Richard Rodriguez Family Education Essay

Through Rodriguez’s essay he states situations from his life that explain how education may put a strain on family ties and pull families apart. Rodriguez explains how education broke important ties with family and his understanding of his culture was strained. A child's family life also has a crucial role in a child’s well being. Rodriguez does not realize in his youth that a having a balance of family life is as important in shaping an individual as formal education.

Rodriguez’s states that his separation of education and family began at a young age. “When I reached third grade, I outgrew such behavior. I became more tactful, careful to keep separate the two very different worlds of my day.” (339) The two worlds he is referring to are
" Advancing in his studies, the boy notices that his mother and father have not changed as much as he." (341) That is another strain on Rodriguez and his family. He does not feel he can relate with his parents. He feels too different. He goes from loving his parents to admiring his teachers more because he feels he can relate to them on a more personal and higher level. His family can not understand his as well as he wants and that leads to frustration. His frustration then leads to embarrassment. "He permits himself embarrassment at the lack of education. And to evade nostalgia for the life he has lost,he concentrates on the benefits education will bestow on him." (341) Rodriguez was more assured in the classroom and learned that if he followed the rules and studied hard he would become more successful than his parents. His want to become more successful leads him to almost a power hungry state. His family did not understand his want to be better and considered it obsessive. He saw their feelings and would become hurt at their lack of wanting to better their minds which would make him feel even more excluded from his