Échale ganas
As the oldest of four children, I’ve been the first to experience every major life event since day one: graduating from high school, going to college, and even getting a first full-time job.
Throughout, there was an expected pressure put upon me from my parents to always try my best in whatever I did. A phrase that still rings in my head to this day is “Échale ganas,” meaning “give it your best” in Spanish.
Interestingly, this phrase has evolved in a much more complex way over the course of my life, and I believe my story with it could possibly contribute to the larger narrative of folks of color currently navigating the U.S. education system.
Right now as it stands, the system is not built to help students of color succeed.
One aspect is the emphasis put on standardized tests as well as a lack of focus on growth within the grading parameters of ABCDF. While this is the system in which we as a people must function in for the moment, I think that the way many families, including my own, understand it is part of the problem as to why our children feel like they are failing.
Putting numbers on children to rank their ability to understand the subject matter is ineffective and damaging to their mindset regarding true educational success. Success should be represented through growth and work ethic, not a 2.7 GPA or a D- reading level. However, our authority figures (i.e. parental guardians/caretakers) may not have the necessary tools to understand such a system; all they may see in their eyes is an A or an F — — perfection or failure.
I mentioned earlier that a phrase I would hear a lot growing up was “échale ganas,” and I’m sure many kids have heard this, or something similar, from their parents or parental figures at least once before a test, a big game, or even a job interview.
However, what would happen when you prepared as much as you could, gave it your best but the result wasn’t what you had hoped for?
The response for me growing up wasn’t usually positive. Those moments of failure, or even slight imperfection, would be met with “Why didn’t you do better?” or “Did you not study hard enough?” Of course, my own experiences shouldn’t serve as a blanket statement for students of color, yet I think most who come from a similar background as me would agree that there does exist this notion that students of color always have to work twice or even three times harder than their white counterparts in order to get an equivalent amount of success in society.
What does that then mean for our own mindset when we engage in an environment “designed” to foster learning?
For a while, I thought it served as a motivator to do my best. And it did lead to me being at the top of my class for most of my time in high school, but it also led me to see education strictly through a lens of perfection: an A is perfect, a 4.0 GPA is perfect. Anything less means I’m not trying hard enough. But what type of framework does that then leave for a student of color in such a space, especially when you think about the historical context of the U.S. education system?
With that narrative as a backdrop, I had viewed “échale ganas” in a negative light for some time until recently. I believed in perfection over excellence and would be brought down by the minor mistakes or failures within my efforts in school and life, rather than embrace them.
Now, I view “échale ganas” in the literal sense, which actually sounds funny to say, but it’s surprisingly therapeutic. There was not one single “a-ha!” moment in time that made me review how my brain and spirit were working together or against one another. It was the combination of everything, memories, thoughts, and experiences that led me to begin doing the self-reflective work our society does not encourage us to do. It’s an ongoing process, but I’m happy to be on the journey of growth and self-care. I say all of this because, given that students of color are already in a system that doesn’t value their individual genius, parents, guardians, and educators all should be there next to them as their biggest supporters, cheering them on: “échanle ganas!”
We should all be in this together, never invalidating our children’s efforts, or even our own, in whatever it is we are trying to overcome, whether it be a math test or even our own fear of whatever we believe failure to be.
Education through a decolonized lens of community and love is what will lead to the path of the long-term success of our people.
________________________________________________________________
The opinions expressed in this blog posting are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Surge Institute.
