Richard Rodriguez, a highly educated
writer, received his Bachelors Degree in English at Stanford; Masters Degree in
Philosophy at Columbia; a Graduate Degree in English Renaissance Literature at
University of California, Berkeley; he completed even more research on a
Fulbright Fellowship at the Warburg Institute in London. In his essay Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood, Rodriguez
further establishes his credibility by sharing his personal experiences. In
this essay Rodriguez presents his argument that Bilingual Education assists in the
public alienation of ethnic Americans. He achieves his purpose of making a
convincing argument to challenge supporters of Bilingual Education about the
importance of ethnic assimilation in a public educational setting.
Rodriguez was born into a
Spanish-speaking family living in Sacramento, California. He explains that for approximately
the first seven years of his life, he could barely string words together to
form a sentence in English; therefore, he regarded native-English speakers with
fear and only felt happiness within the confines of his own Spanish-speaking
home. When his teachers suggested to his parents that they begin to speak only
English at home, Rodriguez originally felt as if his home had lost all its “intimacy.”
However, as he began to become more and more comfortable speaking English in
public, he was able to establish his public identity as well as develop private
sense of self. By sharing anecdotes from his childhood, Rodriguez successfully presents
his argument that if he hadn’t been forced to learn in English, he never would
have escaped from the public alienation he felt.
Rodriguez poses many rhetorical questions
to underscore his position against Bilingual Education. His fluid use of
imagery and metaphors establish pathos and effectively communicate his struggle
and eventual success because of the cultural assimilation forced upon him at
school. Throughout the essay, Rodriguez continually addresses the counter-argument
and then discusses his own experiences in a successful juxtaposition. This
strategy succeeds in negating the opposing view that supports Bilingual
Education. Overall, Rodriguez’ use of figurative language, comparisons and
pathos contributes to his successful argument against Bilingual Education.
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| "It is not possible for a child, any child, ever to use his family's language in school." (Rodriguez 448). http://www.nippon.com/en/tag/classroom-breakdown/ |
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