Personal Decisions
Adolescence is often recognized as the age when children begin to question their parents' authority, beliefs, and way of life. As a result of this questioning, many adolescents assert that they will be different, that they will do something different to surpass the faults they see in their parents. In Hunger of Memory, Richard Rodriguez reports how education separated him from his parents, but does not admit that it was through his own choice. After years and years of choosing the path of education over a family life with his parents, Rodriguez bemoans the fact that he is now separated from his parents and blames education for causing it. However, he is unjustified in blaming education for causing his separation, because the choice of maintaining familial ties while obtaining an education is a personal one. Examples of this individual decision can be found in the lives of: my girlfriend's grandfather, who chose to use education to extract himself from his environment; Richard Rodriguez, who also cut his familial ties through education; and my own father, who used education to strengthen the ties to his heritage.
My girlfriend's grandfather, Mr. John Smith, knowingly chose to use education as a means to escape from his heritage. Mr. Smith despised his parents' social status. His parents were lower class and had no aspirations to change that fact. They were comfortable with their lives and status, living day to day, but John yearned for something more. He was embarrassed to let friends and acquaintances see the conditions in which he and his family lived. He knew that by becoming educated he could get a better paying
job and escape such lowly conditions. However, his parents would not help support, fin...
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...ren in his own Roman Catholic heritage, and kept us in close contact with our grandparents throughout our childhood. My father used his education as a means to remain associated with his family and his culture. Throughout going away for education and returning, he has maintained close ties with his family and his background.
Although education can be used as a means to break from a personal heritage, education itself does not necessitate such a sundering. Pursuit of education and remaining true to a cultural heritage are both choices that children must make as they grow and mature. Even though Richard Rodriguez does not see that vital distinction, he is unreasonable in blaming all his familial woes on his choice for education. As much as he would like to console himself with the opinion that it was otherwise, Rodriguez himself plotted his own course through life.
Even from an early age, Rodriguez is a successful student. Everyone is extremely proud of Rodriguez for earning awards and graduating to each subsequent level of his education. But all his success was not necessarily positive. In fact, we see that his education experience is a fairly negative one. One negative that Rodriguez endures is his solitude. Education compels him to distance himself from his family and heritage. According to Richard Hoggart, a British education theorist, this is a very natural process for a scholarship boy. Hoggart explains that the ?home and classroom are at cultural extremes,? (46). There is especially an opposition in Rodriguez?s home because his parents are poorly educated Mexicans. His home is filled with Spanish vernacular and English filled with many grammatical errors. Also, the home is filled with emotions and impetuosity, whereas the classroom lacks emotion and the teachers accentuate rational thinking and reflectiveness.
Richard Rodriguez states himself he was an “imitative and unoriginal pupil” (Rodriguez 516). He takes what he reads and goes along with it; there is no analysis or individual thought. Unlike his brother or his sister, he feels the need to prove himself. Richard Rodriguez displays a strong yearning to be different. To be special and have esteem like the teachers and professors he venerates.
As a Latina growing up in New York City with parents from the Dominican Republic, I knew the difficulties of living in poverty. As a child, financial arguments were a common thing, budgets were strict and extra funds were low. However, when it came to education money was not a factor. Education was the solution to poverty, with a good education you’ll succeed and obtain a great job. I kept this mentality with me throughout my academic career. I completed my undergraduate studies in Rhetoric and Communications in hopes of starting a marketing career. That quickly changed when I started my first post-undergraduate job.
I was raised in an encouraging household where both of my parents greatly valued education. Although they were high school graduates, neither could afford to attend college; a combination of family and financial woes ultimately halted their path. As a result, my parents frequently reminded me that getting a good education meant better opportunities for my future. To my parents, that seemed to be the overarching goal: a better life for me than the one they had. My parents wanted me to excel and supported me financially and emotionally of which the former was something their parents were not able to provide. Their desire to facilitate a change in my destiny is one of many essential events that contributed to my world view.
