Summary Of The Achievement Of Desire By Richard Rodriguez

These past few weeks in class, I have found myself really questioning my own understanding of education. The article “The Achievement of Desire” by Richard Rodriguez has showed me that people have very different experiences with their education. Rodriguez describes himself as a child: successful, a scholar, eager to learn, and the perfect student. He also describes his changes as he continues to grow in his academics. He surpasses his parents in intelligence and soon realizes that he is becoming so different than them that they can’t even hold a conversation. Rodriguez then continues, arguing that education distances people from their families and origins.
Rodriguez claimed that his education separated him from his parents. The disconnect
between him and his family was so extensive that he would leave the house on “Nights when relatives visited and the front rooms were warmed by Spanish sounds” (Rodriguez). Although education was the cause of this disconnect, I believe this does not always have to be the case. If your parents happen to be equally or more educated than you, you will likely not distance from them. In class discussion, Maddie Wiecek mentioned that education can also bring you closer to your parents when you “follow in their footsteps.” My parents are currently more educated than I am, my father having a bachelor’s degree, my mother having a master’s degree, and I being in high school. I am able to share my academic endeavors with them as they find them interesting and can fully relate. Instead of education distancing me from my parents, it actually brought us closer. However, I do not completely disagree with Rodriguez’ claim either. In his case, he was separated from his parents due to his superior intelligence, but I believe that if he had really tried harder he would have been able to maintain his relationship with his parents. Instead of hiding in his room and studying during his free time, he could have committed some of that time to his family. He asserts that it was necessary for him to be so isolated in order to become so academically successful, but I don’t think dedicating even just one hour a week would have been the demise of his success. Families need to dedicate a specific time to each other so they don’t lose the family element.
Rodriguez also argued that education removes you from your origins. He became not only removed from his origins, but also “felt ashamed of his [family’s] labored, accented words” (Rodriguez). Again, I believe this may be true for him but that it is not the case for everybody. The schools that Rodriguez attended may not have been very accepting of his background, so he had to suppress it. Andrew Taylor said in class discussion that Rodriguez seeing his parents struggle with English motivated him to do better than them. His exposure to higher level English in school made him believe that his parents were lower than him. In my opinion, the courses I have taken have been more open minded toward cultural differences--especially IB courses. International Baccalaureate classes are taught worldwide and even encourage discussion and acceptance towards the different backgrounds and perspectives people may have. However, I cannot speak for those who have immigrated or have parents who have immigrated to this country as I was born here where my parents were as well. From what I’ve seen, foreign exchange students and their varying cultures are welcomed at this school, but they could feel completely different. Also, many other schools do not offer IB courses, so they may be more narrow minded. For me, though, education has broadened my horizons rather than narrowed them.