Dennise Fernandez
Professor Hall
9/10/19
Growing up my parents always told me that having an education was the only way that people would take me seriously and that that’s how I’d never be stepped on. One particular moment inmy life that changed my view on education was in second grade and even if it was 12 years ago,I still remember it as if it was yesterday. Second grade is a grade where it’s not hard, there isn’t a lot of challenges, but for me I’d say it was the hardest year and I still say it now, which is crazy because college and high school should be the most difficult, not elementary school. I was 7 years old and I had been in the United States for only 4 years so the language was new to me still and my parents only spoke Spanish in the house so I only learned Spanish my whole life until I started going to school.
When I started the second grade, I was so excited to make new friends and to meet my new teacher but everything changed so quickly. I spoke a little bit ofEnglish but it was ‘’broken’’ and you could still hear my accent. Besides the fact that I was embarrassed about the way I spoke, I was the only Hispanic in my class, so that made me feel even more uncomfortable. Every night I would go home and read book after book after book hoping that the words would stick to my brain and I could say them the right way. My mom and dad were my biggest supporters, they always reminded me that I was really brave for being in a class where everyone spoke English, they gave me hope. The first few days school was good and I felt good about myself, but one day everyone in class was taking turns reading a book and boy was I nervous, when it came to my turn the teacher told me ‘’Denise get up here and read ‘’I was so nervous that I was shaking and even more because I was the only one who was told to go up while everyone was allowed to read sitting down from their desks. I began to read and I was clearly struggling so the kids began to laugh and my teacher said ‘’ alright It’s useless you’re making the kids get confused’’ and I felt so disappointed and useless. That night I went home and I told my parents, and they said that maybe she didn’t mean it, maybe she just didn’t want the rest of the kids to get confused by the way I was saying the words so I kind of felt better because I thought my parents were probably right. During the rest of the year the teacher continued to make feel less of a person because I didn’t speak English, she would get in trouble if I didn’t pronounce a word right or if I didn’t answer I a question correctly. She would also tell me ‘’you should’ve stayed in your country, you would’ve done better there’’ It was up to a point where I didn’t want to go to school anymore because I felt useless, and I thought school wasn’t for me. I thought I would never be able to overcome the challenge of not speaking English. The school year eventually came to an end and it was time for report cards, I was so happy becauseI could finally move on to third grade and get another teacher, but that wasn’t the situation. I got left back and I was in shock, my parents were in shock and they were upset with me which was what hurt me the most. My parents came up to the school and tried to explain to the teacher that I tried really hard and that I didn’t deserve to get left back but the teacher wasn’t having it. We even tried to show her my cousins report card and mine because it was exactly the same, our grades were so similar and she had passed, and so that’s how we knew it wasn’t my grades, it was the teacher. She told my mom that I didn’t deserve to pass, that I wasn’t putting effort into learning and that it was useless if she passed me to third grade. I had lost hope. Some people might think it wasn’t that bad and I should’ve just ignored it but especially when you’re just a child those kinds of hurtful words stick to you and what said has always impacted me.
Thanks to her though I do so well in school, remembering her words give me the motivation to do better. After that there hasn’t been a year where I haven’t been on honor roll and I’ve been offered scholarships for out of state colleges. I now know I am smart and I can do anything I set my mind to. Being an immigrant should not affect anyones school life or just life in general. You should be able to go to school and not feel judged about your race. You go to school to learn and that’s the only thing you should be focused on, especially at a young age.
