Rodriguez’s Achievement of Desire essay reminds all of us about the importance of family unification. In his essay Rodriguez characterizes the scholarship boy- the student who disregards all of his family values and heritage for the sole focus of acquiring knowledge for his desire. Rodriguez being one of this scholarship boy’s, reminisces about his life when he sees the qualities that he once had in one of his students. Rodriguez claims that this lifestyle separated him from his Latino parents. Rodriguez education grew and was altering his life. He could connect more with the American patriarchal society than his Latin heritage. Rodriguez wanted to be diverse. He wanted to achieve his desire for learning. However, “at the end of his education” Rodriguez regrets having spent so much time on scholarly books and journals. The more one learns the less one finds out they know. As he achieves what he desired for so long, he contemplated what’s next? It was this void feeling that drove Rodriguez into regret. All of these years he had been missing out on family because of his purse of a good education. Nonetheless, after achieving his endeavor, he soon deciphers that his parents where just like him. All these years he had memorized every text and definition for examinations. None of it was critical thinking. The end of education is marked by the ability to think, to desire the past that had once secluded his life. Rodriguez sees all this in this one girl. Now will he try to change her?
Good interpretation of Rodriguez. I like how you say "the end of education is marked by the ability to think" --this is the goal. Rather than dismiss his personal experience and his family's values, he, as an adult, is able to responsibly and critically reflect on how his experience shaped him as a human being.
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