Struggle & Implications Essay
Vin Khommarath
Mr. Medina
Humanities/ K7
January 14, 14
Struggle can be defined as contend resolutely, with a task or problem. Some may even argue and say struggle is a good thing. It could be a good thing because you could learn lessons in life about how to use things. Others assume that struggle is a negative thing. A lot of research has been conducted on this topic. This essay will argue despite what someone believes, struggle is when you are in a bad situation, and you have to keep on going. An example of that would be when you’re broke and need money to pay bills & payments, sometimes even if you don’t even have a home or place to live. This supports struggle because you would be struggling to earn money, or anything you would need to survive. So the thesis of all of this is that struggle (specifically poverty) has implications that can negatively affect us.
Struggles are multidimensional. We view this in Breaking Through. For example, one of the struggles Panchito experiences is being undocumented. The results of Panchito’s struggles are fear and deportation. One example from the text that provides evidence of this situation is (pg3) “I fear being caught by the border patrol.” This supports fear because Panchito is afraid he will have to go Mexico. Another piece of evidence supporting fear or deportation is (pg4) “Yes, they caught us.” This supports deportation because it means that the border patrol has caught them and is now taking them back to Mexico. This all shows how being undocumented affected fear, and being deported.
Along the lines of struggle being multidimensional, we can also observe its implications (see figure 2.) Once again using Breaking Through, Panchito struggles with poverty. Poverty affects Panchito’s education, health, living conditions, and treatment. There are examples from the book that show the implications of poverty affecting education. One example is when he got taken away from school. This shows how poverty affects education because according to the people in this book, being Mexican means you can’t do things that people born in the USA can do. A second example is when the Border Patrol made them move from place to place. This shows him living conditions because poverty is what made them move. A third example is on how the doctor said he was in the 9th grade and he was only 4ft and 11 inches tall. This shows how poverty affects health because Panchito’s height is the height of a seventh grader. Everyone else at school was taller than him by like 4-5 inches. And the forth and final example of poverty is when the border patrol had treated them like dirt. Therefore, the Americans didn’t know them that well and stereotyped them because they thought they were all different.
In addition to Breaking Through, the implications of poverty are also found in various Internet sources. Poverty affects education in many ways. On http://billmoyers.com/2013/11/06/the-real-21st-century-problem-in-public-education-is-poverty/ , the page states that about 4.3% of adults 25 of age, or higher have a Four-year degree or higher. And only 10% of children take AP classes, and 69% of children in poverty get free or price-reduced lunches. Another example is that only 8% of kids growing up in low-income communities graduate from college by the age of 24. That means that only about less 1/10 of student’s graduate college. All of this shows how poverty affects education because not that many people are graduating college or even high school for different reasons.
Poverty also affects other things too, such as health, treatment, and living conditions. On www.howpovertyaffectshealth.org it shows how poverty affects health because it can cause health problems, it can cause mental and stress issues. This shows poverty of health because these things; financial status, illness, lack of sleep, work overload, and social isolation. These are things that can be the results of poverty affecting health. Some people could even die because of all the labor they have been doing.
Poverty also affects treatment. On http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/povertyintheunitedstates#povertyandrace.2fethnicity it shows how poverty can affect treatment on how much you get paid. The web states that 72% of men get paid more than women. This shows treatment because people are paying men more money than they pay women. Men & women should equally get paid, because why would you pay men more when both genders are doing the same thing?
And the forth example of something poverty affects is living conditions. On http://www.heritage.org/issues/poverty-and-inequality/understanding-poverty, it states that people could be struggling to pay off the rent, and could end up living on the streets. This shows living conditions and poverty because you could end up like any homeless person on the street curb.
In conclusion, this essay has shown us that struggle (specifically poverty) has implications that can negatively affect us. Some may argue that poverty is good for you. They say this because you could learn a lesson or two from all the struggle that you’ve been through. This may be true, but I believe that it depends on what kind of struggle you’re going through because of the affects on racism.
Poverty is not the only example of struggle that has negative implications; racism is just as damaging. Racism is prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on such a belief. Another definition of racism is hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.
Racism comes in the book Breaking Through. It shows name-calling, bullying, and when Panchito’s at work. When Panchito gets named-called, he says that people called him “chile picker,” or “tamale wrapper” on (pg 103). And there was also racism involving dating on (pg 107). When Roberto went to Susan’s house to meet her parents, and he said he was Mexican and there was dead silence. And last but not least, there was massive racism involving jobs and career choices. Panchito’s councler said he could only get jobs as a farm worker. All of these show racism because all kinds of people treat them differently just because of their race. As if they didn’t feel comfortable near them, or with them.
