10 “Living the Dream that they did Not: An Eyeopener to Cultural Literacy”
Jocelyn Rodriguez
Rodriguez offers a personal and insightful perspective of her culture and the realities to what she has faced throughout her lifetime.
Walking over five miles to get to school, and making the trip back home, was what my parents did up until the age of 10. My father had to get a job, and my mother had to stay home to watch her siblings. It was not that they dreaded the walk, but rather that it was the norm for their generation living in Mexico. Throughout my elementary school years, I did not understand the concept of why it was important to have an education. My parents always pushed me to do well in school, but I did not know the reason behind it. Before reaching the 9th grade, I did not grasp how important being a child of an immigrant and receiving an education was within the older immigrant generation here in the United States. This epiphany of cultural literacy, or the understanding of how customs play a role in a specific community, changed my outlook on the significance of an education. Although going to school was a part of my daily life, it was my 8th grade year in middle school, when my older sister graduated, that I realized the value an education had for my parents.
Going back to what I recall of my elementary school years, I remember that I was always a well-rounded student. I would do what the teacher asked, and participate in various activities, like the science club. One thing that will always stick with me is each time the teacher asked to raise our hands if our parents had helped us with our homework, I was the only one with my hand down. This was due to my parents not speaking English. I would get frustrated and confused when the teacher asked that because it conflicted my parents’ views. My parents expected me to do well, how am I supposed to do well in school if my mom and dad can’t help me, I thought to myself. When, in the rare occasion, I would bring home a grade lower than a B, my parents would get mad at me. I would just sit there and wonder why they even cared so much. At the end of the day it was only school, or so I thought back in when I was young.
I continued to have good grades in middle school, and was even in advanced courses. My parents were proud of me. I assumed it was because I was getting good grades, so I did not give much thought to their joy. Every time I received an academic award, my parents would take off work to come see me. I understood that an academic award was something special, but I did not know why it meant so much to my parents to see me accept a piece of paper with my name on it saying congratulations. They had kept all my academic awards I had received, since kindergarten, in an old Nike shoe box the was the color of an elephant’s skin instead of a bright pumpkin sitting outside of Walmart when October sneaked around. School was starting to become more meaningful to me, but I was still not clear as to why it was such a big deal for my parents.
By the time I was in 8th grade, my older sister, Evelyn, was in her senior year of high school. Evelyn’s graduation party was all my parents talked about for the entire school year. It was high school, so what? I saw my parents cry when my sister walked the stage. That is when everything started to make sense. My parents did not have the opportunity to receive an education passed what is equivalent to the 3rd grade in the United States. They lived their life without an education, yet were standing there watching as their first out of three daughters graduate high school. An education was important for my sisters and I to have because they never had it. Coming to the United States and building a family here gave them hope that their daughters would be someone in life. School was not just something they made me go to. It was something valuable to my parents considering that they did not have the opportunity to attend.
Entering my high school years, I now knew how significant it was to my parents for me to do well in school. I dedicated my four years in high school making them proud with everything I did. My acceptance into a rigorous program made them ecstatic, and knowing why it did, made me feel like I was doing something right. The time came to apply for college, and each letter of acceptance/scholarship added worth to my parent’s dream. My senior quote was, “Su sacrifico valio la pena” which translates to, “their sacrifice was worth it” (Unknown). This quote gave commemorence to the hard work my parents did for me to be where I was. Since I was the senior class vice president, I had the opportunity to sit on the stage at graduation. My parents broke down in tears when they saw me go up there to sit, as I held my head high. Making their dreams come true turned to be the goal, and that June 8th, 2018 afternoon it was achieved.
Before seeing my parents cry at my sister’s graduation, I did not comprehend why school was so important to them. It would make me upset when they valued it so much, but could not help me with my school work. Looking back, they did everything they could to help me, but they just were not fluent enough in the language to do so. I realized it was a custom within the older immigrant generation, that had kids born here in the United States, to want a better life and education for their children. I changed my view of what doing well in school meant for myself. Not knowing why education was so important, to now knowing, has made me want to push myself even harder to achieve things my parents only dreamed of when they were my age. For a culture, having an education is having wisdom. Having wisdom means you have power to be who you aspire to be, and that is what my parents ever wanted.