How does my skin affect my brain?

How does my skin affect my brain? Exploring race and learning


As I look back to when I was in elementary, I remember having either family members or neighbors that were in my classes that gave me the confidence to not be shy. I had, in my mind, support from those around me because I was not alone. My grades were excellent, my attendance was perfect and every year I felt great about school. I believe that being around other Hispanics is why I never hesitated to excel in all subjects.

Once I entered high school, many of my friends attended other schools or moved, so I was left with no security blanket. I had to start meeting new people and creating that bond to help me regain my confidence. During my sophomore year, I entered a classroom full of my Hispanic friends. On the opposite side, I noticed a new girl who was sitting alone and who happened to be African American. I gave her a smile, walked passed her and sat with my friends that I had known for years. I began to think to myself of how strange she must feel knowing that she has two small minor details against her. One was that she was new and the other was because she was of different race. As I came to realize that the situation at hand would be difficult for her, I made it a goal of mine to make her feel welcomed.

I believe that as children we create a security blanket around us that consists of the same people and the same surroundings. Once this security has been broken, we begin to show lack of interest in any subject, which then diminishes our confidence to excel. Race, however, only distracts us when there is no exposure and no education to other cultures. Those who show signs of racism are only showing those feelings because they have little or no education about the race they are discriminating against. As teachers we need to find ways to break that mold of thinking because in actuality we as Hispanics are more proud to racism. (Lisa Marie Avalos)

There are many difficulties that minorities have to face, not only racial slurs and being targeted as lower thinking people, but as a culture that is lazy and will never amount to anything. Many people do not realize that Hispanic students not only have the pressure of school, but the pressure at home. In today’s society I really believe that Hispanic families are pushing their children a lot more. I think that is because the society has really started looking at our ethnic group as more of a majority than as a minority in today’s world. So I feel that kids today are going to see a movement like that of the African American civil rights movement of the 50’s. I personally would feel much more proud to be a Hispanic student today. Although I understand how being Hispanic could affect the learning ability of some students, I think that it always comes down to the way how you see yourself. Like people always say mind over matter. If you are brought up in a household that focuses so much on the way you look and the color of your skin, then of course you are going to have a border that you will have to try and cross that others won’t. That is why it is so much more important to focus on the child’s thinking ability than what they look like. (Luis A. Carmona)

I was raised with the idea of being somebody’s wife. My purpose in life was to graduate from High School and the get married and have kids. My mother did not go to college, my mother actually was only able to finished her elementary. My father finished high school and then opened his own business. Attending college was never something I thought I had to do. Coming form a big Mexican family, there was always something to do, taking care of a relative, taking someone to the doctor or just hanging out at tia Lupe house for a tamalada and somehow, that was more important than studying for a test. My confidence was affected as well, I had to marry someone with an education but God forbid I had more of an education than my husband did. I just thank that my husband pushed me hard to come back to school and I thank my husband for believing in me ( Yolanda Bodden).

As a future teacher I believe it is very important to educate our students on the importance racism and discrimination has on our community. Growing up here in the valley, so close to the Mexican border most of the students attending our schools define themselves as Hispanic. However, according to the U.S. census there are only four racial groups that are defined, White, Black, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian/Pacific Islander, and only one ethnic group, Hispanic. Growing up as a Hispanic I have never classified myself as anything other than that, so when asked the question about what race we belong to I can only define myself with the only one I know of. Is that were discrimination begins?

We need to teach our students that discrimination comes in many different forms in many different ways and it occurs in our every day lives not only in our education American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian/Pacific Islander, Black and White system. If we don’t begin preparing our students for the outside world once they graduate it will be a rude awakening especially if they decide to attend a college out of city or out of state. We need to educate them on what is appropriate or what is discrimination. (Stephanie Huerta)