Blog 4

What I can relate to the most in Rodriguez's article is loosing the connection I once had with my family.  I am not saying we do not share a family bond anymore, but to some level there is something that separates us.  Just like Rodriguez, my parents were born and raised in Mexico and only received a high school education.  When I started attending elementary school, I was so intrigued by everything. It was just a very new environment to me, and I looked up to every single one of my teachers. I would highly respect them and would look up to them as role models. In my eyes, they had this type of authority that was different from that of my parents.  When I was in second grade, I was really advanced in my studies. I would absorb all that was taught to me like a sponge. It got to the point where I had to be sent to third grade classes to learn new material. My siblings would pick on me because I love school and would call me a nerd. At 4th grade, I was finally enrolled in a full time English class, and no longer taking bilingual classes. By this time, I knew I could not count on my parents help on my homework assignments. Sometimes I would turn to my older siblings for help but for the most part I would be learning on my own. By the time I was in middle school, I became and honor roll student and even received multiple scholarships. My family was proud of me, of course, but they did not fully understand the time and effort behind my studies. At this point in my life, I realized how important education was in my life. I had gone so far from when I first started.  High School was my turning point, I did not feel much support and I slowly started to drift away from my schooling. With the help of teachers and friends I quickly got back on track and realized that I wanted to continue with my road to success. I moved miles away from home to attend college. I was not afraid to leave my family and my hometown, I was up for a risk. My relationship with my parents grew some what distant and I felt as if they could not relate to me.  I did not fully understand why things were the way they were, but after reading Rodriguez's article I realized the issue.  It's not the distance that made us drift apart, but rather the fact that they can not relate to what I am doing here. My parents have been role models for me but in life aspects.  Then there is my other life, which is school, and I know I can not sit down and have a conversation about what I have been learning in my classes with them.  This has been a little difficult because school is my main priority in my life and it is what I came to do here, get an education and achieve my goals. So after reading Rodriguez's article I had some clarity and felt like I could relate to in many aspects.