Hunger Of Memory Analysis

Teddy Duong
Professor Travis
English 100
18 March 2016
Bilingual Education, Good or Bad? Both. In his autobiography, Hunger of Memory, Richard Rodriguez discusses his early life as the son of Mexican immigrant parents and the beginning of his schooling in Sacramento, California. Knowing only a finite number of English words, the American life is an entirely new atmosphere for Rodriguez and his family. Throughout his book, Rodriguez undergoes a series of changes and revelations that not only hurts him but enhances him. It’s the journey of a young man who experiences alienation that changes his way of life before assimilating into the world of education. Rodriguez was submitted into a first-rate Catholic school in the white suburbs of Sacramento,
which allowed him to pursue a higher education with all the necessary scholarly preparation that a majority of Mexican-American kids cannot afford. The social and personal costs his education, however, have been high which caused Rodriguez to reevaluate the entire bilingual education system. Although I agree with a few of Rodriguez’s points about his profound resentment towards affirmative action and bilingual language, I cannot accept his overall conclusion that bilingual education should not exist but should be changed and modified to fit everyone's needs instead of changing who you are.
There are numerous arguments Rodriguez makes to expand his opposition towards bilingual education, but one of the major reason is due to his partial estrangement from his family. In the beginning before assimilating into the American culture, Rodriguez observed how white middle-class people in his neighborhood acted, talked, and dressed. He would see them as a different being and feel alienated because he was different among them. His only safe house was when he was home accompanied by family and retaining their identity through their connection of language. Together, his family struggled to adapt into contemporary formalities when they were not at home. In the US, the English language is universal and speaking Spanish outside of their home made it harder for them to succeed which forced Rodriguez and his family to learn English and commit cultural assimilation in order to maintain stability and survival. Language is vital to Rodriguez because, from his perspective, it is a sense of identity and a way of feeling connected at home while being away from everyone or what his family calls them “gringos”. To Rodriguez bilingual education transformed how he communicated on a deeper level. By speaking Spanish, “he expressed ideas and feelings he rarely revealed in English. With firm Spanish sounds, he conveyed confidence and authority English would never allow him.” (Rodriguez 24). Avoiding their primal language at home in order to practice (which was insisted by his parents), English became a concept in Rodriguez’s eyes that robbed his “family bond” and diminished his world little by little. The collision of the two worlds was heartbreaking for Rodriguez because he valued kinship but witnessed its decline. Bilingual educators according to Rodriguez goes as far as stating that, “children lose [their] degree of individuality by becoming assimilated into public society.” (Rodriguez 26). What bilingualist do not realize according to Rodriguez, is that there are often two ways a person is individualized while one side suffers a diminished sense of “private” individuality the other side begins to absorb into public society thus allows a person to achieve public individuality. What Rodriguez disagrees with bilingualist is that they, “insist that a student should be reminded of his difference from others in mass society, his heritage. (Rodriguez 26). From Rodriguez’s perspective, he believes that a person’s heritage is what makes them unique and separates them from a crowd that society deems as “normal”. As Rodriguez became more and more accustomed to the American ways, he no longer felt the intimacy he felt with his family before. When relatives and Spanish-speaking friends of his parents came to his house it was hard for Rodriguez to speak Spanish when communicating. This made Rodriguez realize that the inability to speak Spanish fluently became more and more important because it defines his family in a sense of honor. His family began to look at him in disgrace which made Rodriguez feel like learning English is a symbolic betrayal to his family or a sin for that matter. Paralleling Rodriguez's education with his feelings he developed towards his parents it was hard for him to accept that they were not his role models.While he did not mean to be rude and hurtful toward them, he found himself becoming angry when they did not seem to be as capable as his teachers. More and more as a student, Rodriguez looked toward his teachers, and not his parents, as role models .In Rodriguez’s eyes, this education morphs your attitude towards your family and makes you “embarrassed by their lack of education” (Rodriguez 55). In the end, Rodriguez believes that bilingual education does not cause you to become physically, emotionally, and verbally distant from your family but it also creates an inevitable construct that changes who you are into a person that is entirely different than your culture and heritage.
In my opinion, I believe that assimilation is inevitable and should be embraced for the idea of progression.
I agree with Rodriguez that your heritage will forever remain your identity but it is possible to have multiple identities in a sense of becoming accustomed to wherever you are. You can embrace your new profound identity and in a sense of individualism in order to succeed in life. Bilingual education to me is important because not only does it teach you to speak a universal language in America but also teaches you societal norms. Reason being is that once you’ve learned the proper language, mannerism, and culture you can choose to be the person you want to be. According to a writer at Kars4kids, which is an educational blog for parents, Merle Huerta suggests that “Bilingual education makes kids more adaptable and flexible in a changing environment.” (Huerta). With that being said, being bilingual can have adaptive benefits. The improvements in the cognitive and sensory process from bilingual experience may help students or anyone learning English to better process information in the environment. Furthermore, bilingual education can help train the brain by learning and inhibiting a new language which allows bilingual people to access newly learned vocabulary. In addition to benefits of Bilingual education Matthew Lynch, who is an author of The Call to Teach and editor of The Edvocate, states in his article that bilingual education, “helps remove international language barriers.” (Lynch). Lynch argues that bilingual education has cultural benefits to people learning two languages together. People who come from households that have English as a primary language can lend their language expertise to friends from Spanish-speaking homes, and vice versa. Overall in Rodriguez’s perspective, I understand that what once was his sacred and private language became something almost non-existent to him was abhorrent. Not only was language was changed but also his
experiences with his parents and everything around him. Socially, everything was changing for him from how he interacted with his parents to how he began to dive into his education. At the end of the day I believe that bilingual education can have many cognitive benefits and should be enforced for all bilingual students, but at the same time, this education should not strive a student away from their culture, but rather improve students to become the best version of themselves under their circumstances.
In conclusion, Rodriguez has undergone a journey where he understood and analyzed how bilingual education can change a person socially, emotionally, and verbally in terms of it being a negative construct. Growing up remembering his deep connection with his family from the loud noises coming from everyone’s voice to the relief when he finally made it home away from the “gringos”, Rodriguez argues that it strips away your family intimacy and your identity. Nevertheless, I agree that something as simple as learning the English language should not have such a latent consequence on a wider scale, but it is vital for bilingual education to exist because it manifests to serve a purpose of helping bilingual students assimilate into society in a positive and constructive way.

Works Cited
Huerta, Merle. "Benefits of a Bilingual Education." An Educational Blog for Parents. Kars4kids, 17 Apr. 2015. Web. 25 Mar. 2016.
Lynch, Matthew. "5 Reasons Bilingual Education Should Be Mandatory from Kindergarten On Up." Alternet. Alternet, 21 Nov. 2014. Web. 25 Mar. 2016.
Rodriguez, Richard. Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez: An Autobiography. Boston, MA: D.R. Godine, 1982. Print.