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In Hunger of Memory, Richard Rodriguez situates his individual experiences with education in such a way as to expose what he sees as the fallacious logic behind bilingual education and affirmative action. He uses arguments to propagate the systematic problems with such programs. His autobiography explains in great detail the entangling problems all American children face by instituting bilingual programs and affirmative action endorsements. Bilingual education offers a completely different world for students of different ethnic background and thus creates a comfort zone limiting the risk-taking factor necessary for the maturation of a child to an adult. Rodriguez argues supporters of bilingualism fail to realize "while one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality" (Rodriguez 26). He explains that the imperative "radical self-reformation" required by education is lost by offering bilingual education and such a program suggests a place where the need for a sense of public identity disappears. A bilingual program gives a student the opportunity to be separated from real life and institutes a life that leaves out an essential understanding of the world. Bilingual students do not know the complexities of their world, including emotion, ethics, and logic, because the bilingual program secludes the eager minds to a much simpler, more naïve idea of how the society works, leaving out the confidence of belonging in public. This situation not only limits the education experience for non-English speaking students, but also hinders the further education of English speaking students by erecting a communicat... ... middle of paper ... ...roughout his autobiography, Rodriguez illustrates the problematic conditions revolving around bilingual education programs and affirmative action, pointing out that both policies tend to negate their intentions. Rodriguez scathingly criticizes both programs correctly identifying the first as an obstacle to what he sees as the keys to success in America--a solid education and learning to speak and write English well--and the second as promoting socially crippling labels--"disadvantaged minority." Through countless arguments that a bilingual program hinders English and non-English students' education and that affirmative action accommodates only "privileged" minority students rather than the students most in need, Rodriguez's life story, Hunger of Memory, serves as a political publication meant to raise concern for the function of government in the education system.
Richard Rodriguez' narrative, “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” and Carmen Tafolla's poem, “In Memory of Richi” have similar themes. In Rodriguez' narrative, he talks about his experience attending an American school. Similarly, Tafolla recites a story about a boy in an American school setting. Each story implies that students of another culture are subject to lose their cultural ties in order to fit in with the American society.
This book was published in 1981 with an immense elaboration of media hype. This is a story of a young Mexican American who felt disgusted of being pointed out as a minority and was unhappy with affirmative action programs although he had gained advantages from them. He acknowledged the gap that was created between him and his parents as the penalty immigrants ought to pay to develop and grow into American culture. And he confessed that he got bewildered to see other Hispanic teachers and students determined to preserve their ethnicity and traditions by asking for such issues to be dealt with as departments of Chicano studies and minority literature classes. A lot of critics criticized him as a defector of his heritage, but there are a few who believed him to be a sober vote in opposition to the political intemperance of the 1960s and 1970s.
Although most ethnic groups do not like to be thought of as different, they do come to enjoy the benefits that come with being labeled as a minority. Affirmative action is a program initiated to try and bridge the gap between white Americans and the minorities that reside in America. In addition, bilingual education is constantly an issue in Southern California, especially when choosing political candidates. In the two books I will be examining, Hunger of Memory by Richard Rodriguez and Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, both characters in the stories are criticized by their own ethnic groups for not following the path that their parents have laid out for them. Protag, the main character in Invisible Man, chooses to join an organization called the Brotherhood, instead of a similar organization which is made up of all black men. Rodriguez decides to take a stand against affirmative action and bilingual education, two issues which Hispanics have almost always been in favor of. However, the decisions by these two characters to go against the values widely held by members of their ethnic groups causes a great deal of tension. People want to question how devoted the characters are to the cause. Both characters went against the norm and made choices which brought criticism from members of their ethnic groups, but their choices ultimately led to the strengthening of their groups culture in society. First we will look at what may have influenced the character’s choices, followed by the designation of being labeled a scholarship boy may have played in their decisions. Finally we will look at what exactly they did for their ethnic group and some of the differences that exist between the two characters.
Richard Rodriguez's Hunger of Memory The universal "growing pains" that all children experience in one form or another are easily recognized in Richard Rodriguez’s autobiographical excerpt from Hunger of Memory. Rodriguez’s childhood was particularly unique given the fact that while he was born and raised in the United States, he was strongly influenced in the ethnic environment of a Spanish family. Although the reader is introduced to only a short excerpt from the autobiography, he learns a great deal about Rodriguez’s family and his relationship to it, his conflict of speaking English versus Spanish, and the paradox that became evident as he used English as his primary language. Furthermore, the reader learns that Rodriguez’s experiences have contributed to his beliefs that a bilingual education is harmful.
