Bodega Dreams And The Bais In The Curriculum.
The school curriculum seems to be very bias or racist. It is very rare for a teacher to be teacher a piece of work created by a scholar of a different ethnic group other than Caucasian. History is always taught to us based on the white man point of view. They always describe the emotions of the slaves as if they felt the pain they went through , their sympathy and the slaves sorrow are no where close. It would be much more inspiring to hear how things were by a African american who experienced slavery. This generation is not only filled with Caucasians, this generation is now filled with many ethnic groups who need to be inspired that they could actually become somebody by having someone they can look up to and the teachers are responsible of pushing the students and introducing them to new things and providing them with an idol of their own ethnic group to show that it does not matter what color your skin is you can still succeed.
I think the book, Bodega Dreams express the screaming kids out there who have no motivations in their homes, at school or in their community. It in a sense expresses the graving they have for their community to change for the best but they do not think they are worthy and smart enough to encounter the act of being a leader and making a change because of the color of their skin. Teachers need to read a book like this because it will take them out of the world of one mind set to another mind set. Of course the language won’t be the same but the teachers and students need to experience the different taste of writing other writers have to offer. This book could also help teacher realize the hardships some students have to go through and realize how those students need proper motivation in school to keep them in school and out of trouble.
Some teacher judge students who drop out of school or have a bad behavior problems without a clue of what is going on in the students lives. Teachers need to be more like Mr. Tapia who encourages and believes in his students instead of being like Mr. blessington who tells his students they will end up in jail. Some people think just because you tell a child they can not do something will encourage them to do it, but that’s not the case for all of them some students have a low self esteem and as soon as they are told they can’t, they atomically shut down and don’t even bother trying.
An example from the book would be sapo, he was giving a homework to do and when the teacher asks him why he didnt do his homework he states “because Mr. Blesston told me i was going to end up in jail, so why waste my time doing homework?”.Our pastor at church once told us that , every curse you put on your kids will take over them and they will actually become what you called them; for instance if you were to call your child a loser, your child will grow up being an idiot. This does not mean just because a child is not your child, the names you call them won’t come to be. Being kind to someone brings you joy maybe you might not notice it now but soon you will, pay it forward.
Students who have no motivations for school need someone to motivate them, some students may seem bad but they act based on what ignorant have told them. They need teachers how will educate them on how important school is and someone who actually care for their well being. These students who have no interest in school have a lot of interest in money and their family.They would be willing to do anything to get money and make life easy for them and their family whether its by harming themselves or other. In the Bodega dream, willy was sold drugs to people even when he knew it would harm them but he didn’t really care if they were dying or not.
It’s not as if he doesn’t care about them but it is because, people die everyday so why feel guilty. ” Joe Kennedy sold enough booze to kill a herd of rhinos. Made enough money from that to launch other, legal schemes.” These kids need someone who will remind them how important school is and how much money they can make after school if they keep their heads up. Of course they won’t take your words for it because talk is cheap, but that is when introducing them to people from their community or country who have succeeded in life as scholars.
This is why they need to be introduced of make work done by people of their kind to give them a sense of belief that they can. Our country’s multiculturalism in increasing more and more every day so our curriculum also need to have an increase in mutualism. Chino :” Mr. Blessington, why do we alway read do Robert Frost, why can’t we do someone else.” Mr. blessington: “Because Robert Frost is a major American poet”.
Chino : ” well, i heard that Julia de Burgos was a poet; why don’t we do some of her poems?”. Lucy: ” why did they name the school after her? she must be important?”. Mr. Blessington: ” if any of you have noticed since september, this is English class , not Spanish..
” Chino : ” why did the name an entire school after her?” Mr. Blessington : ” i’ll tell you why, because, the people in this district are simpletons, that’s why. District four has no idea what its doing. the name they chose for this school was probably the worst name they could chose.” Critics state that the reasons for not having books by other ethnic groups are because they are often inappropriate and introduce bad behavior. But then, why isn’t tv band? Our country is controlled by advertisement which is mostly seen on tv.
These advertisement introduce violence and many sexual behaviors that are not even human like act. I honestly find books by other authors who aren’t Caucasians very entertaining. It give a little taste of really like and what people actually go through. Its more realistic compared to TV where we see people act out their fantasy and things that are not realistic. If you hate someone, you think of hurting them but you don’t actually do it but TV imposes that we should do everything that comes to our mind whether its good or bad and we get introduced to this unlively acts at a very young age. Teacher should really read this book because it is a book that gives a little peek of what some students go through.
It expresses the pressure the community puts some kids and how some are willing to do anything to get money but are always introduced to the wrong ways to be successful. It shows the way some ethnic groups view the world and why they do what they do why they say what they say. Reading this book can encourage teachers to educate students about life and lessons learned in this book such as not trusting people and that making money doesn’t come easy it involves hard work and 1000 hours of school. Teacher also need a better understanding of different groups and understand the importance of them being motivators who will lead them to see idols of their kind and become the person they want to be.
