Rodriguez's Model Of Success

With the broadness of this model, people can achieve success on terms that they set and that they want to follow. A person could want to become a lawyer, doctor, or go into a field of similar rigor. They are aware of the risks and rewards of a career like that and are willing to invest the time and effort required to accomplish such a thing. Someone else, though, could have a more meager idea of success. They might be interested in running their own small business, or becoming a mechanic. These professions are not often regarded as highly as those mentioned previously, but still come with risks and rewards of their own caliber. Different means of acquisition accompany these distinct goals, providing a variety of lifestyles whose similarities
Chua is well educated and intelligent, pushing her children harder than the teachers at school do. Rodriguez’s parents are not well educated and even with their encouragements for him to do his best in school, were not a great help in the process of his learning. Sometimes his dad would try to assist him with his homework, only for him to say “I'll try to figure it out some more by myself” (Rodriguez 216). This lead him to place an exaggerated importance on the words of his teachers. Like Chua, they used the banking concept of education. but they did it absentmindedly, without the intent to force a student down a specific path. The “facts they dispensed, [he] grasped with awe. Any book they told [him] to read, [he] read” (Freire 219). He took interest in any and all of the information that he could get his hands on, reading “alone for hours. Enthralled.” (Rodriguez 220). This interest in literature followed him all throughout his adult life, and served him well. The origin of his interests may have been taught, but as he grew, he developed a passion of his own, fitting with the proposed model of educational
It is about personal preference and chasing one’s goals, not about doing what someone else thinks is best. Society’s happiness would increase in the event of everyone having the job they want. People like having choices, and grow to resent those who restrict them. Chua’s children experience a life of restrictions, being prevented from “[having playdates]...choos[ing] their own extracurricular activities…” and “play[ing] any instrument other than the piano or violin” (Chua 51). They grow to dislike her for this, and Chua accepts this. She even says that she is “happy to be the one hated” (Chua 56). One has to admire her for the dedication she has to her craft (of crafting the best children she can come up with), but a question is raised; Is it worth it? Rodriguez is strong evidence for the opposing argument. He still turned out to be successful, without the forced hands of his parents. Although encouraged by them, he was not flooded with “dozens, maybe hundreds of practice tests” (Chua 54) as Chua says many Chinese children are. Their “hands off” approach may likely be what lead him to success. The few times they did take a stronger interest in being involved with their son’s education, it did not end well. One time, his father tried to assist with his math homework. “He kept reading the instructions, each time more deliberately, until