Richard Rodriguez'sBilingual Education Outdated And Unrealistic

“Our culture, our traditions, our languages are the foundations upon which we build our identity.” - Unknown. Bilingualism has many different interpretations and definitions and can cause problems in the community or unite it. The concept of bilingualism represents several different ideas, two writers, Martin Espada and Richard Rodriguez share in their essays their personal stories about being immersed into the English culture and learning the language. They share their views of what bilingualism means to them personally and make arguments about the importance of the concept. The two essayists bring awareness to the major role bilingualism plays in the communities today and highlight the effects of disagreements between cultural groups.

Bilingual education offers a completely different world for students of different ethnic background and thus creates a comfort zone limiting the risk-taking factor necessary for the maturation of a child to an adult. Rodriguez argues supporters of bilingualism fail to realize "while one suffers a

In America, there is a predominant growth in multiple ethnicities and cultural backgrounds; leading to the usage of multiple languages in the American culture. There is a growing need for many people to learn and utilize multiple languages within the workplace and within one 's own personal life. The importance of bilingualism and the knowledge of multiple languages is ever increasing, and therefore becoming more important for the younger generations. The push for knowing multiple languages and becoming bilingual has many potential negative and positive effects.

The rhetorical situation of Gloria Anzaldua’s, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” from her book Borderlands/La Frontera, is the most important piece to her argument. A writer’s rhetorical situation is the use of the elements of the rhetor, audience, text, medium, context and exigence. Through the correct use of these pieces, a writer is able to greatly strengthen their argument and persuasive abilities. In her passage, Gloria Anzaldua is speaking to the unfair and unjust treatment of Spanish speaking children growing up in the United States educational system. These are not just kids who have moved here from a Spanish speaking country, but even those born in the United States that grew up speaking Spanish because of their family’s culture. Through her writing she wants to bring this into light to induce change and help children of the future be able to learn in an environment where they are also able to comfortable speak their own language. She is not looking for them to be able to speak their own language in an American school just because she wants to be difficult. In her eyes, your language is part of your identity of self. And without your language, you are also losing part of yourself. Again, she expresses and increases the persuasiveness of these ideas through the use of her rhetorical situation, which includes the rhetor, audience, text, medium, context and exigence.

Speaking two or more languages is like a country having an atomic bomb during a war. The first situation is advantageous to a person and the second situation is advantageous to a country. “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” is a memoir of Richard Rodriguez’s bilingual childhood and it was originally published in Hunger of Memory in 1981. In Rodriguez’s memoir, he discusses why he disagrees with bilingual education. His audience is bilingual or anyone that has an opinion towards bilingual education. The purpose in Rodriguez’s memoir is to inform people of the effects of bilingual education and persuade bilingual educators why bilingual education shouldn’t exist.

The increase of immigration in the United States and the influence the Hispanic population on language and traditions are immense. There has been debate for and against English-only language or bilingualism. The issue with language goes beyond immigration issue. The reality is that language discrimination in the work place or even in society have affected the dominant and minority group. In addition, the influence on the cultural traditions and celebrations have impacted both groups in several ways. The issue of language and cultural traditions have created controversy for the usage of English only language or the usage of bilingual language in the United States. The argument of the pro side of bilingualism (English-Spanish) is that society can expand their knowledge and develop better communication skills with other groups that reside in this country. Moreover, living in a globalized world, will help our society to develop relations and create contacts thorough the world. The benefits of speaking two languages also benefit the individual’s economy. Speaking two languages makes an individual a better qualified candidate for a job position and the economy also increase by a significant amount in comparison to English-only speaking individuals. According to the author “They argued that the research of the impact of English-only initiatives showed that the result in negative consequences for psychological development, intergroup relations, academic achievement, and health

Learning a foreign language has always held a higher prestige than speaking one language in one’s community, where it is important to maintain one’s native language, Einar Haugen stated that, “Bilingualism has been treated as a necessary evil, a rash on the body politic, which might be expected to cure without the need of calling in the doctors…,” (Haugen, 1952, pg. 2). In the English-only outlook, English acts as a social glue that holds the nation together, in which state sponsored bilingual services removes incentives to learn English and keep immigrants out of the mainstream. It is not enough for immigrants to learn English, they must also renounce their native tongue, where in their eyes bilingualism is regarded to as divided loyalties. In reality however, bilingual education holds much academic value, where acquiring another language is regarded to as a necessity for future work, travel and personal relations. Students who are fluent in different languages work together and aid one another

