Return-Path: <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id g17NJ1u07592; Thu, 7 Feb 2002 18:19:01 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 18:19:01 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <5.1.0.14.0.20020207151815.009eeb80@mail.aracnet.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: Sylvan Rainwater <sylvan@cccchs.org> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-ESL:7188] Student names X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.1 Status: O Content-Length: 1469 Lines: 32 At 05:23 PM 02/07/2002 -0500, Debra Morris Smith wrote: >I realize that names are structured differently from culture to culture, but >my experience has not been that students change their names to reflect >English styling -- they simply try to fit the name they already have into >our framework for official purposes. Some students do this. Certainly at first this is what they do. But restructuring the name changes it. For Hispanics whose surnames are two names -- Mother's last name plus father's last name, I think -- to use only one last name means they have to choose between their mother and their father for their identity. >And yes, some do have choices about >which of several options they will consistently use. But I think identity is >important and the name its primary symbol (unless that's a Eurocentric >assumption?) -- so I stand behind the notion that a person's name doesn't >change, and I think part of making people at home in our country is to honor >and try to master their names. Certainly trying to honor people's names is important. But when a person moves to a new country, identity changes in many ways. One of my students actually changed her name completely when she got her citizenship. Many of our ancestors did the same thing. ------------------------------ Sylvan Rainwater . sylvan@cccchs.org Adult Education Teacher and Family Literacy Program Manager Clackamas County Children's Commission . Oregon City, OR USA
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