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Cultural Diversity in the classroom
Cultural diversity and education essay introduction
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Richard Rodriguez’s' The Achievement of Desire is a retrospective style essay, where he explains the extraordinary educational experiences he endures and the cultural conflicts Rodriguez undergoes. Richard tackles a psychological battle between education and family; having grown up with parents who remained with the traditions of their Hispanic culture, Richard’s ambition to learn, and to be like his teachers, separated him from his cultural background and from his roots. Almost immediately at a very young age, Richard realized that learning was a very important aspect in his life, and that said aspect required a large amount of quiet and alone time, which he could not have at home. As much as Rodriguez loved/loves his family, he felt embarrassed by their thick accents and behavior. In a way, I think Rodriguez felt ashamed because he saw everything that his parents lacked, and that for them, it was already too late to achieve. …show more content…
As I see it, a scholarship boy is someone who comes from a working, middle class family, but excels through his intellect, however the education drives him away from parents and family and he finds solace in books. He is someone who learns to achieve academic growth but not the practical uses of the knowledge. Rodrigues explains how this was like a language barrier in between him and his parents. In a way, this aggravated the different worlds Rodriguez and his family were living in. Rodrigues realized that the world his parents were living in, was a one that he did not aim for. I believe he wanted more out from his life. He regretted that he was leaving behind the family life that he cherished; yet he found himself more and more attached and involved in a world that the doors were just about to open for
Alvarez demonstrates generational boundary when discussing,“The quince tradition has always been important, but there’s this retroculturation going on right now” (56). Alvarez illustrates that retroculturation is a pattern within the Hispanic community where loss of culture is present for a generation. Alvarez explains how the first generation wants to assimilate in America with their culture, while the second generation has adapted to American norms so they have lost their culture and no longer speak spanish; however, the third generation is born and bred in America and now wants to learn about their hispanic culture by learning Spanish. Teens shop at popular American malls but listen to Spanish radios to embrace diversity (56). Similarly, Munoz is confronted with the issue of generational boundaries when he admits, “I was born in 1972, a generation that learned both English and Spanish” (308). The generation before Munoz grew up speaking only Spanish which causes a barrier between one families generation to the next. Munoz speaks Spanish at home and English in public along with his other cousins who serve as translators for their household. While the second generation before Munoz have no way of following Spanish because they have already adapted to American norms and in some ways lost an important cultural aspect (308). Alvarez and Savan are interconnected because each
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.
Rodriguez’s situation was that “his parents are immigrants to the United States and several of his siblings were born in the United States in the State of Texas.” His dad was well educated back in their country, Mexico, but they’re being declined because of the existence of bigotry. “His parents were having a tough time finding a job because of their situation – they have found several jobs but are paid below minimum sometimes.” Rodriguez’s parents have multiple jobs just to survive on their daily basis. Rodriguez’s family situation has affected them all – Luis was affected the most and went astray as he was so desperate into fitting into the society and is able to help his parents. No matter how hard life will be, there are ways to avoid gangs and criminal behavior – government programs and other resource center helps a family to survive and even lend a hand to parents and educate them of how to suppress their child to go astray and be involved with crimes and gang
...rest became a nightmare. Enrique’s time apart from his mother made them more like “strangers” than family. Filled with anger stemming from the years apart from one another, he refused to obey his mother’s wishes to live healthier. While lost in family chaos, he turned back to his addiction of drugs crashing his dream of a perfect family dynamic. Though his dream became a nightmare, he was able to achieve it through one core trait where his inner strength help drive him to not give up his dream of seeing his mother. This signifies that if a person is willing to work hard to achieve their dream through diligence, it can be met. Though the outcome may not be what one hoped for, being able to say you accomplished something is soul-pleasing. His success in making it to the U.S. regardless of many downfalls satisfies one missing piece in his broken puzzle of a life.
The authors mention Miguel Fernandez, a fresh graduate from a small high school who has had struggles that have affected his opportunities to go off to college. These struggles include financial hardships and also that Miguel “was undocumented and in the country illegally” (Noguera and Kundu par.8). Though Miguel
A similarity in the two articles is seen in the desire of the parents to make their children acquire formal education. Rodriguez’s parents took him and his other siblings to parochial schools because the nuns, in their opinion, taught better than other teachers. Although they were uneducated and held low paying jobs, they struggled and paid tuition for their children (Rodriguez 16). Besides, they made their children learn English even though they were Mexican emigrants themselves and knew little English. Graff’s father was interested in his education too. He was very concerned by his son’s hatred of reading and tried his best to make him learn to read, including forcing Graff to read by confining him to his room (Graff 23).
In closing, Francisco faced many hardships throughout his life. He had to adapt to his life here in the United States, deal with being a male in his family, as well as face discrimination. Through all the hard times, family and getting a good education were always his top priorities. With the help of his teachers and counselors, he was able to succeed in school, unlike the majority of the students. Francisco is a true hero in the eyes of many Hispanic immigrants who come to the United States and strive to be the best they can be.
