1101-391 Language and Identity.

You are currently viewing a revision titled "Diana Galicia-Limited", saved on October 2, 2018 at 3:35 pm by Diana Galicia
Title
Diana Galicia-Limited
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  Crying on your first day in kindergarten, not knowing that was only the beginning to a long journey ahead of you. Many of us want to be doctors, nurses, and teachers not knowing how much work, time, and money it actually requires, because of course you are not thinking about those type of important factors when you’re 10 years old. Everyone has to pretty much go to elementary school, middle school and high school however, you don’t necessarily need to go to college. I would agree as well as disagree to a section of the article when it says “college is the ticket to an open future” mainly because when you go to college and get a college degree yes you have more opportunities than a person who did not go to college. However there are many other thing you could do than just go to college.   Many kids realize school is not for them, whether it is because they slacked off or because they just had to much going on their life. Many families want to send their kids to college but financially cannot afford it. So what happens to those kids who have just spent 12 years in school for no reason? They haven’t learned anything but useless math formulas. For this reason I think that schools should prepare students for opportunities outside of white collar professions. There is many things that I could agree and disagree within this article. For instance Crawford talks about blue collar jobs and white collar jobs, many things which can be very controversial. Most people are chasing the “American Dream” which is what exactly? Everyone has a different perception of it. Perhaps for someone it means going to college to study a profession and have a career, as well for others it may be just to give their families a better life by working in labor jobs to provide for their families. Not everyone is exposed to the same opportunities as others which makes options limited. For instance my parents are undocumented therefore they did not really have the opportunity to go to college, therefore they had to find a job that would allow them to provide for us as well as their family in Mexico. My father is a construction worker which is a blue collar job. Some people see blue collar jobs “as a mindless as assembly line work” which is very incorrect because you need specific skills, not everyone can work labor jobs. As important as this is, not everyone can work in white collar professions as well, therefore there should be vocational skills classes to prepare those students that won’t be going into white collar professions.   Even if you are going into college, it’s good to know manual trade because everyday life is not just about biology nor sociology … this is why I agree when Crawford says “ By all means, go to college. In fact, approach college in the spirit of craftsmanship, going deep into liberal arts and sciences. In the summers, learn a manual trade”. This quote means that as important as college is that you should also be investing your time into something that is hands on that will always be useful. I can relate to this because I know people who don’t even know how to hold a broom, which is pretty sad. The days I don’t have school I help my mom work, she works cleaning houses, it may not sound so bad but some days can be so exhausting since she works double some days. So even though I help her cleaning houses I know I want to be able to help my parents since I know their work is not easy, that is why I am in college to not work  as much as they do and still be able to provide for myself and them. So it might not be the same but I value my parents more because they had to learn labor work since they were not able to go to college. However if their schools would’ve taught some vocational skills classes they could’ve been working in something much easier or they would’ve learned a skill that would’ve helped them get into a decent job.   Many people struggle with their college work meanwhile others are struggling to even put food on the table. Therefore,I think people should be more comprehensive and realize that not everyone will be able to attend college after high school. These vocational skills classes would be very beneficial to many students. White collar jobs are considered “ jobs of the future” as mentioned in the article however in order for there to even be buildings or offices people have to do labor work. Blue collar jobs are just as important as white collar jobs in the sense that there wouldn’t be where to live, work,shop, eat without the labor work. As the article mentions “Today, in our schools, the manual trades are given little honor” which I would totally agree with. I agree because not going to college is looked down upon. My parents know a lot of people and when they find out that their kids are not in college and are working at a deli or construction it’s very frowned upon. But we don’t really know they persons situation, and even if you are going into a white collar profession it’s always to learn  some manual labor. So yes, schools should reintroduce vocational skills classes so that the idea that the only way to make a good living is just by white collar professions vanishes because everyone has different lifestyles.
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October 2, 2018 at 7:35 pm Diana Galicia