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Nessa Reyes

English 1S

Susie Huerta

October 26, 2016

Power of An Intellectual Mind

In American society, education has always been the key to success for everyone who is

part in it. Although there are some great opportunities that come with being part of their

education system, there are also some subtle unspoken issues. As much as education is a

symbolic ladder for success, often the issue is that not many students succeed towards

completing their education. Majority of which are students of color who are first-generation

students. French philosopher, Pierre Bourdieu, states that the knowledge carried by upper class is

more valuable in a hierarchical society and can only be passed down if you are born into the

family, in which students of color are disadvantaged, mostly those who are first generation

students. Meaning that any knowledge students of color obtain is not useful in the hierarchical

society and in the education system. Bourdieus argument is followed through in the education

system which is a problem for many students of color. This idea of them being disadvantage has

blinded people into thinking they dont have the social and cultural capitals needed for social

mobility. Tara J. Yosso, a professor at UC Santa Barbara, believes Bourdieus argument is

inaccurate leading her to address how his idea is misconceptualized. In Yossos essay, she argues

that the valuable and useful knowledge is not just what the upper class obtain, the knowledge

that students of color bring is also very useful and valuable in education. Yosso argues that

people of color obtain various capitals which are perhaps overlooked due to educators not
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acknowledging it themselves, misguiding them to think that their knowledge isnt useful. Yosso

acquires the idea that because students of color have different experiences and issues, they gain

different knowledge which allows them to have different perspectives towards society. Yosso

talks about the different capitals people of color obtain which are linguistic, navigational, social,

resistant, aspirational, and familial. Based on Yossos meanings of these capitals, as a student of

color I personally find resistant, familial, aspirational the most important and necessary capitals

to honor in a college environment due to the fact that it can allow students to progress from such

controlative education system.

In Yossos theory she lists Resistant capital as a skill that makes up cultural wealth, this

capital was one of the capitals that I related with as a first-generation student, as a person of

color. I find resistant capital a very important cultural capital to bring to college. Yosso

introduces resistant capital as the legacy of resistance to subordination exhibited by

Communities of Color(80) that is an important cultural capital for me to bring to a college

environment. Yosso talks about how teachers make presumptions that students of color dont

value education and dont have as much of the valuable knowledge for the education system. We

are often judged quickly in school because of our families educational background or the color of

our skin. Leading us to be discriminated against and demeaned subtly so that this injustice is not

noticed but just because it isnt obvious doesnt mean it doesnt exist. We are discriminated by

being put into different programs where we can get extra help or discriminated based on the

different cultural capital. Our capitals arent acknowledge by the upper class therefore arent

valuable. Personally I was placed into the program English Language Development (ELD) in

elementary just because my mom said that English was my second language. Therefore I was

automatically placed into ELD where I was labeled for not knowing good English. I remember
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eighth grade year I had to choose between Mountain View and Los Altos High school. Although

teachers wanted me to go to Mountain View where I would continue being part of ELD because

Los Altos English courses were much more complex. I decided to take on the challenge and go

to Los Altos high school which definitely made me a stronger English student. Yosso addresses

an interesting point, These experiences expose the racism underlying cultural deficit theorizing

and reveal the need to restructure US social institutions around those knowledges, skills, abilities

and networks-the community cultural wealth- possessed and utilized by People of Color. (82) In

other words, in order to incorporate all six of Yossos capitals we first must change the way the

US social institutions are structured. Similar as the concept of dont hate the player, hate the

game We cant simply point fingers and blame people for thinking a certain way, we have to

change the system.

Familial capital is another important capital for me to bring to college. Yosso defines

familial as, those cultural knowledges nurtured among familia(79) learning from your family

can be interpreted in different ways. Familial is about staying connected with your community

and learning skills from them. Yosso uses an example, A working class chicana/o student whose

mother works in the garment industry may bring a different vocabulary, perhaps in two

languages to school, along with techniques of conducting errands on the city bus and translating

mail, phone calls and coupons for hers/his mother.(76) Gaining all of these amazing skills can

be very useful, there is also a different way of approaching familial capital. I approach familial

capital by using my family's experiences and knowledge so that I do not end up like them. My

family has more donts than dos, as much as they can be supportive and want me to succeed, I

am more motivated for what they went through which is something I wouldnt like to experience.

For instance, I have four female cousins, Araceli, Erika, Patricia, Jaqi who are all around my age.
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Out of all four, three of them ended up pregnant at the young age of sixteen, leading them to drop

out of high school. Seeing how they struggled to take care of their kids, having to adult when

youre still a kid is very difficult and not having the best support makes it even worst. I have seen

what they have gone through, things that I would like to avoid. Just seeing how this one small

action led to a consequence that affected their whole lives, to the point where they could no

longer continue with their goals. I would never want to take actions that can lead to tainting my

future. Having this idea of not wanting to be like my family makes me work harder in school and

take things more seriously than most people do, I have hunger for success that will allow me to

progress in college and lead me to what I envision myself.

Leading into my last important capital, aspirational. Yosso defines aspirational capital as

ability to maintain hopes and dreams for the future. I personally believe that in order for me to

successfully progress, I need to have a goal and a positive perspective that I will work hard

towards achieving my goals. I have a vision that I will be a very success person in society and I

want to stop the cycle in my family which consists of pregnant teens, dropouts, and minimum

wage workers. I want future generations to see college as tradition and know that they have the

easy ability to study and become who they want to be. As opposed to me, a generation student in

which this college experience is an unexplored path for my family. Yosso mentions something

similiar, African Americans were willing to contribute their time, energies, and financial and

material resources to support these educational institutions because they knew they were

important to the advancement of African Americans as a group.(81) Having that vision of a

positive outcome will make you work hard towards making it reality, which is where your best

work comes in.

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Students of color have many skills that they arent aware of due to such skills constantly

being overlooked by the hierarchical society, demeaning its value. There are six capitals that are

obtained by students of color which make up cultural wealth, three of which I find very

important, resistant, familial, and aspirational capital.Students of color have the advantage of

having the outsider knowledge and using all cultural capitals that they have gained towards being

a successful. No matter which cultural capital is most important, as long as it is perceived as a

positive asset. It is indispensable that people of color who are a part of subordinate groups shall

challenge themselves to work on establishing new standards for such subordinate groups.