Nov. 8 Yosso-Cultural Capital
First of all, I find it sad that this idea of valuing cultural capital needs to be turned into a formal theory and study in order to be recognized. It seems like such basic idea that all cultures have value. As I read I began to understand what Critical Race Theory is and how it came about. I’ve heard the term bantered about in other readings and our discussions without fully understanding what it is.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard the code words “cultural difference”. I have also often heard what the author calls ‘deficit’ thinking, about children come without proper foundational cultural skills, and that parents do not care about education, and then these ideas are used to justify lack of success. Even well meaning teachers can fall into this line of thinking. As I read, I thought of various cultural capital, and I was glad when the article finally got to the point of saying what is considered to be the actual categories of capital. I was not surprised to see familial, linguistic, and social capital in the list. Aspirational, navigational, and resistant capital were new ideas to me. The idea of aspirations beyond what someone has the means to attain really struck me. How important it is to make those aspirations more attainable, and to assist students to capitalize on the navigational skills they have, or have observed in their families. In my curriculum class we discussed that students need to know how to ask for help and find it when they need. To consider that students of color have experience to draw on would be helpful. I think I will be more sensitive to all of this in the future. It takes effort to learn the cultural strengths of the students and community and find ways to incorporate them into the classroom learning.
Most of my students have many of their cousins either living with them, or attending our school. Many different relatives take turns picking up kids from school. Grandparents are often living in the same home. Because of this connection, I find that my students are very caring to one another, and often know how to care for younger siblings or cousins. Many of my students can already speak 3 languages in first grade: English, Spanish, Mixteco. Their parents value teachers and view us as professionals who know what is best for their children and rarely question our teaching or decisions. Helping students to capitalize on these strengths is important. They are true fighters and most of them exhibit a great desire to learn. Their parents come to conferences, school evening activities, and do this even though they are not understanding everything. To me, this is another strength of the community.
Beyond the reading, I learned a lot from reading Angie’s post which again brought these issues to life.