Growing up as a Latina in a small conservative town was not always an easy thing. I often faced presumptions that I would not graduate high school or amount to much in life because of my background. I knew that I would have to work twice as hard to accomplish my goals and prove to myself and my peers that the stereotypes made of Latinos and our success were nothing more than thoughts by people ignorant to our abilities and strengths. I was always determined to achieve my goals, even when others doubted or implied that I couldn’t.
Instead of loving and caring for her baby, and forgetting about Danny, she became worse than him. Rodriguez presents many aspects of the minority class that live in the United States, specifically the South Bronx. Even though the cases presented in Rodriguez’s short stories are difficult to mellow with, they are a reality that is constant in many lives. Everyday someone goes through life suffering, due to lack of responsibility, lack of knowledge, submission to another entity or just lack of wanting to have a better life. People that go through these situations are people who have not finished studying, so they have fewer opportunities in life.
Above all else the ten Latino boys Richard Mora observes over this time, have a want for control. Mostly control of their social identity; however, due to various social inequalities and differences that come attached to being working or poor class Latino children in urban areas, the boys are forced to overcompensate and exaggerate the one favorable aspect and privilege they have: Male privilege. The socialization of this happens early on and in certain cases has to if the boys even expect to survive contently in their social environment or even get half of the recognition their white male peers receive.
I chose to write my paper on the comparison and contrast of two immigration groups. I chose them because they are extremely similar once they have arrived in America, and very different culturally. The two groups that I chose are the Mexicans and the Tongans. It is never easy for someone when they arrive in a new country, but it is how you handle yourself while you are there is what counts, so my goal is to show a brief comparison of these two migrant groups. Living in Arizona you come to interact with quite a few Mexicans in your life. Many people are afraid of what they don’t understand, Mexicans and Americans. It is strange to me that Mexicans are the way that they are with their education. They seem to have very little concern for education, while the Tongans put huge bearing on their children’s education. I have personally spoken to a few Mexicans that I work with about their education, and they all say the same thing, “es no neccesarrio!” Meaning that it is not important to them. They feel that their is no future with an education, meaning if they don’t work they don’t live. I think that is one of the hardships that they have to face coming to somewhere like America, with little education it gives them little opportunity to learn English. I know a few people who are living in America and have been since their children were born. They still don’t know English and have very little concern to learn it. Yet their children know English, fluantly. So in away they are accomplishing their goal, and that is to provide a better life for their next generation. To me what the Mexican parents do for their children is a very noble concept, the problem is if th...
In comparison to Enrique’s journey my college career is also about going from one place to the other. True grit and dedication as showed by enrique, is what i must keep in my head at all times while on my college journey. As a freshman in college i am fresh meat trying to survive the classes, hard work, and homework given in college. Like Enrique going on this journey, i am stepping into the unknown and making a sacrifice for my future and my family. Right now i may not know what i want to be but i know one thing, and that is to graduate and become successful. Along the way i will fall and be stress but that is all part of my journey. Sonia Nazario gives us this image in Enrique’s Journey: “They are out of money. They have passed through cold, heat, hunger. They slump in their seats, weak (page 60).”These obstacles was something Enrique overcame while on his way to the US. This mournful passage by Sonia Nazario shows how determined enrique was to reach the US. This is determination and perseverance is something i will incorporate in my four years in
To fully comprehend a work you cannot just read it. You must read it, analyze it, question it, and even then question what you are questioning. In Richard Rodriguez’s The Achievement of Desire we are presented with a young Richard Rodriguez and follow him from the start of his education until he is an adult finally having reached his goals. In reference to the way he reads for the majority of his education, it can be said he reads going with the grain, while he reads a large volume of books, the quality of his reading is lacking.
Richard Rodriguez’s autobiographical essay, “The Achievement of Desire”, a chapter from Hunger of Memory, captures his academic experience from a retrospective adult and a young perspective. Rodriguez recalls his experience as a student before college and shares his embarrassments, his thoughts, and the steps he had to take in order to succeed in the education system. Rodriguez becomes an individual who begins to choose academics over his family. Young Rodriguez characterizes his parents as uneducated and his father as unsupportive of higher education, while the retrospective adult Rodriguez narrates his regret about his younger self’s misconception of his parents. Rodriguez portrays this through identifying himself as a scholarship boy, contradicting
In the Oxford Dictionary, the American Dream is defined as the traditional social ideals of the United States of America: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. People have the right of life and liberty, but happiness is not a right. Happiness can only be given by the amount of effort a person gives. People who have determination to devote their Life and exercise their Liberty to the accomplishment of discovering their talent and use what they like doing to achieve a goal. The film, Pursuit of Happiness, shows the American Dream being achieved by the main character, Chris Gardner, by working hard and using his talents. Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness goes through overcoming obstacles which shows that the American Dream is possible through faith, perseverance, and a focus on family values.