Who Is Richard Rodriguez's Argument Against Bilingual Education

Richard Rodriguez in his is personal narrative “Aria” gives the reader his perspective of learning English while being a native Spanish speaker. As a child he attended a monolingual school. He was told that by not speaking Spanish at home he would be able to quickly develop his English. Rodriguez attributes much of his success in life to this event of learning English, which is why he is against bilingual education. “The Pros of Bilingual Education” by Stephen Krashen challenges Rodriguez’s stance by stating the positive impact that bilingual education has on students, and how bilingual education gives students an educational advantage compared to those without it.
Rodriguez believes that supporters of bilingual education are blind to the benefits of assimilation. Bilingual schools fight against conformity because they believe that its important for students to remain close with their language to preserve their …show more content…
Students in bilingual schools not only learn a secondary language, but they learn more about their primary language as well. Krashen writes, “When schools provide children quality education in their primary language, they give them two things: knowledge and literacy” (Krashen). Krashen implies that by having a primary language student have an education advantage. This statement contradicts Rodriguez’s argument. For Rodriguez because his primary language was Spanish he he didn 't feel like he was treated like a true citizen; only when he was able to speak English fluently did he gain societal citizenship and the advantages that come with it. Krashen shows that student who are taught in both languages have been known to have both higher knowledge and literacy. Giving them a greater advantage and better opportunities than students in monolingual schools. This brings up the question that if Rodriguez had attended a bilingual school as child, would he still have the same opinion on