This class has facilitated a large amount of thinking and personal growth through the assigned readings and our discussions of what it means to us to be Spanish majors. For me, being a Spanish major is a way to open a door to a whole other world of culture, customs, people, food, and even more. On the most basic level, this is why most people study other languages, and it i considered a huge asset on paper if you are a native English speaker and are lucky enough to be a heterosexual white individual.

When unpacking ideas of white privilege it is inevitable that some people will not admit that they have privilege or that they are prejudice, when in reality everyone has been raised with some prejudice thoughts such as that African Americans are good at basketball, or that all women who identify as feminists hate males, and may not actively engage in these prejudices but still have them from time to time.

For me, studying Spanish and teaching it and the various cultures and histories is a way to educate others about a very prominent community that is growing throughout the world, and why this is a good and a bad thing. Some aspects of this course that have got me thinking about these types of topics are the Holyoke Bound trip, the readings on Volunteerism/Voluntourism in America, and the recent reading called “the Myth of the Culture of Poverty” by Paul Gorski. As a future educator, I aspire to actively ensure that I am not perpetuating any of the aspects of the culture of classism that Gorski writes about, stating that “the socioeconomic opportunity gap (regarding students in poorer communities vs. those in upper class communities) can be eliminated only when we stop trying to “fix” poor students and start addressing the ways in which our schools perpetuate classism. This “deficit-based” approach as compared to an “asset-based” approach not only is a waste of those who should be directly benefiting from the “help,” it is also a way to keep the structural inequities intact because of an emphasis on the belief of the culture of poverty in America, which generalizes all groups living in poverty as individuals who are lazy, alcoholics and drug addicts, criminals, have their priorities in the wrong order, and so on. These beliefs – which are perpetuated through pop culture, films, television, and even the news – place the blame of poverty on the individuals living in poverty’s choices, not the structures and systems of power in place that hinder people of color especially who are living in poverty from making it up in socioeconomic/class standing but still teaches that it is the individual’s fault, not any of the inequities and microaggressions that exist and occur throughout our society.

I also think it is very important to utilize our own privilege to break down the culture of poverty and the culture of classism in addition to white privilege and prejudices in our society by educating ourselves and gathering various and diverse narratives and to realize that we are in a position of power, which means that we can make a change in the way that our culture is headed. Not only are we empowered, we also are in the midst of getting our college degrees, and we are a new generation that will be taking over the labor force in a span of 3-5 years, and we should utilize our jobs to the best of our ability to be the voices for those who are not listened to when they speak, whether it be because of their lack of a title, the color of their skin, their sexual orientation, and so on.

In my future I see myself being a very engaged educator, most likely in a high school setting, in which I speak about these topics in relation to the Spanish speaking world and what it means to those individuals living with these stereotypes and having to deal with these hardships and not being recognized and also not being taken seriously unless when reverting to violence, thus perpetuating the idea of an African American as a “primitive,  aggressive individual who cannot control themselves” or perpetuating the idea of a Latino as an “aggressive and slimy individual who is undereducated and cannot speak English.” I will dedicate my future to educating and facilitating conversation with students regarding these real world topics, no matter what it takes, in order to eradicate these prejudices that do not serve those that they speak for, but serve those who are in power and help keep them in power.