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Zindia G Solorio

Susie Huerta

English 242A

September 26, 2016

My View Cultural Capitals

In the article Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community

cultural wealth Tara Yosso critiques the education systems inequality, social and racial injustice

to students of color. Educators sometimes make assumptions that student of color do not have the

knowledge and skills to succeed in higher education. Critical Race Theory is a composition that

theories by looking into ways race and racism affect social structures, practices, and discourses.

Yosso as a professor in Chicano and Chicana studies and wants to see a change in the education

system. Yosso believes that those educators should involve critical race theory to understand

cultural wealth and what students of color can bring knowledge into a classroom setting. Yosso

introduces in the text a six-part cultural model of capitals. The capitals are aspirational,

linguistics, social, familial, resistant and navigational. I agree with Yossos point of view on the

cultural capitals, These various forms of capital are not mutually exclusive or static, but rather a

dynamic process that builds on one another as part of community cultural wealth" (Yosso, 2015).

The most important capitals to me are aspirational and familial from personal experience these

forms of capitals have shaped me into who I am as a person. I believe these two capitals will help

others in the education system by bringing in knowledge that we can incorporate into a

classroom making our education system richer in values.

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Aspirational capital is considered to be the hopes and dreams despite circumstances and

challenges. This capital is necessary to bring into the classroom because it is what keeps us

motivated and encouraged. In the text, Yosso refers to Patricia Gandroa (1982; 1995) research

about Hispanics having the lowest educational experience but having the highest aspirations for

the future I can relate to the quote in the text to my personal life. I come from a family with no

education experience; however, I grew up with my family persuading and inspiring me to go to

college. My mother crossed the border risking her life to give me a better educational

opportunity. In Mexico where my mother comes from education does not come free and the

poverty is at its highest that to eat you must work, thus making it nearly impossible to go to

school. I remember getting my first student of the year award, and my mom said: Tu puedes

lograr lu que tu mente se propone. That quotes became important to me; it states that I can

accomplish what my mind sets its goals too. I have read a scientific article The power of hope

by B Lamm that hope is a desire to a positive outcome and the minds power over the body will

work more to achieve the goal. In life, there are always going to be barriers and challenges, but it

is our duty to keep going and not give up. If we give up, we lose in an opportunity to be happy

and accomplish something. What would be the point in life I we didnt think about what we

wanted? If we are shaped into believing that dreams and hopes don't come true, we would never

change,and it will be another form of oppression. In the text Bourdieu had an argument about a

hierarchical society and upper-class mobility; educators have a bigger reason to believe that

students of color will fail because of theories like that. I feel we are deemed into an educational

world of social inequity were assumed failures and that does crush us, students of color, we start

to feel disempowered. Having aspirational capital in a classroom setting will help us hold on to

our dreams and hopes making it closer for us to turning them into a reality.
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Familial capital is the second most important capital because I value family. In the text,

Yosso explains this form of cultural well engages a commitment to the community while being

and expand the concept of family to include a more broad understanding of kinship (Yosso,

2005). Its a valuable capital to bring in a classroom because we spend so much time with each

other that we should be considering each other as a second family. I view a classroom as a small

community, and we need to help one another to succeed. I feel that having a bond like the one we

learn from our family will contribute to communicating better and understand each other.

Familial capital will teach us that we are not alone and we can count on each other. Personally, I

have had my ups and downs, and a particular example was when I was going through chronic

depression due to the passing of one of my family members. My grandpapa passed, he was the

one to get me in trouble but to also spoil me; he was a big influence in my life his passing hurt

me. I felt alone and scared I wanted to give up. My grades were sinking like quicksand. I was

thinking of dropping out of school and not ever wanting to come out my room. My family at

home was busy being hurt themselves that I had no one to comfort me. One day in class, I was

writing a note to the teacher that I was no longer going to attend the class when a classmate

named Jessie he gave me a hug and told me that he didn't know what I was going on but that he

was sorry he noticed how sad I looked. I realized that there were people that cared about me that

I was not alone. I ended opening up to him and getting support from other classmates I was not

the only one going through something like that. This capital saved me, had I not had that support

maybe I would have dropped out and been another statistic not persuading a higher education.

In conclusion, by bringing in aspirational capital and familial capital into a classroom,

we will gain a different type of knowledge that students of color have. We can incorporate this
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knowledge into various aspects of our life. It helps us have a better understanding and a different

perspective on our peers. By educators understanding our cultural wealth then maybe educators

will treat us students of color the same and stop making assumptions. Yosso cultural wealth is

important because the educational system and educators need to understand that because we

come from different backgrounds, but that does not mean that we lack any skills and have just as

enough value to another student.