<p>Read this interview and tell me your comments. I think it's extremely interesting:</p>
<p>I always enjoyed him simply beacuse he was not always following one party line or the other. His thoughts were often surprsing to me. As we share somwhat a similar background and life experience--and similar feelings about the place of our heritage in our lives, I really respect him.</p>
<p>I found it interesting that he said 'this is a country where people leave home'. I think that is true. Specially true for other people who come to this country and want to assimilate , somewhat. (Speaking from first-hand experience, I have left home).</p>
<p>Interesting interview. Thanks. After living on the staid border between Europe and the Middle East for the past 15 years visiting LA this summer (I went to college in LA eons ago) was such a pleasure. It felt just right. I spend my summers(where I grew up) in the Bay Area and that is an interesting area as well. But the whole world is being rocked by the movements of people. The way I see it, some people stay where they grew up and more power to them--they are comfortable doing that and then some people need to move, see the world. There is room for everyone. And I am not one for celebrating diversity. I could tell you the funniest stories about our old UN day at our international school. Big fights about whose flag went where and one flag being bigger than the other. Or not enough of one flag and too many of the other. Diversity is in the making without all this flag business. I see it in the faces of our youngest children. It makes me feel good.</p>
<p>I completely agree with him that affirmative action is being overused, or misused. So many of the "minority" admits are only admitted because of the color of their skin, not due to any actual disadvantages in life, if that makes sense. They have become so assimilated that their acceptance is skin deep.</p>
<p>I think being a 'country of people who leave home' is a wonderful thing that personifies America. I know we all don't sit quiet like the Austrians do during a concert, and I do have a healthy abhorance of being ruled by a king or queen. But it is great to stand in line at the local store and have so many languages buzzing around and a general attitude of acceptance of everyone. The country wasn't like this as recently as 50 years ago but it has changed , and it won't be changing back to what it was.</p>
<p>I do not know much about this author, nor would I care to learn more about him. </p>
<p>It is pretty obvious that he seems to be afflicted by the Michael Jackson syndrome of not liking his heritage or skin color. </p>
<p>I am also in favor of assimilation and unilingual education but cannot endorse his opinion on affirmative action. His crusade to reject the system that has served him so well serves as a perfect reminder that a great education might help form a great mind but fail to form a great human character.</p>
<p>Encomium, do you believe that AA is overused in education or in general? Do you believe that our government should stop our practices to support women-owned businesses? Do you believe our government should curb AA because it has worked so well and is currently abused by minorities?</p>
<p>How would you establish the yardstick for measuring the success -or lack thereof- in the application of AA in college admissions? Increases -or decreases- in the number of admission and graduation of minorities until it reflects the population's distribution? </p>
<p>Do you really, really believe that there are too many minorities in elite schools and that they "stole" the spots of non-URM through abusive practices?</p>
<p>Xiggi, how much good will affirmative action do if it produces successful people like this, and then people like you go about saying they don't like their heritage or skin color?</p>
<p>Xiggi, I don't think you really read the interview, or my comments. I never said that URM admits are stealing the spots of non-URM admits. I'm saying that Affirmative Action has the goal of increasing diversity, of differing cultures, and of increasing minority/disadvantaged student representation in colleges or universities. Rodriguez is saying that he got to college on his own, through his own efforts (he's a writing and literary genius, no doubt as smart as if not smarter than the majority of Stanford/Columbia/Berkeley admits in a given year), and that his efforts basically made him assimilated into the white/canonical/American culture. Basically, there was no difference between Rodriguez and X White Student who are both big readers and influenced by European culture. Two of the black students I know who got into Harvard both follow a similar pattern. Their parents are doctors and actuaries, wealthy, educated at Yale and Columbia. Basically, they have had no disadvantages in life. They were both well qualified, but had they not been black, I can assure you they would not have been accepted. Is that fair? How, exactly, is that increasing the diversity of the school, other than the simple fact that there are more students with black skin? They are culturally equivalent to wealthy white students. "Assimilated," they say.</p>
<p>That's why I think Affirmative Action is misguided, or misused. It has noble goals, but it's really only contributing to a vicious cycle. The minorities, who as Richard Rodriguez says are really minorities, are not reaping the benefits and achieving new goals, whereas minorities who have great advantages or at least evince no cultural difference other than their skin color, are being accepted. Meanwhile, African-American and Hispanic performance at school and on the SAT continues to lag. So far, AA has not solved the education-gap problem. </p>
<p>I think efforts like AA should not occur when students are 16 or 17 going into the university system. I think, if the goal is diversity, money should be spent to send bright, but disadvantaged kids to better schools, focusing on them earlier, so that student who truly have no where to go in life, education or otherwise, are helped.</p>
<p>I agree that it can be misused in the case of assimilated URMs. I know a very good student with decent SATs who is being inundated by college mail due to being a "URM"; the family income is proabably 7 figures, both parents went to excellent schools, etc. Grew up with every advantage... Not exactly from the 'hood!</p>
<p>Encomium, I did read the interview, as well a few other articles written by RR. </p>
<p>To understand why I do not like Richard Rodriguez -probably born Ricardo Rodriguez- you need to understand how shocked I am to read some of his words, especially when he tries so hard to identify himself to Richard Hoggart's "Scholarship Boy":</p>
