Total Pageviews

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Idols!

Yesterday I was at Cesar Chavez High School in Stockton, California. It was a very nice school with great staff and the students were very pleasant and smart! I was really happy to travel to the school and talk to the students about their future and careers. As I was walking the halls of the school I noticed they had famous pictures of people on the walls. One picture was Cesar Chavez, and that I expected. He was a fighter for equal rights and for workers in the fields to get a fair wage. I didn't like him as I was growing up, but part of that was because I didn't really understand what he was fighting for. The farmers provided their workers places to live, but they were really substandard and had not been updated for 50 years. The workers had bad working conditions and the farmers were taking advantage of the situation. So, I understood his picture on the wall. After all, the school was named after him. They also had Mother Teresa's picture on the wall. This was a little strange since she was a religious figure, but she was really famous for helping the poor and downtrodden just like Cesar Chavez. So I understood her picture on the wall.  On another wall was the picture of Nelson Mandala. This one made sense since Nelson Mandala was the head of a country and overcame many obstacles without violence. Then I looked around the corner and they had the picture of Billy Graham. This picture really surprised me. Billy Graham is only a religious figure, as far as I know. I don't know how his picture would be okay to have on a wall of a high school. I think it would upset someone. But, the strangest picture on the wall was the first one I saw when I entered the school. The first picture I saw, so the one with the most prominence, was Martin Sheen. An actor that wasn't Hispanic, wasn't famous for helping others, wasn't famous for religion, I don't even know what he was famous for. Many schools have pictures of people on the walls of the school so students try to emulate them. The pictures are of people that the students should idolize and try to achieve the same status. What Martin Sheen, someone tell me!

Today I was in Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, California. This was another nice school with very nice students and a good staff that really wants the best for their students. I saw some announcements on the wall and they were written in 3 languages. English, Spanish, and a language I didn't recognize. I asked the counselor and she said it was Hmong. I knew there was many Hmong people in Fresno, where I will go tomorrow, but I didn't know in Sacramento. I was giving out the student test results and I noticed there were many Vang last names. I found out that is a common Hmong name. One of the Vang's was Sue. I looked closer and saw it was a male. It turns out that was a common Hmong male name. It reminded me of the song, "A Boy Named Sue". I laughed and he joked with me, and then I was happy I went to the school. I learned something today and I felt like I got a little smarter! 

1 comment:

  1. Martin Sheen is Spanish. His real name is Ramon Estevez and he is the father of the actor Emilio Estevez as well as Charlie Sheen.

    ReplyDelete