Life Lessons

I have learned a lot from reading the text in the HB book and there have been a lot of issues that we have discussed in class that were new to me because they involved a lot of questions that topics that I have never thought about or considered before. The main idea that it made me think about is, “What it means to be human.” This is a very important question to think about and reflect upon and after doing so it has changed my perception on a lot of the issues that I face on a daily basis. It also made me think about my role and place in the world around me especially in regard to the importance of community and responsibility.
Along with the important topic of humanity, the HB book also exposed me to a lot of information that I would have never known about. The text that had the biggest impact on me was Jonathon Kozol’s “Savage Inequalities.” Before reading this piece of literature, I had no idea that these horrible conditions existed in the United States and it alarmed me that the conditions were as bad as a Third World country and that hardly anything is being done to improve the living and educational conditions of the area so that children can turn their lives around.
Human responsibility is another major idea expressed in the HB text. After reading many of the assigned readings, it is obvious that humans are not autonomous beings and have a responsibility to nature as well as people who are less fortunate. In “Savage Inequalities,” The people of the United States lack responsibility of helping the people who are living far below the poverty line. The major companies such as Monsanto release very harmful and dangerous chemicals into the hair which contaminate the environment and cause a lot of serious health affects to the East Saint Louis population.
By reading the HB book I have also learned the importance of literacy and that there are many forms of it. Literacy is not just being able to read and write, which is portrayed through Heath’s essay. In her essay, the people of the city of Trackton show that verbal literacy is also very important and that just because you can read and write does not mean that they will be successful in life. Before reading this, I assumed that literacy just meant being able to read and that a good education meant submission to success. Most importantly, the HB text has taught me a lot of useful information that I will b able to apply to my life.