Technicians” 961). Followed by arc welding in 1889, which is the most used welding today, then came thermite welding in 1900 (“Welders and Welding Technicians” 961). As of today, there is twelve different types of welding used in everyday life ("AWS Revises Major Qualification Standard"). This includes oxyfuel gas welding, shielded metal arc welding, gas tungsten arc welding, submerged arc welding, laser beam welding, gas metal arc welding, flux cored arc welding, plasma arc welding, electroslag welding, electrogas welding, electron beam welding and arc stud welding ("AWS Revises Major Qualification
Family is a basic unit in every society. However, the makeup of a family is more complex to define. There are so many types of families that it is impossible to have one distinct definition in trying to explain how a true family is defined. For example, there are married couples with or without children, single-parent families, and even families headed by gay men or lesbians. These may not have been considered families not too long ago, but now must be recognized because we live in such a diverse society. What I want to focus on is the African-American family, in terms of what they had to go through before, during, and after slavery. As well as, where they are now and where it’s going in the future.
College has a extensive impact on a person that some people simply don’t realize. When I first started college, I was a little close-minded and unsure about what it was I wanted to do with the rest of my life. When I was halfway through my freshman year, I decided to completely change my path in life. I left ECU, moved into an apartment, transferred to Pitt and declared my major intended sonography. Then suddenly I hated what I was doing, I had to take a step back and truly evaluate my life and what it was I was meant to do. I was completely lost. Then one day I received a text from a friend telling me to apply to a hospital located in Chesapeake, Virginia. I did, and I got the job. When I told my parents they were less than thrilled, they didn’t like the idea of me taking a year off from school to work, but I thought long and hard about what was best for me and decided it was something I was meant to do, it was the path I needed to follow. I worked for a year while living at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. I was completely independent, providing for myself 100 percent. While working this job, I realized that what I wanted to do and what I was called to do in life was become a nurse, which is something I would have never figured out had I not seriously weighed my options
Everyone seems to have a different view of what college does for an individual. Some have a negative view while others have a more positive view. There are those who don’t believe in getting a college education because they deem it a waste of time and money. Not so long ago college was more for elite students rather than everyone. Now days its pushed onto every high schooler to attend college. It’s more shamed upon if one does not attend college. Shaming maybe going to far but attending college is not something to look down upon. The value of college education is an ever-growing factor of what ones future might be. Debt, anomalies, and stress are a few reasons why some refuse to accept college.
In a world where society is mostly driven by our faults, family can be a relative term that brings it all back down to earth. Since societies can be extremely divided at times, it is important to have a back bone and a community that understand your own values, customs, and practices. It has been said that “minority group” families, which in Canada or the United States, could be considered anyone who isn’t Caucasian, are less stable in form and function than families who are a part of the general societal “majority”. Throughout this essay, I would like to discuss how untrue this statement is. From racial and cultural differences, to relying on each other and to growing as a unit, it is evident that minorities can have an even stronger relationship than those from the majority.
My parents have this perfect life for me pictured in their heads, and the first thing they see me doing is going to college. They expect the best of me, and so by going to college, I will not only have fulfilled their goals for me, but I will have accomplished one of the goals I have set for myself. In our culture, when parents come to the age where they can’t support themselves, it is the duty of the children to look after them.
As high school students, most of us were taught the dream of going to college from the importance that it has. The real life examples from our friends teach us the importance of going to college. If you drop out of college you may lose yourself, your family, and your friends. One of my friends dropped out of college because he had a bad friendship. So, they convinced him not to go to the school, but when he grew up he realized that the college was the most important thing in his life. Even though we know that “college is the best thing”, why we drop out of college? That fact is that we drop out from the college for many reasons.
Many years ago I remember my parents telling me that in order for me to become successful a college education was a must. They always told me that if I wasn’t in school I could no longer live at home. Both of my parents attended college but neither of them finished. They did not want me to go down that same road because they really regret not getting their degrees.
As I entered high school the pressure to succeed and live up to my parent’s expectations increased. I joined clubs that my parents approved of, I took classes that would look good on my transcript, and I studied 24/7 to keep a good GPA. Seeing the people around me happy and proud of me was a good feeling. I stayed up all night just so I could study and get good grades that would make my family and teachers proud. Junior year I never got more than four hours of sleep a night. I was a zombie just going through the motions of life. As I began to look for colleges, the pressure to be #1 grew. My parents took me on countless college tours, thirty seven to be exact, in order to find the “right school for me.” My parents drove me around the country visiting tons of top engineering schools. Occasionally we would visit schools I wanted to visit. But every visit went the same. If my parents chose the school they smiled the whole tour and spent the car ride home talking about how great it was. If it was a school I chose