Richard Rodriguez Home Quotations

Now we have this idea that, not only do you go to first grade to learn your family's language, but you go to a university to learn about the person you were before you left home.

In some countries, of course, Spanish is the language spoken in public. But for many American children whose families speak Spanish at home, it becomes a private language. They use it to keep the English-speaking world at bay.

But America isn't a country of family values; Mexico is a country of family values. This is a country of people who leave home.