Those who agree with this statement argue that bilingual education produces a safety net that widens the gap between the cultures and makes it difficult for a student to be successful when dealing with other subjects, such as math or science, in their nonnative language. As research has shown, the reality is quite the opposite when a second language is taught correctly from an early age. The teaching of a foreign language actually helps connect foreign language students with their peers, allowing them to share their culture and strengthens the brain in a way that actually helps a student throughout their schooling and in

How does childhood language development affect opinions on language as adults? Notable changes can be identified between Espada and Rodriguez’s essays, one coming from a Hispanic man who was forced to learn English as a child, and the other from a latino who learned Spanish as his second language. Martín Espada wrote an essay focused on defending the rights of other languages and their cultures, focusing on Spanish, his second language. Richard Rodriguez wrote an essay telling his experience with having to learn English as a child, and how bilingualism can change a person. They both write about the pros and cons of learning a second language, but the reasons and specifications vary dramatically. Bilingualism, even just language in general,

In order to have knowledge on language and learning language it is important to clarify the meaning behind bilingualism. According to Espada bilingualism is far more than the ability to speak more than one language. As he understands it bilingualism represents the ability and freedom to speak multiple languages while also maintaining one's original language, culture and identity. Espada says that choosing to speak spanish and fighting for spanish rights “must reflect the experience of that community” if he has hope to communicate (13). The connection between language and community is essential, one is able to obtain culture, history, and personal identity. Rodriguez further interprets the idea of bilingualism by explaining how there are two separate languages, private and public. Rodriguez argues that while the public language (english) pries at cultural ties it is more practical (than a private language (spanish)) for everyday use and is essential to having a public identity. His definition of bilingualism also means that the private life and sense of “closeness” and familiarity was going to be “diminished” (24).

Bilingualism can be viewed both positively and negatively. When bilingualism is additive a second language is added to a first without being a threat. On the other hand, when bilingualism is subtractive the L2 negatively impacts the L1 and the learner’s ethnic identity. Whether bilingualism is additive or subtractive depends on the environment in which the L2 is learned. Saville-Troike (2012) explains that the outcome of SLA depends on the sociopolitical climate and beliefs in the environment where the SLA takes place.

Every person has a different bond with bilingualism. For Martín Espada, a Latino Poet and activist, bilingualism means speaking two languages but also letting the two languages become a part of him. When a part of someone’s identity is threatened, they don’t just sit back and let it happen, they fight back. This is the same for Espada. He’s been fighting back for the right to speak Spanish because for him he finds that “the best way

On this Earth, we speak many languages. People are able to communicate, learn, and express themselves through language. Bilinguals earn an even bigger opportunity to communicate and learn through others; however, in the United States, there are many differing opinions about bilingualism and the treatment of bilinguals. Two writers, Martin Espada and Richard Rodriguez, show a couple of the many opinions at hand. Martin Espada is an English professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and his essay illustrates his experience being a bilingual rights activist in the United States. Richard Rodriguez is an award-winning author who retells the difficulties he had as a child forced to speak English. Both writers show the struggles of being bilingual, but have different stand points on how it should be handled.

It is estimated that there are more second language speakers of English than native speakers (Genesee, 2009), and there are as many bilingual children as there are monolingual children (Paradis, Genesee, & Crago, 2011). It means that many children are being raised as bilinguals. Sometimes bilingualism is required for them, because the children’s parents may not speak a dominant language fluently. The dominant language is the language that is the someone’s strongest language, and people feel more comfortable when they are speaking, reading, and writing in that language. Therefore, the child may learn one language at home and he/she can learn another at school. But sometimes bilingualism is a preference. Because parents may want to expose their children to another language, even if they do not know and speak a second language.

Nelson Mandela, as cited in U.S Department of Education (2010), once said, if you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart (para. 14). Linguistic diversity has become an important factor in society and more and more people are growing up with the ability to speak more than one language. The Linguistic Society of America (n.d) states that most of the world’s population is bilingual or multilingual in the world, where an estimated 5,000 distinct languages are being spoken, and only minorities of citizens are monolingual (para. 1). Being bilingual means that a person is able to speak two languages fluently, while multilingualism means that a person can speak two or more languages with high proficiencies. In the United States and especially in the Washington Metropolitan area, a variety of bilingual people from all different backgrounds and ethnicities live together in one community, so hearing languages from all parts of the world is a phenomenon that can be witnessed on a daily basis. Their abilities have a positive effect on the human brain while also impacting different aspects of life, such as cognitive capabilities, business opportunities and social communication skills.