Similarities

The Achievement of Desire by Richard Rodriguez

I found Richard Rodriguez' essay, the Achievement of Desire, to be an easy, engaging read. Rodriquez' desire and drive to do well in school and the yearning for a teacher's approval is something that I am intimately familiar with, having more memories than I can count involving my running out of a classroom crying after being teased by various classmates for being a goody-two-shoes and a teacher's pet. I too yearned desperately for those heights that could be reached through education and for any approval a teacher could give. I, however, lacked the true passion that Rodriquez seemed to posses--which seems to have stemmed from a desire to escape from family situation. His stories of parroting others' opinions is also a familiar one, and one that I most identify with. I sit here, becoming college educated, and still I lack a definable critical thinking skill that I feel will allow me to excel as a scholar.

I can easily agree with and parrot others' opinions when I hear them presented to me. What is much MUCH harder is to critically think about what is presented to me, to take it apart and analyze it. I even find it hard to expand upon a good base of knowledge, to take information further, and I am generally uncomfortable trying to do so. And this is why I'm in school, because I feel, as Rodriguez does, that the end of education is to do just that--to learn to become your own educator and become and individual secure in one's knowledge and learning. Hopefully I can get there some day.