Diversity Statement?
Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 10:48 pm
First off i'm concerned this is more of a Personal Statement than a Diversity Statement. If this is fine for a DS please critique, if not I will get back to the drawing board. Thank You!
Though I was born in the United States I didn’t live in my country of origin until about the age of five when I started Kindergarten. The first years of my life were spent in a XXX border town living with my grandparents. With Spanish being first languageI entered the US public education system largely unprepared. Though I was in ESL classes throughout Elementary School I just never seemed to fully grasp the English language. Even after completing the fifth grade my speech had a heavy northern mexican accent and I frequently relied on the crutch of using Spanish words when I did not know the English equivalent. This lead to teachers in my Middle School classes angrily correcting me mid-sentence if I had used a Spanish word.
The point where I came to take a fully apathetic attitude towards my studies occurred towards the end of my eighth grade Algebra class. Our teacher gave us a math aptitude test that she explained would determine which students entering High School would continue on to more difficult math classes while the others “got a better handle on the basics.” After class I spoke to our teacher to ask her if she had a rough idea which path I would be taking. She never directly answered my quest but she did inform me that I “shouldn’t really expect to go to college.” At that point I had never even considered college. Still, in my mind it was the next logical step after completing High School. I had thus set in my mind that if I was not going to attend college my performance in classes was really of no consequence.
My high school years can be described as a series of close calls with F grades. My attitude towards high school came to reflect my teacher’s attitude towards me: the bare minimum of attention so that no trouble would arise. I graduated my senior year of high school with a GPA in the 1.1 range and a completely disinterested outlook towards educational institutions. After graduation I worked various dead end jobs that forced me to make a serious evaluation of my life. I slowly realized that the life I had was not the one I wanted. That the trajectory I was following was one that lead to my potential being squandered. It wasn’t until I began spending time at the local library and educating myself on topics of my interest that I began believing that I may be smart enough to attend college. I set out to attend a local community college and eventually to transfer to a university.
While my first semester back in an educational institution was difficult I eventually started having confidence in my own abilities. I came to understand my teachers had been wrong about me, I was in fact able to attend and succeed at the college level. The most important thing I learned was that I had for many years been wrong about myself: I was actually the smart young man I often day dreamed of becoming.
My path to higher education has had many challenges that stemmed from an educational system that had marginalized me but also a lack of responsibility on my part that I accept. In retrospect I never considered the larger picture of my life, I had an immature belief that things would somehow just simply work out. I believe I add the diversity of a student who has found himself marginalized by the public school system but still overcame that adversity in the pursuit of his educational goals.
Though I was born in the United States I didn’t live in my country of origin until about the age of five when I started Kindergarten. The first years of my life were spent in a XXX border town living with my grandparents. With Spanish being first languageI entered the US public education system largely unprepared. Though I was in ESL classes throughout Elementary School I just never seemed to fully grasp the English language. Even after completing the fifth grade my speech had a heavy northern mexican accent and I frequently relied on the crutch of using Spanish words when I did not know the English equivalent. This lead to teachers in my Middle School classes angrily correcting me mid-sentence if I had used a Spanish word.
The point where I came to take a fully apathetic attitude towards my studies occurred towards the end of my eighth grade Algebra class. Our teacher gave us a math aptitude test that she explained would determine which students entering High School would continue on to more difficult math classes while the others “got a better handle on the basics.” After class I spoke to our teacher to ask her if she had a rough idea which path I would be taking. She never directly answered my quest but she did inform me that I “shouldn’t really expect to go to college.” At that point I had never even considered college. Still, in my mind it was the next logical step after completing High School. I had thus set in my mind that if I was not going to attend college my performance in classes was really of no consequence.
My high school years can be described as a series of close calls with F grades. My attitude towards high school came to reflect my teacher’s attitude towards me: the bare minimum of attention so that no trouble would arise. I graduated my senior year of high school with a GPA in the 1.1 range and a completely disinterested outlook towards educational institutions. After graduation I worked various dead end jobs that forced me to make a serious evaluation of my life. I slowly realized that the life I had was not the one I wanted. That the trajectory I was following was one that lead to my potential being squandered. It wasn’t until I began spending time at the local library and educating myself on topics of my interest that I began believing that I may be smart enough to attend college. I set out to attend a local community college and eventually to transfer to a university.
While my first semester back in an educational institution was difficult I eventually started having confidence in my own abilities. I came to understand my teachers had been wrong about me, I was in fact able to attend and succeed at the college level. The most important thing I learned was that I had for many years been wrong about myself: I was actually the smart young man I often day dreamed of becoming.
My path to higher education has had many challenges that stemmed from an educational system that had marginalized me but also a lack of responsibility on my part that I accept. In retrospect I never considered the larger picture of my life, I had an immature belief that things would somehow just simply work out. I believe I add the diversity of a student who has found himself marginalized by the public school system but still overcame that adversity in the pursuit of his educational goals.
