1. Does the educational
system strip away
children’s cultural
Identity?
“Rather than becoming multicultural,
rather than becoming a person of
several languages, rather than
becoming confident in your knowledge
of the world, you become just the
opposite. You end up in college having
to apologize for the fact that you no
longer speak your native language.”
- Richard Rodriguez

2. Essential Questions
Who is Richard
Rodriguez?
What are his views on
bilingual education?
How are his views on
multiracial Americans
and identity?

3. Background Information
Hunger of Memory was his first book. He shared his journey of
becoming Americanized, which separated him from his family
and culture. He was called a Pocho, because he became
enable to speak Spanish with fluency anymore.
Wrote a collection of Essays called - Brown: The Last
Discovery of America . (Won the National Book Critics
Award)
His ethnicity is mixed of Mexican and Indian. He grew up in
Sacramento, California during the 1950’s. Later in his life
he spoke about his homosexuality.
He is the editor for the Pacific News Service in San
Francisco. Also, a contributing editor of Harper’s and the
Sunday opinion section of the Los Angeles Times.
Television appearances include: PBS and NewsHour with Jim
Lehrer
A large majority of his works explores cultural identity in
America

4. STOP and THINK: Are heritage and identity
interchangeable?
Watch this interview with Richard Rodriguez
http://youtu.be/zbcRQYMRqD0

5. Heritage versus Identity
• Larger than the • 1st person singular
individual • Presumption that
• Identity apart from “I” am (insert name)
oneself • Consumed with self
• To be a part of a
family/tribe/nation

6. American Melting Pot
”The best metaphor of America remains
the dreadful metaphor [of] the Melting Pot”
--Quoted from Days of Obligation: An Argument with
my Mexican Father
Question: Why do you think he would refer to this metaphor
as something positive and negative?

7. Scott London: Interview with Richard Rodriguez
London: So how would you define diversity?
Rodriguez: For me, diversity is not a value.
Diversity is what you find in Northern Ireland.
Diversity is Beirut. Diversity is brother killing
brother. Where diversity is shared -where I share
with you my difference - that can be valuable. But
the simple fact that we are unlike each other is a
terrifying notion.I have often found myself in
foreign settings where I became suddenly aware that I
was not like the people around me. That, to me, is
not a pleasant discovery.
Full Interview: http://www.scottlondon.com/interviews/rodriguez.ht
Comment: As future educators, how do we address
Comment: As future educators, how do we address
diversity in the classroom? It should not be a “terrifying
diversity in the classroom? It should not be a “terrifying
notion” to be different from ones peers.
notion” to be different from ones peers.

8. Things to think about….
A great quote mentioned in a New York Times article titled,
Greater Than All the Parts says,
“''The notion of African-Americans as a minority is one born of a
distinct and terrible history of exclusion -- the sin of slavery, later
decades of segregation, and every conceivable humiliation visited upon a
people. . . . To say, today, that Hispanics are becoming America's
largest minority is to mock history.'' If ''brown'' is to be the
American future, then ''black'' must be part of the mixture.
(FULL ARTICLE)
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/07/books/greater-than-all-the-par
Are bilingual educators today helping children find the balance between
using their native language and English that is spoken in the classroom?
According to Rodriguez, he believes these teachers do not recognize that
a socially disadvantaged child considers the language spoken at home to
be private and should not be shared elsewhere. (Holds a stance against bilingual
education)

9. “What I needed to learn in school was that I had the right - and the obligation - to speak the public
language of los gringos” - Richard Rodriguez.
This cartoon is an exaggeration of why Spanish speaking children are fearful and intimated to learn
English. In many homes a native language is spoken, which a child considers to be private and
English is spoken in public. At a young age Rodriguez believed that English wasn’t his to use, but
once his family began to use it in the home he became less fearful. However, other issues began to
arise once his English surpassed his parents.

10. References
Richard Rodriguez: Books and Learning [Video]. (2008).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz2wLvK9p9Q&feature=related
Richard, R. (n.d.). Interview by Scott London [Interview]. A View From
the
Melting Pot: An Interview with Richard Rodriguez., Retrieved
from
http://www.scottlondon.com/interviews/rodriguez.html
Richard Rodriguez [Video]. (2011).http://youtu.be/zbcRQYMRqD0
Rodriguez, R.(1982). Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard
Rodriguez. Bantam Books.
Walton, A. (2002, April 7). Greater than all the parts. The New York
Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/07/books/greater-than-all-the-parts.html