Eventually, with practice Rodriguez felt confident speaking English in public and gained a sense of identity among his peers. Even so, this triumph came at a price.
How should we deal with language differences in the classroom? By the gain he means the gain in public, public identity. He shares fewer and fewer words with his mother and father.
The piece also addresses the controversial debate over whether bilingual public education is truly beneficial, or, as Rodriguez argues, can violate the intimacy and self identity of non-English speakers. Born to Mexican immigrant parents, Rodriguez felt a disconnect between Spanish, the language he used at home, and English, the language used in the public world.
There was a deep intimacy with his family and the painful feeling of public alienation. Spanish, is his family's' intimate language that comforts Rodriguez by surrounding him in a web built by the family love and security which is conveyed using …show more content… Rodriguez begins to become more involved in his classroom by his new grip on the English language.