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Christina Molina-Perez

Ms. Huerta

English 1S

October 31, 2016

My Cultural Value

Many educators base their teachings on assumptions that students of color and first-

generation college students are deficient in skills needed to flourish in society. They believe that

because of this lack of knowledge, they dont have any social mobility and their families also

lack valuable skills to pass on to their children and therefore must not support their childs quest

for education. Tara J. Yosso, a professor in the Department of Chicana and Chicano studies,

responds to this perception by discussing cultural value and the different forms of value students

of color bring to the classroom. Those values include aspirational, linguistic, familial, social,

navigational, and resistance capital. They are skills passed down from generation to generation in

Communities of Color and minorities use them to overcome obstacles and resist oppression.

Failing to include these skills into education is whats holding students of color back from

achieving their goals but incorporating these skills would benefit them greatly. I have felt that

aspirational, resistant, and linguistic capital have played a significant role in how my life has

played out so far in school and they will continue to have an affect on my education in the future.

One cultural value that I felt has benefited me the most is aspirational capital. It has

allowed me to maintain motivation and empowerment through some of the most difficult times

in my life. I wouldnt be where I am today without the having support from my family and hope

for myself. Yosso describes this form of capital to be, the ability to maintain hopes and dreams

for the future, even in the face of real and perceived barriers. One example from my life that
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portrays the use of aspirational capital was in May of 2016, one month away from graduation. I

had an F in my civics class and was 10% away from getting at least a D. My teacher, Mr.

Messner, said there was nothing I could do to pass and he told the vice principal that there was

no hope for me. It wasnt until I was signing the paperwork to transfer to Alta Vista High School

that I realized he had gotten my grade wrong and I did have a chance of passing his class. When I

confronted him, he stated that I had a chance to get a D but I would have to do really well and

that was unrealistic and unlikely. He also said it wasnt possible for me to even get a C. He

insisted that I transfer but I chose to stay and try my hardest in those final weeks. Despite all the

discouragement he had made me feel, I ignored it and maintained hope that I would graduate on

time with the rest of my class. I did my best on the rest of the assignments and my family helped

encourage me to push through. Two days before graduation, he put a P on my slip for pass but

claimed I would still get an F on my transcript. Two weeks later I received my transcript and I

had earned a C- in his class. It was a lot higher than I expected especially since Mr. Messner

doubted me in every way possible. I wouldnt have been able to graduate if my family hadnt

held high standards for me and if I hadnt held high standards for myself. This example from my

life shows a good reason as to why its important to bring aspirational capital to a learning

environment. It makes students of color strive for their education a lot more when they feel like

they have hope for the future. Educators should not doubt them based on their background, they

should instead empower them so that the students may access this skill and succeed.

Another form of cultural capital that has helped me is resistance capital. In Yossos essay,

she states that it is, resistance to subordination exhibited by Communities of Color. Minorities

constantly face stereotypical views, discrimination, and hurtful words. Personally, Ive had many

moments where Ive had to ignore or deal with peoples ignorance and verbal abuse. Many of my
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experiences took place when I was about eight when I lived with my mom. She was a meth

addict and her moods were constantly changing and she was always seemed angry. All the drug

abuse had basically killed a part of her brain that controlled her judgment and emotions. When

she was angry, she would release it onto me and my sister. It didnt matter for what reason, it was

somehow always our fault. Me and my sister, Adriana, would be told things such as that we were

useless, worthless, mistakes, regrets, and that everybody hated us. This would go on for many

years but my grandma had taught me to ignore those things because theyre not true. She was the

one who taught me how to resist even the most hate filled things. I was able to use the verbal

abuse as a way to make myself believe that I can do and be exactly what other people claimed I

couldnt do. I would later learn to use this resistance to also block out other people that tried

bringing me down and preventing me from achieving my best. Resistance capital helped me all

throughout my childhood and through difficult situations in high school so I know that bringing

this to classrooms would help others as well. Students would learn how to combat self-defeating

behaviors and push against those who just want to discourage them in the education field or in

other parts of society. People will try many ways to hurt your self-esteem and confidence so that

they can feel powerful. Having the skill of resistance is one of the ways that will keep students of

color moving forward through those bad situations.

The third form of capital that has benefited me specifically in school is linguistic capital.

It is, the intellectual and social skills attained through communication experiences in more than

one language and/or style. Hearing and speaking Spanish around the house was so natural, I

didnt look at it as something that can benefit me. I viewed it more as just something that had to

be spoken in order to communicate. I didnt realize all the advantages it provided me such as in

school and with people from different countries. For example, in high school, I was able to skip a
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class of Spanish because I was more advanced. Since I already knew how to speak Spanish, I

decided to take French instead because I thought it would be more challenging but it was actually

a lot easier than I thought. Spanish along with the other Romanic languages (French, Italian, etc.)

have a lot of similarities so when it came to learning about their cultures and learning their

language, it wasnt difficult for me to understand and connect with them. I passed my French

class with an A and I attained that grade mostly due to the fact that connecting with information I

had been familiar with made me more interested to learn about the culture. Linguistic capital also

has benefits in classes such as art, history, and writing and it allows people to form better

connections with others who have similar backgrounds. Minority students can sometimes feel

like outsiders when they think nobody around them shares any of the same background or

experiences. Incorporating linguistic capital into education allows students of color to build

better relationships with each other since they feel like they have more in common. They can end

up developing better support systems or even develop family like relationships. They wont feel

excluded from the majority when they have each other.

Deficit thinking in educators causes them to view students of color as lacking valuable

knowledge and not having the motivation or support to do well in school. Yosso argues against

this point of view by stating her own theory which is that students of color bring as much

valuable skills into education than people believe. Those skills help Communities of Color

survive and resist all forms of oppression in society. Aspirational, resistance, and linguistic

capital are some of those skills that Ive brought to my college experience and that have helped

me in school. The educational field must change however, in a way in which educators become

more open-minded and welcome students from all backgrounds instead of comparing them to a

culture they arent familiar with. Making someones culture and knowledge seem less important
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than another will not benefit the student or the teacher because they will not find any significance

in what theyre learning and form connections. Including the students cultural value into their

learning will interest, motivate, and empower them to strive in school. They will then eventually

gain social mobility and move out of the position in society that oppression has put them in.