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Your Background is Your Strength
In late summer, my mother would take my sister and me to Weinstock’s on K Street in Sacramento, to outfit us with new shoes for the upcoming school year. It was a ritual I remember well: standing up straight, positioning my foot on the shoe measuring tool, and noting how the device moved a bit more each year.
It was a ritual I took for granted—being able to have new shoes each year.
Only years later did I learn that my mother was fortunate to have any pair of shoes to wear to school. My grandmother and the family were that poor. What must she have been feeling or reflecting on as we selected our shoes and then happily skipped to Weinstock’s Restaurant to enjoy a grilled cheese sandwich and chocolate milkshake?
Throughout my childhood, my mother would extend a hand to those in need. Although we did not live close to a railroad track, those who rode the rails invariably found their way to our home, where they could count on my mother giving them a hot meal and a bag of canned goods when they left. She repeated acts of charity continually, and declared to me on more than one occasion, “Never pass a beggar, Elizabeth, without giving them something.”
At this year’s New Student Convocation, Dr. Luis Sanchez, a professor of sociology, spoke about growing up in Santa Paula as the child of Mexican immigrants and the strength he garnered from his upbringing. In his talk he shared how his family’s background and his lived experiences are an important part of who he is today.
Dr. Sanchez shared,
We’re not just welcoming you as a student, but we’re welcoming the whole you—your family’s background, your personal story, and your lived experiences. Those matter to you and they matter to us…In fact, your backgrounds, your lived experiences, your challenges are your strengths. Your background is your superpower.
This is not a new concept for us educators, as it challenges the deficit mindset that we may hear when people characterize some of our students. Gonzalez, Moll, and Amanti’s work (2005) reminds us that the knowledge students bring to school may not be recognized when teachers have different social-cultural backgrounds from their students, and thus strengths may be viewed as weaknesses. The theory of funds of knowledge and identity invites us to characterize students’ backgrounds as assets rather than liabilities. These funds of knowledge add richness to the tapestry we weave with our children.
My mother parlayed her background into a strength. Coming as a small child from Mexico, settling with her family across the Sacramento River in the poorest part of town, and suffering continual privation helped her to view education as the path to a better tomorrow. With the shoes she was fortunate to have, she walked herself to school every day.
Education gives you possibilities.
That was her recurring counsel to each of her children. It was her superpower.
The amazing thing about our backgrounds is that the wisdom can be transgenerational.
Education gives you possibilities.
I have lived that belief for my entire career as a teacher, professor, and educational leader. It was her gift to me. It is my superpower from parent to child.
To the many possibilities,
Elizabeth
Elizabeth Orozco Reilly
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