In many cases the transition of class involves a lot more than hard work and opportunity. In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the Younger family is faced with a situation where an opportunity to be prosperous comes at the price of pride. The grandmother talks to her son explaining how the American Dream is not worth losing your pride for, “Son – I come from five generations of people who was slaves and sharecroppers – but ain’t nobody in my family never let nobody pay ‘em no money that was a way of telling us we wasn’t fit to walk the earth. We ain’t never been that poor. (Raising her eyes and looking at him) We ain’t never been that – dead inside.” Slaves had little choice, but to keep their pride hidden; the Younger family now has the choice. This is the issue emphasized by grandmother; a shot at monetary success is not worth pride. However, because the Younger family did not take this opportunity they will be forced to continue working for other people, and even if they feel as though they are working hard little progress can be made. In the trouble with geniuses by Malcolm Gladwell he explores various explanation for the lack of correlation between intelligence and success. Gladwell cites a study preformed by sociologist Annette Lareau. In Lareau’s study she observed an advantage rooted in the
While staring back into the faces of small children much like his younger self, Rodriguez starts to run through points of his life where the need to know more pushed him further from his family and their norms and culture. Mainly focusing on the bright future an education offers him, he continues to knowingly distance himself from his family. Douglass went through similar situations on his path for education. Focusing on his chance for freedom, with no family ties to distance
Imagine growing up in a society where a person is restricted to learn because of his or her ethnicity? This experience would be awful and very emotional for one to go through. Sherman Alexie and Fredrick Douglas are examples of prodigies who grew up in a less fortunate community. Both men experienced complications in similar and different ways; these experiences shaped them into men who wanted equal education for all. To begin, one should understand the writers background. Sherman Alexie wrote about his life as a young Spokane Indian boy and the life he experienced (page 15). He wrote to encourage people to step outside their comfort zone and be herd throughout education. Similar to Alexie’s life experience, Fredrick
When I was born, my family had just migrated to California from Mexico. In a new country, my father worked in landscaping earning less than $4 dollars an hour, while my mother relied on public transportation to take her newborn child to and from doctor visits. In the land of opportunity, my family struggled to put a roof over our heads. But never discouraged, my parents sought to achieve their goals and worked tirelessly to raise my younger brother and I. From a young age, I was taught the importance of education; this became a major catalyst in my life. My desire to excel academically was not for self-gain, but my way of contributing to my family’s goals and aspirations.
... educated so he decided to bury himself into his studies and leave his family life as an afterthought. Rodríguezes parents were always supportive of him and his academic success but he did not embrace them as he should have. Next, Rodriguez rightly points out that at his graduation ceremonies throughout life his parents would attend and someone would always say that “your parents must be proud.” and those words always registered with him. Rodriguez’s influences were his teachers during his school years. Rodriguez wanted to obtain the same knowledge that his teachers possessed so he would be able to concentrate on the benefits his education could bring him. Later he realized that he alienated himself from his parents. Rodriguez indicates the time he was in the closet reading a book and his Mother finding him was something he looked back on as one of his regrets.
The ethical and moral decisions made by people are what mold our future, but it is when these decisions are made without careful consideration that people tend lead themselves down a path of destruction. In Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" and Joseph Whitehill's "The Day of the Last Rock Fight" the ethical and moral decisions made by the character in the stories are conducted without proper thought. They choose to do these dreadful acts based on things such as blindly following tradition or even out of anger and as a result end up paying the price.
Through this essay Richard Rodriguez writes about his experiences as a son, and as a student. Through his relationship with his parents the reader can see how Rodriguez was separating for his
As Juan mentioned in the case study, he very much regretted having to drop out of high school and he harbored significant resentment towards his father because of that. Elena also experienced her own unique difficulty as well, revealing to the social worker that as a child she was often held to adult standards while she was still very young.
The United States and Mexican border has been the focus of an abundant amount of controversy the past decade in the States. The border wall, or border fence, is one of several barriers preventing illegal Mexican and South American immigrants from entering the United States. However, as statistics prove, immigration and drug smuggling has been on the rise the past few decades and our “three prong approach” is not confronting the escalating issue at hand. America’s border security is not resilient enough to deter these illegal immigrants and drug smugglers; our border wall must be fortified immediately.
The women which Stephen comes across in his journey in becoming an artist define him and change him by nurturing him, fascinating him, and inspiring him. Stephen was forever changed by his mother, the Virgin Mary, Eileen, the prostitute, and the seaside woman. The object of the artist is to create the object of the beautiful, I argue that it was the beauty in the women of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, which created the artist in the end.
...lly as [he] can, using for [his] defence the only arms [he] allow [himself] to use - silence, exile, and cunning" (226-269). By discussing how education affects Stephen from a child to a young man, Joyce has shown the reader Stephen's development as an artist and human being.