The Achievement Of Desire By Richard Rodriguez

Many of us are very family oriented and believe that family should always be present in our life no matter what do in life. While some of us feel that, our desire is worth more important than family due to the lack of communication with family members. In the “Achievement of Desire” by Richard Rodriguez, Rodriguez recalls some of the difficulties he had at a young age, which was balancing his life academically and practicing the Mexican traditions. His desire was more important to him than his family because communication with his family was not as strong as before when he began to get more involved in his education, which separates him from his family mentally and physically.

In his work entitled “The Shock of Education: How College Corrupts”, journalist and author Alfred Lubrano poses the question of how receiving education can lead to a harsh reality. Lubrano explains that as a child works toward a higher education, there are certain aspects of life they are forced to leave behind as they enter into a new existence. According to Lubrano’s statement, “At night, at home, the differences in the Columbia experiences my father and I were having was becoming more evident” (532). Additionally, Lubrano states, “We talked about general stuff, and I learned to self-censor. I’d seen how ideas could be upsetting, especially when wielded by a smarmy freshman who barely knew what he was talking about” (533). In answering this question, Lubrano must explore the types of conversations that occurred with other family members, the disconnection from his peers, and how segregating himself from his family

In the chapter 2 of the book Hunger of Memory: “The Achievement of Desire” by Richard Rodriguez, he talks about how he attains academic success in expense of the life he used to love prior to stepping in school. Rodriguez starts his education having little to no knowledge of speaking English but with sufficient support of his parents and the parochial school in which he learns to do grammar, he later finds himself studying at British Museum. However, he argues that he achieves his success because of being a scholarship boy. He describes himself as an enthusiastic student and unconfident, opposite to his siblings, but his enthusiasm to learn became problematic at home as he starts to see the dissimilarity between home and school and when he is unable to receive academic help from his parents. Thus, force him to adapt and commit himself to study, he starts to read book to isolate himself at home. His persistent to learn became the reason to lose his balance between the two worlds he lives in. Rodriguez admits “A primary reason for my success in the classroom was that I couldn’t forget that schooling was changing me and separating me from the life I enjoyed before becoming a student” (2).

In Richard Rodriguez’s “The Achievement of Desire,” he compares himself to author Richard Hoggart’s “scholarship boy,” the type of student anyone can become. The “scholarship boy” is “anxious and eager to learn,” but is overbearing in his ways of learning and conveying knowledge (Rodriguez 534). Born as a son of two Mexican immigrants, Rodriguez quickly detached his life at school from his life at home. Hoggart helped Rodriguez to see near the end of his education exactly how harmful this type of lifestyle would become for Rodriguez’s learning. In my own experience, and specifically in my four years of high school, I tried my best to avoid being a “scholarship boy,” because that would prove detrimental to myself in relationships, my education, and my health and wholeness.

When reading this autobiography it reminded me of my adolescent years; I remember feeling like I knew all there was to being a grown up, I also felt like my parents didn’t know much because they didn’t go to college. I strongly feel like they could have always done more than they were doing. Upon reading this, I felt as though I was reading Richard Rodriguez’s journal and he was a very unhappy kid living in the ghetto. He was also embarrassed of his own life and he seemed unhappy in his own skin... “(Ways of reading pg.339) A primary reason for my success in the classroom was that I couldn’t forget that success was changing me and separating me from the life I enjoyed before becoming a student”.

Ever since Richard Rodriguez stepped into the world of education, he had a thirst for knowledge. Also, at a very young age, Richard began to see a divide between the two most important aspects of his life, his family and his education. Through out the essay, “The Achievement of Desire”, Rodriguez describes himself as a “scholarship boy” and defines the term as one who is a good student, but a troubled son. After reading “The Achievement of Desire”, Rodriguez explains through his personal experiences with education that there is a conflicting relationship between school and family. Rodriguez tries to convey a very important message to students that are similar to him in that there is a balance of education and family and without either, happiness

In Richard Rodriguez’s essay “The Achievement of Desire,” Rodriguez talks about how his education has created a negative impact on his family life. Growing up, he spent so much time reading and focusing on his studies that he in turn neglected his family relationships. While I can relate to how he spent many hours away from his family in an effort to pursue his interests, unlike Rodriguez, I never let it loosen my ties to my family. We finished our last port de bras and made our way back to the tiny pink dressing room, desperate for a long drink of cold water.

