Growing Up in a Marginalized Community: My Journey to Education

This article explores the challenges and opportunities of growing up in a marginalized community and the author's journey to education. It discusses social class background, social heritage, social and economic opportunities, cultural encapsulation, diversity consciousness, and sphere of influence.

Surname 1
Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Course
Date
Environment - I grew up in a peace loving community. A small community at
southern part of the country, we usually refer to it as “our small city”. The community
I come from has hard working and caring people since everyone is considered family.
It is a marginalized community and one can easily tell who their neighbors are without
much effort to remember their names.
Social Class Background- I was raised by very hardworking parents- they are
individuals with the spirit of pursuing education and this can be seen on how serious
they took their education. Both of them studied up to university level and are both
lecturers. My parents are among the few in my community who appreciate education.
Those surrounding us have very little appreciation for education especially for the girl
child and this has caused a lot of tension between most of them and those parents who
educate their girls. Travelling to the United States of America has been the greatest
feeling so far in my life; it is a proof that my dreams ae possible and even made me
more motivated about achieving them.
Social Heritage- There was nothing so strict like growing up as a religious person.
My parents being blacks, they believe in oneness of the family and this included going
to one church. These aspects shaped who I am today because we had certain doctrines
to live under and a particular way of life, which has been so helpful in my life.
Social and Economic Opportunities- My community has not been so supportive in
my education this is because they don’t believe in educating a girl and they view it as
waste of time and resources, but this has only been a source of motivation to me to
keep working hard in school and change a lot of these perceptions in my school.
Cultural Encapsulation- We come across a lot of different people from different
backgrounds and different cultural practices. Sometimes we would love to get to know
their practices but are limited by our beliefs. Though my upbringing tells me to
appreciate other peoples’ cultures even if we don’t agree with them it is a way of life
for others and we should respect that.
Diversity Consciousness- Although my way of life has made me a judgmental person
especially when it comes to other peoples’ way of life, the most difficult challenge
would be getting used to other peoples’ way of life and having to practice some of
these things I wasn’t sure existed when growing up.

Surname 2
Sphere of Influence- Am a great motivation to those little girls in my village. They
believe in me and believe in girls’ education even though some of their parents don’t.
A lot of them are working hard to be like me or be where I am. In the near future I
know I will get to be a role model to the girls in my country at large and not just part
of it. I will help fight for their rights and most of those who are denied the chance to
go to school will get to enjoy their rights through me.