Advanced Essay #2: Tongues Can’t Be Tamed but Behaviors can be Trained

Being literate today is a big thing.  It is the focus of most academic programs and in many homes. Some define literacy as one’s ability to read and write proficiently; while, others may say literacy is one’s ability to connect effectively with those around them. I often wonder if my peers would define literacy as a person’s ability to integrate themselves into different cultural and social environments as they grow and develop? While I am not certain how my peers would respond, I firmly believe that literacy is a combination of how well you read and write, while being able to effectively understand, communicate and socialize with people from various cultures, ethnicities and religions. I have been put in so many different situations and environments where my behavior changed based on the people I associated with and how they acted towards me, in other words, “code switching,” to show my friends that I was literate in the areas that were important so that I would be accepted into the group.

Entering high school as a freshman was one thing, but being surrounded by the wrong group of people was another. Freshman year I was in a semi - diverse school but the students were mostly African American and Hispanic. The people I hung out with at the time always got in trouble and I always seemed to be getting in the middle of everything. I was never the type of student to have any problems with others, but being in that school made me feel as if I had to be this “big and bad” person to fit in and felt I had to be someone who I’m not. I would talk a certain way, react to things differently than I usually would and that just wasn't me. No one truly knew the real me, the girl who just wanted to always have fun, laugh, sing and read. I always came off as a “mean” girl. At that time, I enjoyed when people thought I was mean. That was an indicator not to mess with me “or else”. Deep down I was dejected, I don’t know why I had to put on a front for people who were most likely doing the same thing that I was, just dealing with it a different way.

“Wild tongues can’t be tamed; they can only be cut out.” A quote from How to Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua, took me back to time in this school where my language and choice of words would always get me caught in sticky situations. I had never acted or talked that way. When I would be at home, or even in another place of learning I didn’t behave in such a foul way. Transitioning from one school to another helped me to realize the extent to which my behaviors were directly related to my environment. Sophomore year I entered a new school, surrounded myself with more positive people and enjoyed being the respectable, insightful and charismatic young lady who I was meant to be. Trouble no longer found me, but open hearts and new beginnings did. I started to realize that the more I surrounded myself with positive people and things, the more my behaviors reflected the positive influences.  My way of thinking and even my way of living was readjusted to incorporate the positive social literacy that I have been raised to embody.

Whether through pages of a book, or in reality, literacy can be interpreted in so many ways. Through daily experiences and interactions with others everyone has different perspectives on ways of life and how they define literacy. Reading and writing are simple aspects of knowledge that help with academic literacy, while interacting and socializing with other help you experience literacy. Literary assumptions are based on daily interactions, environmental factors, as well as cultural and ethnic experiences.