The Achievement of Desire... Literacy

This article by Richard Rodriguez was very captivating to me. I feel like at certain points I made a certain connections with him. Like Rodriguez, both my parents lacked that education that we had always hoped for. My parents both graduated from high school with a diploma, and the education halted. My parents however have no language restrictions, unlike Rodriguez. Rodriguez explains how education essentially caused a barrier between their family. He was always reading, in the closet, under the bed, for class or for entertainment. He had always loved being in class, and when it came to his later years in grade school, he always was the first to answer the questions. When it came to his home life, his parents struggled to help with his everyday homework, having to rely on himself even more as he got older. This is the same struggle I had. When I was in lower elementary school, my parents were able to help me navigate my way through reading, and writing, but I got older, I was more dependent to get help from teachers at school and other peers.

            I was always an avid reader through elementary school and then middle school hit me and I was forced to read the assigned books that each of us had to read. I normally refuse doing things I don’t want to do, but in the case of maintaining good grades, I continued to read the bland books assigned to me, day after day. I think this variation between the author and I; the love for reading separated both our educational paths from each other. Having parents with relatively similar educational backgrounds, he ended up going to a prestigious school, Stanford, and I find myself in at an average school, in a small college town.

            As far as literacy goes, it is clear how it can affect someone. Not only can lack of literacy affect someone negatively when it comes to jobs, everyday tasks such as driving, going to the grocery store or writing a letter, it can also have a direct effect on a family. Like Rodriguez says, “the first hours of me being home was the hardest, my mom asks, what’s new?” I can relate too. My family does not understand the trials and tribulations of college. They don’t understand why Shakespeare is important, or why we need to be able to write an effective essay. All our families know is that going to college will result in an education, which in turn will find us a great job, meaning a happier life, not all the in between.