"Aria" by Richard Rodriguez

REFLECTION:

I chose to do a reflection about Rodriguez's work because it caused me to do a great deal of thinking for a couple of reasons. It was interesting to compare and (mostly) contrast his experiences in school to my own. Not only weren't there any ESL students in any of my classes preceding college, there weren't even any in entire elementary, middle, or high schools that I attended. Growing up, I don't think I even realized that there were students the same age as me struggling to communicate with their peers and teachers. I was unaware that being in a classroom where linguistic problems do not arise was a privilege. I had no idea the struggle that many teachers and students were going through due to these types language barriers. What really stuck with me was what Rodriguez said at the end of his piece. He talked about the relationship between the two types of individualism: private and public. Rodriguez stated that one gains public individualism at the cost of private individualism. He discussed how his assimilation into his school reduced the amount of communication done at home. That assimilation process must have been painful for him. In order to become a successful part of society in the U.S., Rodriguez was forced to sever certain cherished aspects of his family life. He described how he missed speaking Spanish at home with his family because it provided them with a type of private communication that everyone was comfortable with. He also noted negative changes in the behavior of his parents. I never had to distinguish between public and private communication. Looking back on my days at Catholic school, it seems as if the two were merged together. Everything that was expected of me at home was also expected of me in the classroom. I never had to make too many distinctions between private and public interaction. My parents never had to do without certain cultural traditions to ensure that I was successful in the public sphere. I had it much easier than Rodriguez did, although I was unaware of it back in the day. To paraphrase Johnson, the comfort that I felt being taught in English-only classrooms my entire life came at the expense of someone else's comfort. Rodriguez's piece further opened my eyes to the fact that my experiences growing up were vastly different than those of many others. I am grateful to be taking this class because I already feel that it is turning me into a more empathetic person, and I truly believe empathy is something that is greatly lacking in the world today.