Breaking through Barriers in Culture Groups

Cultures sometimes have barriers. Sherman Alexi grew up on an Indian reservation. Alexi was trying to go against the normal outlook of Indians and wanted to become successful. He grew up in an environment that had stereotypes against the intelligence of Native Americans. Sherman grew up having white teachers who obtained a low level of expectations for their students. Sherman's teachers did not encourage their students to continue their education and break the stereotype against their cultural group. Sherman was inspired to read from his father's passion for reading. So Sherman took it upon himself to teach himself how to read. He started to read constantly and was reading at an advanced level compared to the other children's reading level. Sherman wanted to improve his life and he learned that if he read and got educated he would create a better future for himself. Most children did not go against this stereotype and did not have the drive to push them towards a better future. Sherman eventually became a writer and tries to encourage students on reservations not to fall under this stereotype, but break it. Literacy was important to Sherman because it showed him the loophole to a better life.

I agree with the stakes Sherman took to get his future career. I believe that it would be hard being apart of a culture that doesn't encourage education. I believe that if you want to become successful, then you need to have the drive to go get it for yourself. I am apart of a culture group that encourages furthering education. I cannot imagine the difficulty of being apart of a culture that doesn't have high expectations for their youth. I am very impressed with the drive that Sherman had for his education. Hopefully more people will take the route that Sherman took and have the drive to push past this stereotype. I believe that no matter where you come from you have to want something bad enough to go get it. Similar to Sherman, I have the drive to push through goals and I also want to create a better future for myself. I also believe that to have a better future you need to be educated. As a child, I always knew that I was going to go to college and that education was a top priority. When I was little, I knew that to have a good future, I needed to get good grades in school. By breaking stereotypes, you are not just helping yourself but you are helping your family through generations.