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Doing Hard Work Of The Mind: Immigrants See Life Is More Than Labor by Oscar Avila - 2008After mopping floors and scrubbing toilets, janitor Julio Pina takes
a break and escapes into the world of Sartre and Plato. The Mexican
immigrant joins friends at a cafe and, for the first time, uses his
newfound knowledge to ponder history’s great thinkers. For several
months, a small core of Mexican immigrants, many still clad in work
clothes stained with dirt and paint, have convened at the Gads
Hill Center, 1919 W. Cullerton St., for a grueling curriculum of
college-level humanities classes, including history, literature and
writing.To view the full-text for this article you must be signed-in with the appropriate membership. Please review your options below: | This article originally appeared as NSSE Yearbook Vol 107, No. 2. |
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- Oscar Avila
Univeristy of Chicago
E-mail Author
Doing Hard Work of the Mind: Immigrants See Life
Is More than Labor
oscar avila
After mopping floors and scrubbing toilets, janitor Julio Pina takes
a break and escapes into the world of Sartre and Plato. The Mexican
immigrant joins friends at a cafe and, for the first time, uses his
newfound knowledge to ponder history’s great thinkers. For several
months, a small core of Mexican immigrants, many still clad in work
clothes stained with dirt and paint, have convened at the Gads
Hill Center, 1919 W. Cullerton St., for a grueling curriculum of
college-level humanities classes, including history, literature and
writing.
Many of the students never finished high school. For a long time,
they have viewed their role in Chicago as that of hard workers with
strong backs. No one cared about their minds.
On Sunday, however, that changed when a diehard group of 10
students graduated from the Odyssey Project at a ceremony at the
Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum. “I like to say I’m a professional
at cleaning bathrooms. But that is it,” said Pina, 36, of Chicago.
“I have never had the time or the chance to think. Until now.”
Odyssey initially targeted African-American students and Englishspeaking
Latinos, but this graduating class is the first eligible for college
credit after taking courses entirely in Spanish. As Chicago sees an
increased population of Mexican immigrants with low education levels,
the Odyssey Project reflects a growing feeling by educators that they
must expand learning opportunities, even in Spanish.
Earl Shorris, a writer and University of Chicago graduate, founded
the Clemente Course in the humanities in 1995 at Bard College in New
Oscar Avila is a staff reporter for the Chicago Tribune and is currently covering Latin
America. Before arriving at the Tribune, Avila was a roving Missouri correspondent and
Metro reporter for the Kansas City Star. From Chicago Tribune, June 19, 2006. © 2006
Chicago Tribune [http://www.chicagotribune.com]. All rights reserved. Used by permission
and protected by the copyright laws of the United States. The printing, copying,
redistribution, or retransmission of the material without express written permission is
prohibited.
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