How does your family & community history connect to your American creed?

How does your family & community history connect to your American creed?

My family’s American creed is making education our top priority and never leaving what we started. Back when my grandmother and grandfather were still strangers, my grandfather was in the military in the country where I am from. When they became married and had kids, my grandfather left the military. My grandfather knew that he couldn't provide for his kids if he stayed in the Philippines, because of low wages. He had to leave our country to provide for and make their children’s lives better. My grandfather sacrificed a lot; he worked here in the United States and became a citizen despite not being able to see his children when he left them to work in the United States. Now, the whole family is here in the United States because of my grandfather. He worked hard to petition us all. My family got a good education and earned a college degree in the Philippines. Therefore, having an education is a better way and key to being able to reach success for us.

According to Condoleezza Rice, “Education is the ladder to stop having to experience such bad things that have become a wall to our success.” For example, being educated gives us plenty of options and opportunities to do what we want. To work at our dream company, to study at our dream school. Education is a great pathway to being successful in our own lives. In her story, she told us about the situation of their family. She said that her grandfather became a Presbyterian minister to get an education, and for Black American families, education became the holy grail. She is one of the speakers in the film who values education and allows everyone to realize that it is very important not just for her, but for everyone.

Eric Liu, CEO of Citizen University, the son of immigrants, and an author, creator, and civic evangelist, told us about his family’s history on how his parents decided to come to the United States to get a better life. His parents are from China and he was born here in the United States Of America. His parents moved to the United States for a good education and life. For him, being here in America gave him a lot of opportunities to be successful. His parents used education to get a better life and he also used it the same way. We can say that in America, we would have more opportunities. Eric Liu proved it because, in his story, he told us about how education here in the United States gave him and his parents the opportunities to become middle-class citizens instead of working poor. Having a good education was the reason why he is himself today.

Deidre Prevett, the principal of Lindbergh Elementary School, told us that her American creed is to be an educator. She is also one of the speakers in the film that values education. She believes that education is the key to success, and to making yourself better. She told us about her story when she was a kid, that she was fortunate because she could study and unlike other kids whose parents are on welfare and many of them are in foster care. Her family’s land had oil and they took advantage of it. They sold the oil so that she and the other generation were able to study and go to college.

Many people claim that America is the “Land of free”, where you can do what you want to do. I believe that America is where you can be better and where you can have a lot of opportunities to become what you want to be. With education, you can be better and you can stop having to experience such bad things that become a wall to our success. I believe the most significant is the one that Condolezza Rice said. “There is always a gap between aspirations and reality, and we always have to fight it.” Based on what she said, I think that with education, we can remove the gap and continue to reach reality.

My family keeps saying that here, in America, our lives could get even better. It is our stepping stone to reach our dreams. They’re not saying that our lives wouldn’t be better if we stayed in our country; it’s just here in America, there are more opportunities. Our home country is good, but I would say not right now because of situations such as corruption and Covid-19. As a pure Filipino, we will always love our country, the Philippines, and accept it even if we are now living here in the US. Having a free education here in the United States is a great thing; we won’t have to pay for it unlike what we do in the Philippines. Having education here also gives us a lot of opportunities to learn a lot and be our best selves.