I left there at age 18 and headed off to college. 4 years or more
I suppose, away from home. I studied education at University of Illinois in
Chicago. My mother told me to stay in school and I did like she said. I became a second grade teacher at Monroe Elementary. But before I went to college, I was told my education was low. I grew up with having low education on Mango Street. Mango Street, I haven’t returned. I was told to return. It’s been years since then, since I left. Education was low and then schools were falling apart. Kids dropped out at an age so young to go work with their mama or papa. I want them to be better educated; I want to fix the schools. Maybe I will return…
I remember how school was on Mango Street; everything was slow.
The teachers didn’t teach, the Vargas’s destroyed anything they laid their hands
on, my classmates got in fights here and there. I had to learn everything by
myself which was difficult for me. The building was falling apart so badly that
the ambulance came almost every week to come pick up an injured kid; mostly the
Vargas kids. The children there can be very bright but Mango Street was a place
that was not so great. Not many kids graduate from there. I will go back and fix
the schools but I need help; I need to get the mayor
involved.
I went to go visit the mayor. He doesn’t know Mango Street. A Street named mango, he said. He pulled out a map and asked me to show him. Nowhere on the map, there was no street named mango. Mango Street had been removed from the maps. I will take you there, I insisted. We had left in his pearl-white Cadillac and drove off to the place where I grew up and was
educated.
We drove down Mango Street and everything looks how it was and
how I remember. The mayor looked disgusted at this side of Chicago. The Vargas’s
still jumping off the trees and roofs of houses, the bums from my attic from the
little red house now sleep in the garbage, one sister of the three had still
lived on Mango Street waiting for my return and smiled. I see the schools, not
many kids go there. All the children that went to school work with their mama or
papa getting money for the family. The car stops and the mayor steps out. He
sees the schools and the children and the teachers that do not teach. I want
these children to be educated, I tell him. He nods his head and shakes my hand.
We go back to the pearl-white Cadillac and discuss about the education on Mango
Street. Money, we need money; a fundraiser, he says.
The mayor announces the next day in city hall that Mango Street needs schools. The citizens of Chicago, the children that live on Mango Street live uneducated, he says. He pulls me to the podium and says, Esperanza has shown me how important children education is. People donated lots of money. I collected $4,000 so far for Mango Street’s schools. The fundraiser was like a
carnival, full of rides and games with concession stands. People came with
wallets full of money and left almost empty, but left with a smile. I almost
collected $2 million dollars to rebuild the schools. The mayor and I ended the
fundraiser and headed off to Mango Street.
When we got to Mango Street, the mayor and I stopped at the schools. We talked to the principals of two elementary schools, one middle school and high school. The mayor told me he put in another $2 million dollars for them because he cares for the children of Mango Street’s education. He called some reconstruction workers and they got to work later that week.
The schools were finished 4 months later and new teachers were hired, children smiled and actually wanted to learn. The mayor knocked on my door and asked, "Will you be a principal for one of the schools on Mango Street?"
-Samantha
I suppose, away from home. I studied education at University of Illinois in
Chicago. My mother told me to stay in school and I did like she said. I became a second grade teacher at Monroe Elementary. But before I went to college, I was told my education was low. I grew up with having low education on Mango Street. Mango Street, I haven’t returned. I was told to return. It’s been years since then, since I left. Education was low and then schools were falling apart. Kids dropped out at an age so young to go work with their mama or papa. I want them to be better educated; I want to fix the schools. Maybe I will return…
I remember how school was on Mango Street; everything was slow.
The teachers didn’t teach, the Vargas’s destroyed anything they laid their hands
on, my classmates got in fights here and there. I had to learn everything by
myself which was difficult for me. The building was falling apart so badly that
the ambulance came almost every week to come pick up an injured kid; mostly the
Vargas kids. The children there can be very bright but Mango Street was a place
that was not so great. Not many kids graduate from there. I will go back and fix
the schools but I need help; I need to get the mayor
involved.
I went to go visit the mayor. He doesn’t know Mango Street. A Street named mango, he said. He pulled out a map and asked me to show him. Nowhere on the map, there was no street named mango. Mango Street had been removed from the maps. I will take you there, I insisted. We had left in his pearl-white Cadillac and drove off to the place where I grew up and was
educated.
We drove down Mango Street and everything looks how it was and
how I remember. The mayor looked disgusted at this side of Chicago. The Vargas’s
still jumping off the trees and roofs of houses, the bums from my attic from the
little red house now sleep in the garbage, one sister of the three had still
lived on Mango Street waiting for my return and smiled. I see the schools, not
many kids go there. All the children that went to school work with their mama or
papa getting money for the family. The car stops and the mayor steps out. He
sees the schools and the children and the teachers that do not teach. I want
these children to be educated, I tell him. He nods his head and shakes my hand.
We go back to the pearl-white Cadillac and discuss about the education on Mango
Street. Money, we need money; a fundraiser, he says.
The mayor announces the next day in city hall that Mango Street needs schools. The citizens of Chicago, the children that live on Mango Street live uneducated, he says. He pulls me to the podium and says, Esperanza has shown me how important children education is. People donated lots of money. I collected $4,000 so far for Mango Street’s schools. The fundraiser was like a
carnival, full of rides and games with concession stands. People came with
wallets full of money and left almost empty, but left with a smile. I almost
collected $2 million dollars to rebuild the schools. The mayor and I ended the
fundraiser and headed off to Mango Street.
When we got to Mango Street, the mayor and I stopped at the schools. We talked to the principals of two elementary schools, one middle school and high school. The mayor told me he put in another $2 million dollars for them because he cares for the children of Mango Street’s education. He called some reconstruction workers and they got to work later that week.
The schools were finished 4 months later and new teachers were hired, children smiled and actually wanted to learn. The mayor knocked on my door and asked, "Will you be a principal for one of the schools on Mango Street?"
-Samantha