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My parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico to flee the ravages of poverty. They did not have a single penny when they came to the U.S. As I was growing up I remember my parents telling me how they would silently endure the rudeness of waiters and salespeople because they did not speak grammatically correct English and realizing how much illiteracy paralyzes a person. In today’s world a level of education is required to obtain position in almost any subdivision of employment. I am the third youngest of eight children. My fathers extreme hardship takes him to read very little English. He attended school only to the third or fourth grade. He is the oldest of males in his family so he had to start working at a very young age to help my grandparents support the rest of the younger children. My mother, on the other hand, is completely illiterate not having attended any type of schooling what-so-ever. Due to my family's financial status none of my older five siblings were able to complete a college education. I remember having to do seasonal work: picking cherries, apples, and pears merely to buy the school material that was necessary. As a young girl I wished I could have had the packs of crayons that contained every co