“To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act.” – Anatole France

According to Malcolm Forbes “Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.” In his book “Hunger of Memory”, Rodriguez tells the story of his education, an education with its ups and downs. He says “education is not an inevitable or natural step in growing up”. Rodriguez may have been a successful student, but, as he realized, his academic success contributed to his alienation from his parents and from his former world. He left the barrio for the British Museum. But, as he argues, the separation from one’s parents is a necessary step for everyone’s development and education of life. In order for one to experience and participate in public life, one must make this difficult decision of “abandoning” his parents and “the old ways”.

In the essay “The Achievement of Desire” Richard Rodriguez reminisces about his experiences as a scholarship boy. It is through his reminiscing that Rodriguez realizes his academic success came at a price: “For the first time I realized that there were other students like me, and so I was able to fra

Victor Hugo said “There is nothing like dream to create the future. Utopia to-day, flesh and blood tomorrow.” This is one of the things that Rodriguez teaches us in his story. Even though he had Mexican parents and came out of the barrio, even though he was a homosexual, which needed a lot of courage in his time, he still managed to dream and to overcome all the barriers. Local boy made good!

me the meaning of my academic success, its consequent price – the loss”.

Part of the development of the child is the desire to leave home and become “his own man”. Initially, he tries to forget where he came from. After tackling life and after being able to do what he always desired to do, he tries to recover his family values. “Then nostalgia began.” “Nostalgia” is used as a motif in “The Achievement of Desire”. He wanted to be less alone. He spent those three summer months with his family trying to recover what he lost in his quest for knowledge. Every positive has a negative. The essay achieves the form of a circle. Initially, there was only him and his family. Then education and school appeared in his path. He gave up his family in order to follow the path of education. In the end, he returned to his family and his roots. The circle was complete.

Some topics in this essay:
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