Sec 1
5/11/14
Response 7: "I am a man with a heart"
I have
grown up with many people who have immigrated to America that can relate to
Andrew Thi’s story. I remember first hearing about a boy in my school that had been
caught shoplifting at a thrift store in fifth grade, and from there many of my
old friends and peers had suddenly disappeared from school. However, I’ve never
made the conscious effort to question my friends or hear their stories because
I was taught that they were just simply gangsters. About two years ago, I ran
into a close friend of my brother’s from his elementary school. His friend was
a smart kid who studied algebra with a private tutor during his 5th
or 6th grade year. My brother told me that his friend almost dropped
out of high school, was currently attending a community college, and was a
criminal in some sort of way. This shocked me as I noticed a trend of smart
minority youths within my community throwing away their opportunities to
advance their education and commit crimes. Is there an influence from being a
minority or immigrating to America that causes these youths to have such actions?
If so, what is it? And, if children have grown up hearing their parents say
words along the lines of, “I came to America to create a better life for you,”
what causes a large percentage of immigrant youths to commit crimes?
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