Aria
Richard Rodriquez
Reflection
I thought Rodriquez did a
really good job of telling his story and getting his point across. Being a
person who grew up surrounded by people who spoke my language, and solely my
language, I was fortunate. I was also privileged. Like Rodriquez points out,
this is not always the case. For him, growing up in school was something that
changed his life. However, I did like how at the end he pointed out how being
forced to learn English had both a disadvantage and an advantage. He said, “So
they do not realize that while one suffers a diminished sense of private
individuality by becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation
makes possible the achievement of public individuality” (Rodriquez 39). He is
saying that although he looses a piece of his private life (speaking Spanish
with his family), he gains acceptance into society and is able to become own
person in that society. This relates to Delpit’s “culture of power”. In order
for children who speak a different language at home to have power, they need to
give up something that is important to them, and be taught another whole way of
life.
From an education
perspective, I didn’t like the way the nuns went to Richard’s house and instructed
his family to change their ways. I believe that as teachers, we should have the
students’ best interest at heart. For Richard, that would be teaching him
English while still allowing him to use his home language of Spanish. I think it’s
sad how much Richard’s school experience changed his relationship with his
family. He said, “We remained a loving family, but one greatly changed. No longer
so close; no longer bound tight by the pleasing and troubling knowledge of our
public separateness” (Rodriquez 36). They should have been able to hold on to
that something that made them a family, and made them different from the
families around them.
Point to Share:
In my special education
class we recently read a chapter on culture and the importance of incorporating
each students culture into the classroom. I think it’s important to do this so
that your students know that their culture matters. How can we help bilingual
students become assimilated to our society while still being true to their culture?
So let me start off, you did an awesome job with this reflection. You hit every point and made it clear what Richard was trying to point out. You did an amazing job! I ask the same question: how can bilingual students be intertwined in English speaking classrooms and not lose their cultural touch? I bet it is a question that ponders everybody.
ReplyDeleteI personally think that bilingual students can help the other students in the classroom learn a new language or new words. That would help the bilingual student interact more and make new friends. The teacher would have to keep the students "cultural touch" while in the classroom and at the same time it will benefit everyone by giving the student a chance to share and the others a chance to learn new things.
ReplyDeleteI like how you explained the significance about what Rodriguez said about the advantages and disadvantages of being required to learn english. You did a great job of relating it back to Delpit's "Culture of Power". I completely agree that the nuns crossed a line by going into Richards house and asking the parents to only use english in the house. They were deprieving the Rodriguez's of their own culture. As educators its a good thing we are being exposed to these stories because it prepares us for situations in the field. We have the opportunity to stop ourselves from making these mistakes.
ReplyDeleteBefore reading, I just always thought bilingual students were giving the support they needed because I just assume that there were a lot of people who speak different languages helping them through schoolwork. I can see now that this isn't/ wasn't the case for Rodriguez. They just kind of made him change to fit into their world. I also agree with you when you said that the nuns crossed the line. I think it is up to the family to decide what language they want to speak more of. If his family stuck to speaking spanish more like they always did, his family would have stayed closer together.
ReplyDeleteI think I had the same realization as you after reading this article, I liked how Richard talks about the positives and the negatives about learning English but up until that point I never took into the account that learning English is not only difficult academically but it was also physically and emotionally draining.Excellent reflection!
ReplyDeleteI had the same realization as you did once I finished reading the article. What we had read in our special education class fits into this article. We neglect to show importance to all students and their culture, we need to make a change to that so each student knows their culture is just as important. I also ask the same question how can we do that? Great Job with your reflection!
ReplyDeleteI felt the same way towards Rodriquez's article. I really enjoyed how he used his own personal experience when trying to get his point across. You made great connections in your response and really captured her main idea.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you said! You did a great job of summarizing what Rodriguez said. In my blog post, I made the same connection between Delpit's culture of power and Rodriguez's writing.
ReplyDelete