Chronology of Events - Week 3 - Assignment #2

Chronology of Events:

I am still amazed how although we have progressed since 1663 when Reverend John Eliot was helped by the Indian translator to publish the New Testament how now in 2018 there is such a lack of resources for the Indian population and let’s not forget how they are trying to be wiped off the face of this earth too.  The list of events in this chapter are mindboggling to me, I can not believe how much progress has been made, but the ignorance is still prevalent.  For instance, on page 88 of our text refers to in our present time that “English only teaching” still dominates Indian education.  That is a disadvantage to the native Indians and it is unfair. 

The history of the African-Americans is wretched and I cannot even begin to describe the injustices that were done to them back then and even today I see it in the school everyday.  The African –Americans were treated as second-class citizens and with all of the segregation going on after World War I it was hard for our Black-American children to be treated fairly and the education was limited to those teaching them as well. Thankfully, today there are many changes in place and although we are not where we want to be in today’s society, we certainly are not where we used to be and much progress has come for our African-American students and more of them are going to and graduating college too and that is exciting for all of our minority students. 

As a Puerto Rican woman, I wasn’t surprised to read that the Americans only considered for it’s rich resources, that is why it is called, “Puerto Rico” that is translated into “Rich Port!”  Today, I am proud to say that Puerto Ricans are United States Citizens, but it wasn’t that easy for my ancestors to say and unfortunately the students that are not English speakers are finding it hard to learn another language and apply it to their everyday lives. I found it difficult to read that the Anglo-Americans mistreated and were hostile towards children in the classroom. (p. 89) How could the Spanish speaking children read the “mandated contents” if they would not be taught how to read and write in English?  Once the Puerto Ricans did make it over to New York City or other states, they had to deal with overcrowding of the schools, which led to another challenge in our educational system. 

Today, in our high school we have 4-5 families that are Hurricane Maria victims and although Puerto Rico does teach English in the schools, I noticed we have 2 families that are high up in the mountains and the teaching there is scarce.  Those students are labeled as “retarded” because they did not attend schools with the basic educational foundations that Puerto Rican students have in the other parts of the island.  So our challenge to provide these fewer families support and resources is very difficult, because the child is in a high school reading at a 1^st or 2^nd grade level in Spanish, let alone being able to read any English.