Richard Rodriguez "Aria"

Richard Rodriguez short story Aria is about his experience as a child growing up in a "gringo" neighborhood. He writes about the challenges he faced while going to school and living in a community were he didn't belong. Richard rarely heard English being spoken to him; for Spanish was what was only spoken at home. The only English he heard was the English spoken without ease by his parents. Richard writes, "it was unsettling to hear my parents struggle with English. hearing them, I'd grow nervous, my clutching trust in their protection and power weakened." That is why at home, he was happy. He'd feel relieved and excited to hear the "sounds of Spanish." It was when Richard starting going to school that he felt nervous. When the Bilingual Education Act passed, teachers needed to use Spanish in the classroom for those students who didn't know English all the well, like Richard. But Richard's teachers take on that responsibility. When asked a question, Richard would mumble which then led the teachers telling his parents that he needed to speak English at home and not only Spanish. So, Richard and his family would practice their English together. He became a more confident English speaker who was willing to participate in class now. Now, Ricard feels that he has become part of society. No longer does he feel separated from society for not knowing the "public language." He belongs now. "gone was the desperate, urgent, intense feeling of being at home; rare was the experience of feeling myself individualized by family intimates. We remained a loving family, but one greatly changed. No longer so close; no longer bound tight by the pleasing and troubling knowledge of our public separateness."

The problem that bilingual education brings is the fact "that children lose a degree of "individuality" by becoming assimilated into public society." Now, Richard has begun to lose confidence in speaking Spanish and starts "forgetting his native society." Because Richard and his siblings are now more advanced then their parents, at home its very quiet. They no longer talked to each other in Spanish and had that family tie that bonded them all together. The good thing with bilingual education is that now Richard (who can represent others) now knows English. By learning the English language, people like Richard are given more opportunities, they become part and are accepted by society, and have friends.

So is bilingual education a good thing or a bad thing for someone that isn't English proficient? Richard's story shows the good and the bad. Is forgetting your native language worth being accepted by the public? In my opinion, it shouldn't be like that. It's up to the person to decide what they want to do with this great advantage. I grew up similar to Richard; Spanish was mainly what was spoken in the house and English well, only at school. But as I grew older and understood more, I starting mixing up by words. In one sentence I'd be using English then insert a Spanish word. So because of this, I started to practice more by English. But then, my Spanish would get weak. Unlike Richard though, I embraced both languages. Instead of choosing which one (I kinda felt he did that) I wanted to use, I expanded and learned more about both. School helped my English and because I wanted to be better at Spanish, I'd only try to explain and speak in Spanish at home. In middle school I took Spanish as the language of study. Everyone always asks why I did if I'm fluent in it. I want to be rude and say, "Why do you take English?" but instead I say to better by reading and writing skills. Yeah I may speak it but my parents never sat me down and taught me how to spell etc. The simple stuff yes but the complicated stuff no. A person shouldn't have to choose what they want to speak. It's great that a person knows two languages. There are so many advantages like helping people when they don't understand something. It's sad to me when someone loses their "Spanishness" I think bilingual education doesn't make someone lose their individuality... I think the student chooses to. The goal of bilingual education is make a student feel confident when speaking both English and Spanish.
Richard Rodriguez, "Aria" Growing Up Latino: Memoirs and Stories Ed. Harold Augenbraum and Ilan Stavans 1993