This document provides background information on Richard Rodriguez, a Mexican-American author who wrote about his experience with bilingual education. It discusses his upbringing and education, as well as some of his major written works that focus on bilingualism, Americanization, and the relationship between language and culture/identity. The document also presents opposing viewpoints from other scholars on Rodriguez's perspective and implications of his work for teachers.

1. Richard Rodriguez
A Perspective on Bilingualism
By Stacey A. Murray & Hannah
Bergeman

2. Background Author
• Born on July 31, 1944
• Migrated to San Francisco, California and raised
in Sacramento, California
• Mexican-American
• Attended Catholic school at age 6 and
graduated from Sacramento's Christian Brothers
High School
• Earned a B.A. from Stanford University and
M.A. from Columbia University
• He was a Ph.D. candidate in English
Renaissance literature at the University of
California, Berkeley
• Attended the Warburg Institute in London as a
Fulbright fellow

3. Rodriguez Written Works
• Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard
Rodriguez (1981)
• A collection of autobiographical essays
• Mexico’s Children (1990)
• Days of Obligation: An Argument With My Mexican
Father (1992)
• Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in non-fiction
• Brown: The Last Discovery of America(2002)
• Rodriguez's works have also been published in Harper's
Magazine, Mother Jones, and Time Magazine.

4. History of Bilingual Education in
America
Please click on the link below and watch this
video about the history of Bilingual Education
in America
Questions:
1. Is the initial goal of bilingual education identical or
different from its goal in schools today? How?
2. Does bilingual education serve a specific purpose in
educating first-generation American students or can
schools do without it?

5. Vocabulary Terms from Rodriguez
1. Public Speech- a shared language, customs, and mannerisms used
in public individuals in a specific country or region
2. Private Speech- an intimate, shared language, customs, and
mannerisms used by members of the same household to
communicate
3. Public Identity- a classification of one self that is owned,
showcased, and recognized by oneself and others
4. Private Identity- a classification of oneself that is owned,
showcased, and recognized solely by oneself and family members
only within their household
5. Americanization- the process adopting American English language,
customs, and rituals, while ultimately identifying oneself as an
American.

6. Rodriguez on Bilingual Education
1. Public and Private Identity are separate things, and
school must focus on teaching public identity
2. Translation: the difficulty is helping a student
understand not just what the words mean, but also how
they are being said
3. Be aware that students may be facing a disassociation
with their family language, causing the learning of
English to ostracize them from their families

7. Implications of Rodriguez Work
• Rodriguez considers a native language private speech
• Educators should not impose speaking English within
students' households
• Americanization has both cultural gains and losses for
students and their families
• Americanization can create a communication barrier
between individuals who share a Native language and
culture

8. Criticism of Rodriguez
Many other Hispanics have responded that
they do not agree with Rodriguez's
claims about what they need from
education.
Norma Mota-Altman, a teacher, writes:
Con Respecto, I am Not Richard Rodriguez
Question:
How do we know, as teachers, how each
student needs to be approached to be
successful?

9. Criticism of Rodriguez
Norma Mota-Altman and others argue that learning one language gives you
tools to understand concepts in another language

10. What can a teacher do?
"The simple fact that we are unlike each other is a terrifying
notion. Where diversity is shared - where I share with you
my difference - that can be valuable." - Rodriguez
(Click here for the remainder of the interview)
Rodriguez Urges:
1. Teach diversity, even when not in curriculum
2. Understand your role in teaching "public identity"
3. Give students enough tools to be successful in the new
language, so they are not caught in "homelessness" with no
language at all

11. How is language linked to culture?
"All my other classmates, including myself, although fluent in more
than [one] language, eventually 'chose' one dominant language. I
put chose in quotation, because the choice is more of an indirect
one. It depends on what language you choose to explore art,
what language you use to communicate, what language you use to
satisfy your curiosity..." - Matteo Catanzano
(This quote comes from a TED Conversation surrounding the importance of teaching students
to be bilingual. Click here for the remainder of the conversation)
Questions:
1. How does teaching language change, when the goal is for students
to understand far more than simply words?
2. What role do teachers have in determining what language
students use for things like curiosity? Do we need that to be
English?

12. Reflection Questions
1. What right do teachers have in determining the
cultural and linguistic foundations of a child? Is it
enough to work toward teaching them a public identity?
2. How should teachers work with families to increase
student success in learning English? Were Rodriguez's
teachers and parents right to force him to speak only
English?
3. Does learning English force students to become more
Americanized?

13. References
Destinationcb. (2009, May 22). A history of bilingual education. July 18, 2012 from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tIppleeIjk
Catanzano, M. (2011, December 03). Re: Does the future of education lie in bilingualism? Is it even
possible? [Online forum comment.] Retrieved from TED Conversations:
http://www.ted.com/conversations/7509/does_the_future_of_education_l.html
Is bilingualism a problem? (n.d.). Retrieved July 20, 2012, from Language Enhancing the
Acheivement of Pasifika: http://leap.tki.org.nz/Is-bilingualism-a-problem
Mota-Altman, N. (2003). Con Respeto, I am Not Richard Rodriguez. The Voice , 8 (5).
Rodriguez, R. (1997, August). A View From the Melting Pot: An Interview with Richard
Rodriguez. (S. London, Interviewer). http://www.scottlondon.com/interviews/
rodriguez.html.
Rodriguez, R. (1982). Hunger of Memory. New York: Bantam Books.