Chapter 6: 'Hm! White Boy! You Got No Business Here!'

When I read this chapter I can completely relate to the first part. There were always going to be cliques inside the school walls, you had to have someone to look out for you and vice versa. The kids who were interested in the same things at my school were the ones that usually hung together as I’m sure are the same in many other schools. As I kept reading I could also understand how children would fight throughout the course of the school year. I know that when I was going to school I would get in fights as well, being around people for so many hours at a time some people tend to get on your nerves. One of the things I wonder is what the punishment would have been like for the children who fought.

Chapter 5: 'You Dizzy Bastard, Get in Step'

In this chapter as I read I couldn't imagine hearing all those bugles every day, all day. After I got done reading this chapter I automatically thought back to when my dad made me cut the grass in our yard. It was not harsh or strenuous work, but I just remember him making the comment when I asked for a break he said “five minutes, that’s all we would get in the military.” I just think about how hard the military was, and then I think about Chilocco and the comment one of the students made saying he had been in the marines for a tour of 23 years that was easy compared to Chilocco. I had to laugh to myself when I read that.

Chilocco: Chapter 4 - 'You're a Woman, You're Going to Be a Wife'

     As I read the book the one thing I really noticed was that they had a strict dress code. I remember in high school that our Administration thought about administering a dress code to keep down on gang affiliation. I remember them sending out surveys to our parents asking what their feelings where towards the school implementing the dress code. As I thought about it I would have hated to have a dress code, looking the same as everyone else, not being able to show your individuality. That’s exactly how it must have felt for the children that were going to school not some much the boys but definitely the girls because they were not allowed to get away with any alteration on their appearance while attending Chilocco.

Chilocco Chapter 3: "I could always plow a pretty straight line"

As I was reading this chapter I didn’t think about school, I thought about the summer helping my dad stack hay, check cattle, and brand. Although this was by choice and I did get paid, I can't imagine how it is getting paid 25 cents a day for 12 to 16 hours of work, from sun up to sun down. The more I read about how the school was teaching them a trade so they would be able to survive in the world and earn a wage when they did graduate. I thought about taking over my father’s ranch and having him teach me the basics when I was younger, at times I felt there was nothing more that I needed to do after I graduated high school. My father made me realize that there wasn’t really a living to be made in ranching and if there was it was very unstable living from year to year, so I can relate to the students in the book not wanting to take up agriculture as a trade.