"Aria"

Richard Rodriguez: "Aria"
Reflection 

While reading Rodriguez’s story I instantly thought of Johnson and his “just saying the words”. The issue being ignored is a language barrier, in America we believe that everyone should speak English and neglect to think that people come from different backgrounds and cultures with their own language. I thought Rodriguez did a great job telling his story, it made it a much easier read for me. This article also reminded me of Delpit and the “culture of power”. He had to give up his primary language and lose a connection with his Spanish speaking family to be accepted into society. 

Rodriguez and his family are part of a minority, the story reflected on how someone in a minority is at a disadvantage in the society due to not being “one with the society”. What I do not understand is why do schools stress learning another language for those who speak English. If they are telling those who do not speak English that they have to learn it and make it their primary language, then English speaking people are wasting their time learning another language. 

As a future educator I feel we should not push students away from speaking their native language. When Rodriguez said “The family’s quiet was partly due to the fact that as we children learned more and more English” (37) made me realize that we are corrupting other backgrounds and cultures to make everyone fit our “norms”. We as future educators should diminish this issue and do what Johnson says “say the words”. 

Points to share: 

Just like Carlene said, we should incorporate other cultures into the classroom so all students know they are important and where they come from is as well. We need to find a way to allow students who do not speak English be able to fit into society but not lose that family connection they have at home with their native language.