Sara Gonzalez's Essay 'Growing Up Bilingual'

Bilingual education has been a debatable subject since its conception during the case of Lau vs. Nichols, in the early 1970’s. However, in that case, the court only ruling was that the children’s

Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood by Richard Rodriguez is an essay that shows his readers a part of life that many have never experienced. Rodriguez uses this essay to show how he fights through his childhood to understand English. Speaking clear English will help him to fit in to society. He faces society while forfeiting his happy home life, to try to become a typical English-speaking student.

In the essay “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Child”, author Richard Rodriguez emphasizes the negativity of having bilingual classes implemented into schools, by using ethos to increase his credibility on the subject, repetition to exemplify the intimacy of the Spanish language, and nostalgia to explain the difference between a hospitable and public language.

In “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, Richard Rodriguez discusses two educational philosophies regarding bilingual education. (main topic and support)

Cultural Diversity has lead schools to promote dual language and bilingual programs for ELL students. However, raising bilingual children according to Marsha Rosenberg is not something that simply happens. Parents must carefully consider how they will raise their children in their new culture. Unfortunately, many parents often forget that neglecting their primary language in the process of raising their children will only hurt them in the long run. However, what they fail to understand is that our current society insists on developing diverse learners, who can speak two or more languages and are diverse (Gensee, n.d). Therefore, in order to raise bilingual students they parents must provide the children with rich experiences at home as well as in a variety of settings (Broekhuizen, n.d.). Furthermore, families need to maintain a close family unity and sense of belonging when dealing with the bilingual issue at home.

In “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” by Richard Rodriguez, he reveals the hardships he faced growing up as a young Hispanic boy with a bilingual tongue in an American Society. Rodriguez felt that being bilingual was more of a burden rather than an advantage, by cause of his parents not allowing him to speak English in their home, he felt that he was being yielded from learning English as well as impeding his social growth outside of his home. Rodriguez argues that because of his alienation from the community and lack of orientation in self-identity, he believes that bilingual education should not be something that should be integrated into a child’s life, but have children assimilate to the country they are in as well as the predominant

At the begging of his essay part two Rodriguez specify that reading was not an important thing on his family but for him it was. When I first moved to Puerto Rico I remember trying to learn in Spanish by reading things such as, agendas, my grandmother, diary, and even products manual or instructions I knew I wouldn't understand but somehow I thought I would get something out of it, Meanwhile people in my surroundings would constantly tell me that talking and hearing i would learned Spanish faster and not reading it. Rodriguez mentioned how his teachers would say to the rest of the class, "I only wish the rest of you took reading as seriously as Richard obviously does". To clarify this made it even more obvious that he based most of his life

Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood by Richard Rodriguez is an essay that shows his readers a part of life that many have never experienced. Rodriguez uses this essay to show how he fights through his childhood to understand English. Speaking clear English will help him to fit in to society. He faces society while forfeiting his happy home life, to try to become a typical English-speaking student.

Rodriguez builds a formidable case against bilingual education with his bilingual childhood experiences. Rodriguez grew up speaking Spanish, but then learned how to speak English later in life so he knows what effects bilingual education has on bilingual kids who grew up speaking a private language at homes. When Rodriguez first came to the United States in Sacramento, California he understood “about fifty stray English words” (Richard Rodriguez “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”). He was a Mexican immigrant whose family only knew how to speak Spanish. The neighbors of Rodriguez’s family didn’t like them, so when they were out walking they would tell Rodriguez’s parents “Keep your brats away from my sidewalk!” (Rodriguez 571). Rodriguez loses the “special feeling of closeness at home” when he learned English (Rodriguez 577). Personal experiences are what makes him a credible author. Rodriguez used strong ethos and pathos appeals, but he didn’t use strong logos appeals. He didn’t use facts or reasoning in his memoir to prove his points against bilingual education.

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

Around 1959, bilingual education took flight in the United States. Starting in Miami and quickly making its way San Francisco, bilingual education soon led to the Bilingual Education Act, which promoted “No Child Left Behind”. Only twenty years later, the act acquired the attention of high schools around the country. Nonetheless, bilingual education is not always taken to be the cure-all for acclimating immigrants to the United States. In his article “Aria: A Memoir of Bilingual Childhood”, Richard Rodriguez argues that students should not take part in bilingual education by explaining how it takes away individuality and a sense of family through the use of ethos, diction, and imagery; Rodriguez also uses parallelism and ethos to point out how a bilingual childhood can help students feel connected to society.

The United States is one of, if not the most, diverse nations in the world. It is often described as a

In this literature review I will be discussing studies that are in favor, not in favor, and neutral on bilingual education.

Bilingual education is to be thought of "as no more than a transitional bridge to assimilation" (Duignan). Bilingual education was formed so the majority of time English would be the language taught in and the native tongue of the students would be limited. Using this method, the students learn English faster and can work with the rest of their English speaking peers. If the two amounts of languages are switched so that there is mostly Spanish and limited English, then the learning would go at a slower pace. English is needed here in America and keeping these children from learning it just hurts them. If English is learned at a slower pace, it will not be learned to the proficiency that is needed. "When you're talking about language, English is essential for success in this country" (Ferraro)

Bilingual education has become a hot topic issue in the U.S. Bilingual education is designed to help students with minimal fluency in the English, in this case, are being taught academic content their native and secondary language, so they would not have to “sink or swim” or feel lost in English-only classes and drop out of school entirely. The main goal is for these students to become proficient in the English language. However, people against bilingual education say that by doing this, it will diminish or hinder the ability for students to master English. Even though I understand this argument, I disagree that bilingual education will have a detrimental effect to the non-native students. Actually I believe that most of these non-English speakers will benefit from this type of education style. Many do not realize the benefits that bilingual education can bring to a student who is a non-English speaker. Why take away a language that child will benefit from in the future? This country is a melting pot of many different ethnic cultures; and due to this pot, it has created this identity of openness, opportunity, and affluence. More of these classes should be reintegrated into the public school system in order to help non-native learners of English to better master the language and integrate into the American culture.