Balderrama represents a caring teacher that found herself not understanding the difference between English and Spanish because she grew in California. This allowed her to effect pedagogical accommodations to the Latinos ass a teacher. However, she agrees that xenophobia is rife and hard to be eliminated within the society. The minority and new migrants within the society face numerous challenges ranging from culture shock to acclimatizing to the new environment and bilingualism and biliteracy would enhance their learning experiences. According to Colin Baker bilingualism and biliteracy indeed influences critical thinking, rationality, and sensitivity to other cultures, empathy, and detached or balanced awareness. Therefore, the importance of teachers is promoting biliteracy and bilingualism cannot be understated because it is the backbone of effective learning through integrating a minority group into the majority group. The majority need to learn the language to enhance their understanding that is the importance towards achieving critical thinking, rationality, and sensitivity to other cultures, empathy, and detached or balanced awareness. Additionally, realizing that bilingualism cannot be detached from any community that freely promotes and accommodates the language spoken by the other community helps in promoting biliteracy. Therefore, the
What would happen to a city that has a declining rate of bilingualism and has always thrived and been successful because of it? Nothing but a bad outcome. That, amongst other crucial consequences, is exactly what Phillip M. Carter, author of “It’s Time for Miami to Embrace Bilingualism” warns us about in his editorial. This article was originally published in the print edition of Diario las Americas on April 15, a Hispanic news outlet with its main focus in America’s cultural and political events. This online news article is targeted to young Latinos born in the United States. The purpose is to create awareness and inform them about the significance of bilingualism in their individual lives and its contributions to society.
Elsa Valdez “Winning the Battle, Losing the War: Bilingual Teachers and Post-Proposition 227” The Urban Review
Summary - R. Rodriguez: In Ricardo Rodriguez’s “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood,” he talks about the use of public and private language in his life. Rodriguez laments about the bilingual enthusiasts that affected the education system to integrate bilingualism. Based off of his experiences,
Rodriguez, Richard. ?Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Education.? Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez. New York: Bantam, 1982. 11-40.
I conform to Rodriguez ideologies that to succeed in a world controlled by those who spoke English, to succeed in the public arena, Rodriguez learned that he had to choose the English language over the Spanish language that was spoken within his home. I am also the son of immigrants, who was alienated from my Mexican heritage. However, I agree that we are all immigrants and that Latin American culture will not disappear as long as Latin American people immigrate to the United States. Similar, to Rodriguez I was also a “sellout,” when embracing my race in the presence of other students, because I spoke in English, rather than, Spanish at school. I was against the bilingual education of my intellectual development to make it to college. For example, I acted as if I did not know the Spanish language so I was not speaking my “mother tongue.” The public language of English over the private language of Spanish was a theory of Rodriguez novel that applied to my life when trying to make it out of high school into a university.
...fails to make it, the fault is his or her own. Within the Euroamerican schools, class struggle is regulated; society is neatly stratified. By the end of the decade, an all out war had been declared against bilingual education and educational quality.
In the article, “Public and Private Language”, Richard Rodriguez argues that bilingual education delays learning a “public language” and developing a public identity”. I can relate to Richard’s story because my family and me moved to America when I was young and we also had the same struggle learning a new language. I agreed with Rodriguez when he expressed that he didn’t feel like a true American until he mastered the English language because English is the first and main language in America.
In Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood, the author Richard Rodriguez argues that since there is a lack of bilingual education taught in American schools, many students face a loss of intimacy to their native language, leaving them identifiable-less. He makes this claim by expressing that although native language can cause divisions in communication, it is the basis structure to a person.
From my experience, bilingual education was a disadvantage during my childhood. At the age of twelve, I was introduced into a bilingual classroom for the first time. The crowded classroom was a combination of seventh and eighth grade Spanish-speaking students, who ranged from the ages of twelve to fifteen. The idea of bilingual education was to help students who weren’t fluent in the English language. The main focus of bilingual education was to teach English and, at the same time, teach a very basic knowledge of the core curriculum subjects: Mathematics, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences. Unfortunately, bilingual education had academic, psychological, and social disadvantages for me.
America, a country built on immigration dating back to the early 1600s Mayflower voyage, continues to thrive as a melting pot full of various cultures and ethnics. In the past, many immigrants came to America due to the offered freedoms and equality, yet today, many naturalized citizens suffer with injustices, including with educational practices. The use of bilingual education, which is teaching students in both English and their native language, has become a controversial topic. In 1968, the Bilingual Education Act, which recognized and offered education to students who were lacking English, was passed, yet the topic still seems questionable to some. Bilingual education provides a variety of beneficial attributes to equally help foreigners