In the essay “Achievement of Desire” Rodriguez is known as “the scholarship boy.” He was the top of his class, because he was always reading books rather than spending time with his family and friends. He would isolate himself from them, as he thought education was the most important thing in his life and in order to gain that education, reading and doing well in school came first. Although when he was younger he did not like reading, “reading was, at best, only a chore”, he later realized “books are going to make me educated” (347-348). At home education was not the greatest, his parents had little education and he was so embarrassed of it. In the third ...view middle of the document...
” He may not have understood the studies, but “he is the great mimic; a collector of thoughts, not a thinker; the very last person in class to have an opinion of his own” (352). He starts to realize that there is more to education than just knowing the facts, but that the education that he does have, has helped him to open up and understand what life is really about. He strived “to be like [his] teachers, to possess their knowledge, to assume their authority, their confidence, even to assume a teachers persona,” (345) that he lost sight of being totally educated all around. Although from all the knowledge he has gained, he finally realized it taught him to open up and talk about how he feels. Now that he is done with his “academic education” he realized, ”He has used education to remake himself” (351). He no longer has to be the lonely boy that doesn’t know how to have conversations, input on practical issues, or opinions of his own. He can come home to have conversation with his family and friends, and gaining the connection back with them again.
As the youngest of 4, I have always looked up to my brothers and sister, wanting to do everything they did. My sister was closest to my age but is still 6 years older than me. My brothers and sister would bring their homework home from school and I would always be right there next to them wanting to help. At this time I could not read or write but always tried my best to help out as much as I could. I always had an interest in reading and writing at a young age. When my siblings would be in school, I would always “play school” for fun at home, and pretend I was the teacher. I also loved to be read to at night, it may have been part of a chapter book or just a kid’s book. It was part of my routine as a kid, as reading was important to me. My siblings were definitely a big part of how I have been shaped as a reader and writer. As I grew older, I grew more interested in reading and writing, and doing well in school was always something that I longed for. As I was starting elementary school, my siblings were starting to be in high school and this is when they got more involved in other school events such as, sports, FBLA, select choir and band, which their education started not to be as important to them, as it was to me. I was unable to be in those events as I was so young that I spent a lot of time on my reading and writing. I feel myself connected to Rodriguez as he was “the scholarship boy” of his family, as education wasn’t as important to his siblings, and I was “the scholarship girl” of my family during my childhood years, as education wasn’t as important to the rest of my siblings at that time.
As I made my way into high school, education had also become less important to me. I got involved in other events and I slowly lost sight of my education and what it meant to me. I read less and would only write when I had too. At home I wasn’t pushed toward education as much as I was pushed towards...