Growing Up Essay

Juane Spinks
Melissa Storms- Instructor
English 97a
11/15/10

Growing up
  I have to say that I find it quite ironic that my look back on growing up started in my English 97a class while studying Paulo Freire’s essay on The “Banking” Concept of Education, in which, it looks at the relationship between teacher and student. This relationship involves a narrating Subject (the teacher) and patient, listening objects (the students) was the single sentence that I thought summed it up, or at least caught my attention. One of the assignments was to think how this played a role in your life at some point or another.
  I will admit that when I first started thinking on how I was going to complete the assignment, I drew a blank. I honestly could not think of one single instance that any of it could apply to me. I had never thought myself in the student category, nor did I think I fit the bill of the teacher. As I sat and pondered what I would write about, my childhood came to mind. The more I thought about it, the more my mother came to mind. If I were to be the student, then surely she was the teacher. What first came to thought was awaiting her arrival from work. I know, doesn’t sound like the worst thing in a day, but let me give you a little background.
  My mother-(Florence) gave birth to two boys, Juane and Duane starting at the young age of 16 with Juane being the oldest by two years. Being a single mom at that age will surely put you in teacher status, especially with two boys. Being from a small town, she was desperately trying to teach us that there was no limit to the accomplishments we could achieve through hard work and schooling.
  Accomplishing that task with two boys is another story. My brother and I didn’t take to her concept as well and as fast as she would have liked, so she adopted the ‘Banker’ concept, as far as i was concerned.
  One of the ways I was describing my (student) status was in the way we had to have the house cleaned by the...