Public Langauge

Rodriguez, R.  (1983). Hunger of memory.  New York:  Bantam Dell.  (autobiography)

Chapter 1: Aria (pg. 10-31)

“Supporters of bilingual education today imply that students like me miss a great deal by not being taught in their family’s language. What they seem not to recognize is that, as a socially disadvantaged child, I considered Spanish to be a private language. What I needed to learn in school was that I had the right – and the obligation – to speak the public language of Los gringos. The odd truth is that my first-grade classmates could have become bilingual, in the conventional sense of that word, more easily than I. Had they been taught (as upper-middle-class children are often taught early) a second language like Spanish or French, they could have regarded it simply as that: another public language. In my case, such bilingualism could not have been so quickly achieved. What I did not believe was that I could speak a single public language" (Rodriguez, p.15).

The biggest conflict that Richard Rodriquez faces is trying to find a place where he belongs. At the beginning of the memoir we see him struggling to hold on to his language, and his reluctance to give up the intimacy it creates in his household. When his family begins to speak English in the home, he sees the intimacy slowly fade away, and the silence moves its way in. Initially, I thought that he was against being forced to learn English because he wanted to hold on to his native language. Little did I know that Richard Rodriguez was against bilingual education. In the passage above, he explains why he is supportive of having to learn English. 

As a future educator, I would assume that a student whose first language is not English would find issues with having to speak English. Personally, I would feel the need to help that student preserve their native language while helping them learn English at the same time. Richard Rodriguez saw this way of thinking as a disadvantage to Spanish speaking students. Rather than meeting them where they are, they should be required to learn the public language in order to be able to function in the public. However, this way of thinking made others of his race see him as the Uncle Tom of his people. Although I could definitely understand why they may see him this way, I also had to try to see where Richard Rodriguez was coming from.

Richard Rodriguez understood that in order to fully function in an English speaking country, he had to understand the language. His access to a good education depended on his ability to speak the public language. Although it seemed like assimilation to many, he saw it as a step towards new opportunities. Yes, he would lose the intimacy that Spanish creates between him and his family, but without English, he would have never learned how to articulate those emotions and experiences. Learning English gave him access!