Essay 1

The Circuit 10/11/10 Austin Witthun

When a child’s parents don’t think education is important, they don’t enforce homework or punish for bad grades. The parents might let them skip school which will lead to bigger problems. Plus the cycle will continue with their kids and their kids’ kids and so on. In the story “The Circuit” by Francisco Jimenez is a perfect example of how getting a high-quality education is so unbelievably important.
“The Circuit” tells about the life of a boy named Panchito. Panchito is 12 or 11 and his family is migrant workers (which mean they move to wherever the work is or moves to). In the story they move to Fresno California to pick grapes. They didn’t make a whole lot of money. I’m not all too sure when this took place. Also on their first day of work Panchito and his brother had to hide from the school bus driver so that they wouldn’t get in trouble for not going to school like they should be. That’s pretty bad that they know instinctively to hide from the school bus. But eventually after the grape picking season is over, Panchito luckily gets to go to school. It’s good that he is going to school at all even if it’s for a short time. When he goes he doesn’t know anyone or hardly any English, and he even has to enroll himself. That is something students do not regularly do. He then meets his teacher Mr. Lema who helps him with his English words and, becomes his one and best friend at school. That’s a start but it’s still kind of weird. Mr. Lema even promises to teach him how to play the trumpet. But as soon as he gets home he sees all of his possessions packed up meaning he is going to be moving again. Panchito sees the boxes as a sign of defeat; he just made a friend that he is going to lose.
The only way this could be avoided is if his parents’ parents or whoever it was would have valued education more. If Panchito had gotten an education he would not have to work for a living at 11.