Native Tongue

Tan’s teachers encouraged her to follow a career path in the math or science field because they said she had awful writing.  One of her bosses even told her that her writing was her worst skill.  Since she was an Asian-American student, she tended to speak “broken” English.  Her math scores were overshadowing her reading and writing scores.  It would make more sense for the teachers to drive these students towards careers that require them to have certain skills sets that most Asian Americans have.             

            In this article, Tan is trying to make the point across that you should not allow teachers and your backgrounds decide what you are going to become.  If someone believes they can be a great writer and put enough effort into it, then her or she can be a successful author.  She went against what her “Native Tongue” told her to do and she did not let her teachers persuade her into doing premed.  She wants people to be tenacious and do what makes them happy.