Joseph Suina wrote the passage "And Then I Went to School," where he discusses his transformation from being a Native American boy to the Stranger he becomes to himself. He was encouraged to go to school to better his life in the future, but during his journey he notes that he has changed. For instance, "I longed to be free"(Suina 6) is the most powerful quote that shows the reader how much he had changed due to his education. He wore pressed shirts and pants and shined shoes. HE no longer spoke his Native language or participated in his cultural dances. Though his life will get better for having an education, it hurt him for the majority of the essay because he lost a major part of his life: home. "There was no choice left but to compete with the white man on his terms for survival. For that I knew I had to give up a part of my life."(Suina, 7) This is able to support why Suina's education was improved but lost a majority of his life.
Personally, my education will provide me with a better future because I will ultimately be following my dreams of helping people. I believe that by attending college I will be able to live comfortable and be able to have a place of my own to call home, which is something I've never had. I grew up low- income and my mom was and still is on welfare and because she rarely could hold a job we were evicted numerous times and lived on the street or with friends and family. For these reasons, my college degree will allow me to finally settle in one place to call home and I will be able to keep the independence I've strived so long to achieve. At this moment I do not feel as though I will be leaving anything behind that is worth keeping. My plans are to move out west after graduation, but my family will always be there with me supporting my decisions and for what that's worth I will not be giving up anything that I don't want to give up.
I am not able to relate to Tazney's hardships that she has had during her life. My family is a higher middle class family. I have always had a home. I have always had a place. That is not to say my family has not had issues of their own. I truly admire the guts it takes to write about these hardships. My success will be to have my DPT and be comfortable with where I am in life. I feel like Tazney's success will reach much higher states. The reason I feel this is because of her overcoming adversity. Even if we were to get the same exact job, with the same exact pay, and the exact school we had gone through. The adversity that she has already overcome and will continue to overcome has/will put her on a higher level then I could ever hope to achieve.
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