Paul mirrors Richard Rodriguez’s scholarship boy’s lack of imagination by plagiarizing a speech from Groton’s graduation ceremony from Catcher in the Rye, while in the Kitteridge’s apartment, Paul says “The imagination. That's God's gift to make the act of self-examination bearable”. (Six Degrees of Separation 42) Paul feels so discouraged by his previous life-style, he feels the need to create a new self in order to be happy with his life. Paul’s journey to succeed in accumulating into the higher class is bittersweet because Paul lack the understanding of what success means and the cost it will take in his life.

In today’s society college is seen as a very fundamental step to obtaining success, Carmen Lugo-Lugo argues that instead of being focused on education, college is beginning to turn into a marketplace and a business. She states that colleges are now more interested in making a profit from their students than the actual education they are there for. Due to this mindset it affects the flow of the classroom environment and how professors are treated by students. She also makes it prevalent how systematic racism and racial profiling exist and tells the readers by her first hand accounts. In her essay “A Prostitute, A Servant, And A Customer-Service Representative: A Latina in Academia” Carmen Lugo-Lugo uses emotion and language to communicate

Our education system is perhaps one of the most complex institutions in the United States. Students are taught to be their most authentic selves but yet are told to think a certain way. In reality, students really don’t have the freedom to be their genuine identity. Our society tells us that a typical student speaks the language, excels in all areas of study, and loves to read. Children who do not fit this mold are often at a disadvantage and do not attain the same acceptance. In the essay, “Achievement of Desire” Richard Rodriguez was a first generation immigrant from Mexico. His parents spoke little English, and had no education. Automatically, his family is an outcast. Throughout Rodriguez’s schooling career he learned to fit the perfect mold of the “typical” American student. He finds himself to be in an internal struggle between social versus family isolation, authenticity and finding his place in the American society.

Growing up in a one bedroom apartment in the ghetto of Ontario, influenced by gangs and violence, is not the ideal childhood to experience. In a community that is predominantly Latino the expectations for academics are

Richard Rodriguez’s “the Achievement of Desire” is a reflective essay written to inform students about the woes of being a “scholarship boy” (338-355). As Rodriguez describes, the scholarship boy is a student who follows the educational game plan to the extreme. Rodriguez identifies as the scholarship boy who is determined to become like the teachers he has encountered. This need for education has unforeseen consequences. Rodriguez faces problems in his social life, academic life, and home life. In “The ‘Banking’ Concept of Education, Paulo Freire describes an education system built on ideals where a student must become like his teacher in order to be successful. Because of this fact, Rodriguez’s idea of the “scholarship boy” coincides with the ‘banking’ concept of education.

Richard Rodriguez unconsciously weaves sensuality into his essay, “The Achievement of Desire”, by associating academia with physicality and intimacy. The sexual attraction between the opposite genders has the highest degree of enthusiasm in academics as per Rodrigues’s essay. For instance, the girls in the classroom are completely distracted from their classwork by a young boy passing by their class. Sensuality therefore has a negative impact on academics. Instead of the girls concentrating on what their instructor is teaching; they are entirely attracted to an outsider (boy), hence, missing the core objective of the academic system. It is true the relationship with books at some point is grossly affiliated with senses.These senses therefore tend to aid a learner in developing the positive relationship with the books; a relationship that primarily originates from the sensual attraction between the teacher and the student.

Gabriela Diaz, a former professor at New Mexico State University for eight years, she is not your average high school teacher. Student’s work line the walls of her classroom, curious handmade dolls from the story of The Crucible adorned next to the board . Diaz, who holds advanced degrees in both Spanish and English literature, impresses students with her elevated vocabulary. This is the quality and commonplace of a college professor with a PhD. Diaz is just one of a growing number of PhDs working in Texas high schools.

The purpose of education brings power and knowledge to life. Education has the power to evaluate you. Education is given to everyone for equal opportunity. It gives you the capability to succeed in life. In “The Banking Concept of Education” one of Paulo Freire’s main idea expresses thoughts on how education is suffering from narration sickness due to the relationship between the teacher and the student. Freire believes that the Banking Method of Education simply fills the students with the contents of the teacher’s narration and causes a lack on their creativity, critical thinking, and free expression. By the students just sitting in the classroom listening to the teacher and not engaging in any type of conversations, limits their ability to really understanding what is being taught to them.It also limits the use of what is being taught to them with reality. The method fails because it lacks communication between the teacher and the students in which it also disconnects the content from reality. Referring to the song we listened to in class our education is teaching us how to uplift another community but how is it helping us be more enlightened on our well being in our own community. I thought education gives light to life through the skills and knowledge taught and with education individuals can achieve greatness in life but I feel that is not the case anymore. Some may say it depends on who is teaching you because for example a white teacher trying to teach you African