The Achievement of Desire

How do we even begin to figure out how literate someone is?  As Szwed explained, they might be the schools definition of literate but are they street literate? With all the different definitions and meanings of the word literate, we can only really get a rough idea of how literate someone is with a few simple questions.  Questions such as: Did your family support/value your educational path? What are you experiences around reading? How often? Positive/negative? What level of access did you have to educational support? What is the literacy background of your parents? Do you speak any other languages?

In respects to determining Richard Rodriguez’s literate ability, I will use these questions. Although his mother and father could not help him with his homework, partly due to a language barrier, they always encouraged him and “at every graduation they were behind the stunning flash of the camera when I turned to look at the crowd.” They also paid his tuition to attend school since his mother never got the education she needed to succeed. I think it’s safe to say his parents supported him and best as they could. Although he did become the center of numerous family jokes. When he devoted himself to his studies, his family didn’t quite understand. His brother called him “four eyes” when he would come home with a bunch of books from the library. His family would joke around that when Rodriguez wouldn’t come when called, that he was hiding under his bed reading. This caused a negative experience between reading and his parents. Yet he still continued to constantly study and read.

“It was the nun’s encouragement that meant the most to me. (She understood exactly what my parents never seemed to appraise so well- all my achievements entailed.)” Rodriguez wanted to be exactly like his teachers; they inspired him. Which is one of the reasons why he wanted to become a teacher himself, he wanted to be exactly like his teachers. He can still remember today the compliments his teachers gave him, and it’s that access to educational support that Rodriguez thrived on. As for Rodriguez’s parents’ literacy background, his mother only has a high school diploma but in her own determination she taught herself how to type. His father left school to work under his uncle while he lived in Mexico. Once plans fell through he moved to America and attended school with Rodriguez’s mother but after a few years, he quit his dream of being an engineer and quit school. Since the Rodriguez family has a language barrier, except the children attended English classes so not so much them but their parents, Rodriquez found himself embarrassed by his parent’s accent as well as their lack of education.

I still find it hard to determine Rodriguez’s literate ability by answering these questions. His parents weren’t educated yet he still overcame that obstacle. Also he didn’t have the best experience with reading when being made fun of but he still continued to read. I don’t think literacy has really anything to do with family background or experiences, but what people do with those experiences. Whether they learn and overcome them or succumb and give up. Rodriguez had every reason to do bad in school and give up, but it’s his determination that made him succeed.