This is an academic summary of an essay by Richard Rodriguez, "Achievement of Desire". We are to summarize Rodriguez's essay and then expand on it using a recent personal experience. I am looking for help with proofreading and any ideas you may have on how to expand this essay further. Thanks. In the essay "Achievement of Desire," author Richard Rodriguez, describes the difficulties balancing life in the academic world and the life of a working class family. As a child, Rodriguez was the exception to the stereotypical student coming from a working class family. He was always top of his class, and rather than spending his time out with friends or with his family he spent his time with books and notes. Initially, this approach makes Rodriguez stand out as an exceptional student, but as time goes on, he becomes an outsider both at home and in school. "Achievement of Desire" chronicles the not-so-typical education of a young boy from a working-class family.
Richard Hoggart, author of the book Working with the Past, states that a scholarship boy "is at the friction point of two cultures" (840). The scholarship boy comes from a working class family background and when he starts school is thrust into a totally new environment. Where the chaos of a working class home is gone and the boy is surrounded by a sort of, "mental calm," (Rodriguez 548). The instructors at his school "emphasize the value of reflection that opens a space between thinking and immediate action" (548). School is a part of the world that is completely alien to a boy from a working class family. He enters the class "barely able to speak English" (546). It is easy to see a young boy might get caught up in all this. He has parents who are barely scraping by and know he is in a place where he can ensure his future by getting a good education.
Rodriguez's parents had very little schooling.