There are also forms of racism in the movie 42. It shows racism and its implications. Bullying, treatments, beliefs, and segregation are shown in the film. Bullying is exposed when he’s at his first ball game, the other team’s pitcher calls him names that aren’t allowed nowadays. This shows racism because Jackie Robinson felt uncomfortable playing with “white people.” Another example of racism has to do with treatment. Even players on Jackie’s team treated him like a worthless person and started to not want to play baseball. This also shows racism because, since Jackie is darker skinned, people want ball games to stay how they were before. When there were no colored people, playing with white people. A 3rd thing that racism shows is a person’s segregation. For example, white people didn’t let colored people use the same restroom as them. This affected Jackie because he started to let go of all his anger. This also shows racism because they thought that black people would do something to he restrooms and white people would feel uncomfortable. And the last example, is of their beliefs. Everyone started to think that Baseball started to become a “sideshow.” This shows racism by beliefs because they only wanted white people to be playing ball. There are many implications that cause people everywhere in our life.
In addition to the racism that Jackie Robinson experienced, I myself have also gone through racism myself. One day I was a new student, and this kid kept on calling me Japanese or Chinese. And I was telling him how I was part Laotian, and part Mexican. He didn’t care and kept on calling me mean names. This affected me because everyone started to laugh at me calling me names. But I didn’t care. I actually started to ignore them because it started getting old. And people began to apologize to me for calling me names. So over time, people may stop being racist but for now, we need to make a change in the world.
Kelly McFonial talks about a person’s stress levels and how you can make stress your friend. First off, she talks about how a lot of stress could kill you. Last year up to 43% of people had a more-likely risk of dying because of stress. Then it surprised me. She mentioned that if you change the way you think about stress, your whole body would react differently on how you’re taking it in. It also seems quite a bit obvious that if you are trying to work on more than 2 things at a time, you can automatically get stressed out. For example if someone asks you to do the dishes in 2 minutes it’s already pretty challenging. But the next thing you know, you still have to do homework, and take out the trash, and go to the store. All that combined can get you killed of high stress levels. Then she started to talk about how stress could make you a lot more social than you were before. Stress could be the cause of all that adrenaline messing with your mind when you have to do all kinds of things. So just as I learned from Kelly McFonial, stress could do a lot of things to you, whether you notice or not.
In conclusion, there are many reasons that show racism and poverty in struggle. Such as how poverty is multidimensional and implicates good and bad vibes. And how racism can implicate stress and anger. The pieces of evidence shown are in the book Breaking Through, and the film 42. It’s time for a paradise without racism. We need to change it… Not next week, not tomorrow, but today.
Mr. Medina
Humanities/ K7
January 14, 14
Struggle can be defined as contend resolutely, with a task or problem. Some may even argue and say struggle is a good thing. It could be a good thing because you could learn lessons in life about how to use things. Others assume that struggle is a negative thing. A lot of research has been conducted on this topic. This essay will argue despite what someone believes, struggle is when you are in a bad situation, and you have to keep on going. An example of that would be when you’re broke and need money to pay bills & payments, sometimes even if you don’t even have a home or place to live. This supports struggle because you would be struggling to earn money, or anything you would need to survive. So the thesis of all of this is that struggle (specifically poverty) has implications that can negatively affect us.
Struggles are multidimensional. We view this in Breaking Through. For example, one of the struggles Panchito experiences is being undocumented. The results of Panchito’s struggles are fear and deportation. One example from the text that provides evidence of this situation is (pg3) “I fear being caught by the border patrol.” This supports fear because Panchito is afraid he will have to go Mexico. Another piece of evidence supporting fear or deportation is (pg4) “Yes, they caught us.” This supports deportation because it means that the border patrol has caught them and is now taking them back to Mexico. This all shows how being undocumented affected fear, and being deported.
Along the lines of struggle being multidimensional, we can also observe its implications (see figure 2.) Once again using Breaking Through, Panchito struggles with poverty. Poverty affects Panchito’s education, health, living conditions, and treatment. There are examples from the book that show the implications of poverty affecting education. One example is when he got taken away from school. This shows how poverty affects education because according to the people in this book, being Mexican means you can’t do things that people born in the USA can do. A second example is when the Border Patrol made them move from place to place. This shows him living conditions because poverty is what made them move. A third example is on how the doctor said he was in the 9th grade and he was only 4ft and 11 inches tall. This shows how poverty affects health because Panchito’s height is the height of a seventh grader. Everyone else at school was taller than him by like 4-5 inches. And the forth and final example of poverty is when the border patrol had treated them like dirt. Therefore, the Americans didn’t know them that well and stereotyped them because they thought they were all different.
In addition to Breaking Through, the implications of poverty are also found in various Internet sources. Poverty affects education in many ways. On http://billmoyers.com/2013/11/06/the-real-21st-century-problem-in-public-education-is-poverty/ , the page states that about 4.3% of adults 25 of age, or higher have a Four-year degree or higher. And only 10% of children take AP classes, and 69% of children in poverty get free or price-reduced lunches. Another example is that only 8% of kids growing up in low-income communities graduate from college by the age of 24. That means that only about less 1/10 of student’s graduate college. All of this shows how poverty affects education because not that many people are graduating college or even high school for different reasons.
