Revisioning the Scholarship Boy

Re-Visioning the Scholarship Boy In When We Dean Awaken Writing as Re-Vision, Rich describes the dilemma we only face as humans in our search for identity. Are we to vacate the repels of the past to define us, or are we to transcend these forces creating a immature identity? For Rich her defend with a male dominated beau monde causes her to redefine herself through composing. As the title of her piece suggests, Rich uses theme as Re-vision, a way to re lay aside the past, effectively breaking necessitous of tradition.In The Achievement Of Desire, Rodriguez is faced with a similar crisis of identity, when faced with Hoggarts nonion of the cognizance son. While this concept seems to represent the defy of billet over Rodriguez, he instead uses it in his search for identity, breaking the hold of authority over him. Rich writes, until we ascertain the assumptions in which we are flood we cannot know ourselves. (Rich 18). In much the same way Rodriguez must understand the as sumptions imposed by the concept of the intelligence male child in his pursual for self-identity.When examining Rodriguezs struggle the following questions arise Has Rodriguez broken free of the faculty member authorities in his life, which attempt to rigidly define his identity? Is he a scholarship boy, or something more? When contemplating these questions, we come to a surprise result Rodriguez had used his quest for identity as a catalyst, in allowing him to change integrity his own philosophy of gentility. Throughout the achievement of desire Rodriguez uses the concept of the scholarship boy to express his philosophy of teaching method.While at first we see the scholarship boy as a mere caricature, eventually it begins to increase in depth, until at last we realize that Rodriguez is in fact talking about himself. Rodriguez writes In large part, however, the reason he is such a bad school-age child is because he realizes more often and more acutely than most opposite s tudents than Hoggart himself that education requires radical self-reformation. (529) In this passage we begin to see pieces of Rodriguezs philosophy of education. For Rodriguez, a successful education exists as a force of inevitable change.This change often pulls one away from their native culture, compound them with society. Rodriguez states, Radical educationalists meanwhile complain that ghetto schools oppress students by trying to swan themthe truer critique would be just the reverse not that schools change ghetto students similarly muchthey change most students barely at all. (529) For Rodriguez a prudish education inevitably molds the student. The emphasis in the American educational arrangement on creativity and originality ultimately hinders the success of the student.Rodriguez furthers his philosophy on education with his views on imitation. For Rodriguez imitation i From the story of the scholarship boy in that location is no specific pedagogy to glean he makes cl ear that education is a long unglarorous even demeaning process. Great recite to set up another paragraph For rodriguez, education need not be a pleasurable process. While thescholorship boy seems a detrimental story in reality it is a necessary one in terms of education. For the student of immigrant parents to become educated he must be ripped from his native cultureRodriguez reveals A uncreated reason for my success in the classroom was that I couldnt forget that schooling was changing me and separating me from the life I enjoyed before becoming a student. (516) During the beginning of his life, Rodriguez lives as the scholarship boy. Rodriguez writes, I lacked a point of view when I read. Rather I read in order to acquire a point of view. (527). moreover Rodriguez writes I knew too much (and not enough) to be able to write anything but sentences that were overly cautious, timid, strained brittle under the heavy freight of footnotes and qualifications.I seemed unable to dare a choleric statement(531). After these realizations Rodriguez searches for an coiffe to his shortcomings in academic literature coming face to face with Hoggarts concept of the scholarship boy. For the first time Rodriguez begins to question himself, chassis these inquiries through the concept of the scholarship boy Through questioning himself Rodriguez finally comes to terms with himself allowing a synthesis to occur, applying his skills of abstraction to his problem of identity.Rodriguez writes And yet, positively the office to consider experience so abstractly allowed me to shape into desire what would other than have remained indefinite. . Rodriguez takes this synthesis further concluding If, because of my schooling, I had grown culturally separated from my parents, my education finally had given me ways of speaking and pity about this fact(532). Rodriguez goes further to illustrate his change, by contrasting his thoughts as a scholarship boy with his thoughts in the prese nt.Rodriguez writes Faithfully, I wrote down all that they said. I memorized it The praise of the unlettered by the highly educated is the primary theme of elitist literature But, the importance of the praise given the unsolitary, richly passionate and spontaneous life is that it simultaneously reflects the value of a reflective life. (532). To Rodriguez this name falls perfectly in line with his own conclusions from his experience, the wisdom of eruditeness to balance the two opposing forces in his life. Yet as a scholarship boy these words mean nothing to him.Rodriguez writes, But on that point was no way for any of it to mean very much to me. I was a scholarship boy at the time, busily laddering my way up the rungs of education. (532). Throughout Achievement of Desire, Rodriguez maps his transformation from a scholarship boy, to someone with his own authority. It is possible to see a similar transformation occur for Rich when we examine When We Dead Awaken Writing as Re-Visio n. For Rich the final step of this transformation is through her act of indite about her struggle.Rich writes, Moreover if the imagination is to transcend and transform experience it has to question, to challenge, to conceptualise of alternatives, perhaps to the very life you are living at the moment. . For writing is re-naming. (Rich 23). It would seem that a final piece of evidence for Rodriguezs transformation is Achievement of Desire itself. Rodriguezs ability to write about his struggle allows him to use the transformative power of the imagination, effectively using writing as Re-Vision.