<p>"Your parents must be very proud of you." People began to say that to me about the time I was in sixth grade. To answer affirmatively, I'd smile. Shyly I'd smile, never betraying my sense of the irony: I was not proud of my mother and father. I was embarrassed by their lack of education. It was not that I ever thought they were stupid, though stupidly I took for granted their enormous native intelligence. Simply, what mattered to me was that they were not like my teachers.</p>
<p>The enthusiasm I felt in second-grade classes I flaunted before both my parents. The docile, obedient student came home a shrill and precocious son who insisted on correcting and teaching his parents with the remark: 'My teacher told us'. . . . I intended to hurt my mother and father."</p>
<p>Richard Rodriguez does not represent what AA should be all about. He was given the chance to be a catalyst for positive changes, but preferred to hide in a closet -pun intended- and bury his mind in the history and literature of a far-distant continent. He preferred to study Chauncey and Dickens over Garcia Lorca or Octavio Paz because he wanted to distance himself from his "shameful past". </p>
<p>Do I need to say more?</p>
<p>Xiggi, how do you feel when people call black republicans "sell outs"? To suggest that someone should must have specific opinions or ideas simply because of their ethnic background is simply racist.</p>
<p>Also, Mexican people can't choose to study Dickens if that's what interests them? Should white people be prevented from studying the far-distant continent of Africa? Gimme a break. People ought to study what they choose to and come to their own conclusions. If that means a Mexican dude decides he's anti-AA, well that's life.</p>
<p>The best catalyst for change is to be allowed to be yourself. Many of a similar background who turned out to be among the smartest in class--even when mixed with whites--have had the same feelings towards their less educated parents. That's being very human. Maybe he just liked western-european lit better. I did. And my first name was never Francisco but my middle name is Jose. I have no patience for those who try to tell others what a meaningful life is. The gay reference is gratuitous and implies that RR hides that side--he does not.</p>
<p>I thought the below statement by him was a very revealing distortion of what diversity means:
"For me, diversity is not a value. Diversity is what you find in Northern Ireland. Diversity is Beirut. Diversity is brother killing brother. Where diversity is shared - where I share with you my difference - that can be valuable. But the simple fact that we are unlike each other is a terrifying notion. I have often found myself in foreign settings where I became suddenly aware that I was not like the people around me. That, to me, is not a pleasant discovery."</p>
<p>"1. To suggest that someone should must have specific opinions or ideas simply because of their ethnic background is simply racist.<br>
2.If that means a Mexican dude decides he's anti-AA, well that's life."</p>
<p>Richard Rodriguez can be whomever he decides to be. He is entitled to have his own opinions on anything he decides. However, that does not stop others to point out the hypocrisy of his opinions and also decide that he no longer represents his community or ethnicity because of his own choice. The only commonality that RR has with "mexican dudes" is an unfortunate surname. He got rid of the rest. </p>
<p>"1. I have no patience for those who try to tell others what a meaningful life is.
2.The gay reference is gratuitous and implies that RR hides that side--he does not"</p>
<p>Is this discussion about how meaningful RR's life is? The opinions he voices and his writings are what matter. It is perfectly acceptable to judge him on that basis. </p>
<p>If I wanted to discuss his sexual preferences, I would have done so. Before labeling the closet reference as gratuitous, you ought to consider reading some of his prose ... it might become apparent to you what role the closet played in his youth. </p>
<p>FWIW, you may consider being ashamed of your parents to be human, I consider it to be despicable. How can RR speak on behalf of an ethnicity he clearly despises for being his own? Actually, I probably was wrong to say that RR studied Dickens. If he did, he must have skipped Great Expectations!</p>
<p>"How can RR speak on behalf of an ethnicity he clearly despises for being his own?"</p>
<p>Simple: he can't. Because nobody can "speak on behalf of an ethnicity". Period. You can speak as a member of that ethnicity, but even that doesn't give your opinion any extra validity, it just makes it more likely that you know what you're talking about. In the interview, RR certainly doesn't appear like he's trying to speak on behalf of anyone but himself. But regardless, even the President of Mexico can't "speak on the behalf of an ethnicity". </p>
<p>In a world where most mexican people don't go to college, isn't going to college in the first place "acting white"? I don't understand how someone can be pro-affirmative action, and yet want to confine people to their ethnic stereotypes. This whole "sell out to their ethnicity" thing really ****es me off. Chinese-American majors in English and he's a "banana". African-American decides to become a banker and he's an "oreo". It's racist, and it's wrong.</p>
<p>Be ashamed of ones parents as a youth is about as common as the sun rising in the east. Half of teen comedy is based on that premise.
Are you black or hispanic? Do you despise Cosby for taking on the failures of his people?
When RR was a youth everyone was in the closet.
BTW and FWIW there are many successful Mexicans, Cubans, PR's and the rest who are not pro AA. They think for themselves and RR has plenty of similar thinking Mexicans to spend time with if he wishes. Here's one that would enjoy having a beer, I mean a cervaza, with him anytime.</p>
<p>I wish I would have had this when I wrote my admissions essay. I agree with BigBrother, I am a light-skinned Hispanic and when other Hispanics learn that I to am Hispanic they comment that they thought I was white because I act white.</p>
<p>Barrons, your comment, "When RR was a youth everyone was in the closet." clearly shows that you have read very little -if any- of RR's books and articles. </p>
<p>I have no doubt that you could enjoy a cerveza in the company of RR. I am sure that his aversion to function as a role model amply qualifies him for being a great beer-buddy. RR may have a few successful "compadres" who, like him, believe in making sure to take the ladder with them when climbing up in the ranks of society. There are, however, many more successful people who believe in giving back and helping the less fortunate. </p>
<p>Faxanadue, I have no idea how the cynical and utterly flawed example of RR could have helped you write a compelling admission's essay.</p>