Poverty also affects other things too, such as health, treatment, and living conditions. On www.howpovertyaffectshealth.org it shows how poverty affects health because it can cause health problems, it can cause mental and stress issues. This shows poverty of health because these things; financial status, illness, lack of sleep, work overload, and social isolation. These are things that can be the results of poverty affecting health. Some people could even die because of all the labor they have been doing.
Poverty also affects treatment. On http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/povertyintheunitedstates#povertyandrace.2fethnicity it shows how poverty can affect treatment on how much you get paid. The web states that 72% of men get paid more than women. This shows treatment because people are paying men more money than they pay women. Men & women should equally get paid, because why would you pay men more when both genders are doing the same thing?
And the forth example of something poverty affects is living conditions. On http://www.heritage.org/issues/poverty-and-inequality/understanding-poverty, it states that people could be struggling to pay off the rent, and could end up living on the streets. This shows living conditions and poverty because you could end up like any homeless person on the street curb.
In conclusion, this essay has shown us that struggle (specifically poverty) has implications that can negatively affect us. Some may argue that poverty is good for you. They say this because you could learn a lesson or two from all the struggle that you’ve been through. This may be true, but I believe that it depends on what kind of struggle you’re going through because of the affects on racism.
Poverty is not the only example of struggle that has negative implications; racism is just as damaging. Racism is prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on such a belief. Another definition of racism is hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.
Racism comes in the book Breaking Through. It shows name-calling, bullying, and when Panchito’s at work. When Panchito gets named-called, he says that people called him “chile picker,” or “tamale wrapper” on (pg 103). And there was also racism involving dating on (pg 107). When Roberto went to Susan’s house to meet her parents, and he said he was Mexican and there was dead silence. And last but not least, there was massive racism involving jobs and career choices. Panchito’s councler said he could only get jobs as a farm worker. All of these show racism because all kinds of people treat them differently just because of their race. As if they didn’t feel comfortable near them, or with them.
There are also forms of racism in the movie 42. It shows racism and its implications. Bullying, treatments, beliefs, and segregation are shown in the film. Bullying is exposed when he’s at his first ball game, the other team’s pitcher calls him names that aren’t allowed nowadays. This shows racism because Jackie Robinson felt uncomfortable playing with “white people.” Another example of racism has to do with treatment. Even players on Jackie’s team treated him like a worthless person and started to not want to play baseball. This also shows racism because, since Jackie is darker skinned, people want ball games to stay how they were before. When there were no colored people, playing with white people. A 3rd thing that racism shows is a person’s segregation. For example, white people didn’t let colored people use the same restroom as them. This affected Jackie because he started to let go of all his anger. This also shows racism because they thought that black people would do something to he restrooms and white people would feel uncomfortable. And the last example, is of their beliefs. Everyone started to think that Baseball started to become a “sideshow.” This shows racism by beliefs because they only wanted white people to be playing ball. There are many implications that cause people everywhere in our life.
In addition to the racism that Jackie Robinson experienced, I myself have also gone through racism myself. One day I was a new student, and this kid kept on calling me Japanese or Chinese. And I was telling him how I was part Laotian, and part Mexican. He didn’t care and kept on calling me mean names. This affected me because everyone started to laugh at me calling me names. But I didn’t care. I actually started to ignore them because it started getting old. And people began to apologize to me for calling me names. So over time, people may stop being racist but for now, we need to make a change in the world.
Kelly McFonial talks about a person’s stress levels and how you can make stress your friend. First off, she talks about how a lot of stress could kill you. Last year up to 43% of people had a more-likely risk of dying because of stress. Then it surprised me. She mentioned that if you change the way you think about stress, your whole body would react differently on how you’re taking it in. It also seems quite a bit obvious that if you are trying to work on more than 2 things at a time, you can automatically get stressed out. For example if someone asks you to do the dishes in 2 minutes it’s already pretty challenging. But the next thing you know, you still have to do homework, and take out the trash, and go to the store. All that combined can get you killed of high stress levels. Then she started to talk about how stress could make you a lot more social than you were before. Stress could be the cause of all that adrenaline messing with your mind when you have to do all kinds of things. So just as I learned from Kelly McFonial, stress could do a lot of things to you, whether you notice or not.
In conclusion, there are many reasons that show racism and poverty in struggle. Such as how poverty is multidimensional and implicates good and bad vibes. And how racism can implicate stress and anger. The pieces of evidence shown are in the book Breaking Through, and the film 42. It’s time for a paradise without racism. We need to change it… Not next week, not tomorrow, but today.