An Indian's Father's Plea

We live in a very diverse world today, where we all come from a different background. But looking different from the outside doesn’t mean that we should be treated a certain way simply because a skin color  We all have the ability to think for ourselves, to learn, to be intelligent to better ourselves. Looking different from the outside or having other beliefs doesn’t mean that people are slow or dumb. The reading An Indian Father’s Plea by Robert Lake allows us as readers to see how a child is treated in a classroom simply because he is different.

            Imagine going into a classroom where you don’t know anyone and the whole school environment is new to you. In the reading Wind-Wolf is a five year old Indian child who is in kindergarten, he has never really been in a school environment. Wind-wolf was taught by his family their cultural ways, so going to a whole new different environment such as America it was all different to him. Wind-wolf is a very intelligent child explains his father. He knows how to count and knows many things about nature things that most children his age in America don’t know about. In school he has already been labeled as a slow learner and this is honestly just because teachers don’t understand his cultural background and they choose to teach him the same way that they teach their American students. Wind-wolf’s father says “And like so many Indian children his age, he is shy and quiet in the classroom. He is 5 years old in kindergarten, and I can’t understand why you have already labeled him as a ‘slow learner’” (1).  Many times it comes easier for people to just label others instead of taking time to try to understand them and their culture. Instead of trying to find out a way to teach this child in a way that he will understand perhaps using his culture to teach him how to read and write and count like his classmates it was easier to say that he is a slow learner. Wind-wolf’s father says in the reading “he is not culturally “disadvantage”, but he is culturally “different”. If you ask him how many months there are in a year, he will probably tell you 13” (2).  The father is right just because a child doesn’t know the American culture it doesn’t mean that he is disadvantage, he is different because he was born into another culture but this doesn’t mean that he is not capable of learning. He learns in different ways but he is still smart. He does think that there are 13 months in a year but that is just because that was what he was taught in his culture but that doesn’t mean that he can’t count. Teachers as well as students should learn about different cultures so that it can be an easier transition for students.

                           

I like this picture because it signifies that all classrooms are multicultural. Skin color or cultural background shouldn't change the way a person sees someone else.