The Achievement of Desire

“The Achievement of Desire”

The author and main focus of “The Achievement of Desire” is Richard Rodriguez. Rodriquez notes many times how much affect his education has. Throughout the article the author explains how education affects many parts of his life, including his relationship with his family, his social class, and his culture. Education changed a large portion of his life.

Rodriguez’s relationship to his family definitely changed as his academic career moved forward. He began to realize the differences between his teachers and his parents, and the other students and himself. Rodriguez soon discovered that he preferred to follow the perspectives of his educated teachers to those of his uneducated parents, and strived to be as smart and well spoken as them. Rodriguez focused on his studies and strived to obtain scholarships to help him move forward. As he began to earn scholarships and move forward academically he began to lose compatibility with his parents and their culture. He became more fluent in English, rather than their first language, which was Spanish. He also lost his Spanish accent and felt proud because his teachers were proud, although his parents were disappointed and wanted him to keep some sort of ties to his Spanish roots.

As Rodriguez began to become more and more educated he soon realized that he was going to end up in a much higher social class than his parents were. He learned that in America the key to economic success is most of the time a good education. Rodriguez states, “typically most working class children are barley changed by the classroom”. Rodriguez learned that he would have to be different than most working class children if he wanted to succeed in the classroom and in the professional world.

I somewhat agree with Rodriguez’s opinion that education requires “radical self reformation”. I strongly believe that the people who raise a child and the people the child is surrounded with at home has a great impact on their...