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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where does Rodriguez find the description of the "scholarship boy"?

2. How is the "scholarship boy" described?

3. Where does Rodriguez start school?

4. What did Rodriguez learn about other religions beside his own?

5. How does the scholarship boy use education?

Short Essay Questions

1. Does Rodriguez's family have the same level of education he does?

2. What does Rodriguez suggest education does to the scholarship boy? Why does he say that?

3. What does Rodriguez describe as the differences between Mexican Catholicism and English Catholicism? Identify two characteristics of each.

4. How does Rodriguez describe himself as a student?

5. How do Catholic rituals become a part of Rodriguez's life? Which rituals does he describe?

6. Beyond the simple accomplishment of learning another language, what importance does Rodriguez place on learning English?

7. What is special or different about the school Rodriguez attends? How does that affect him later in life?

8. What does Rodriguez identify as the pros and cons of bilingual education?

9. What does Rodriguez discover about language and intimacy? What family member helps him to figure that out?

10. Rodriguez's family continues to speak to him in Spanish. What does that suggest about what they think about the value of Spanish?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Rodriguez repeatedly describes his experience of moving from a small, sheltered, or narrow world to a larger, less protected, more broad-minded world as he grows up. As he grows up, his views change on:

1) Skin color

2) Religion

3) The importance of language as a way to develop intimacy

4) Books

Choose at least two of those. Identify what Rodriguez's original opinion or idea was, what he later starts to believe, and what events in his life led him to change his perspective.

Essay Topic 2

Rodriguez describes a period in his life when he has very low self-esteem.

Part One: Why does he have low self-esteem? What parts of himself does he feel badly about?

Part Two: What happens in his life that makes him feel worse about those things?

Part Three: What happens in his life that makes him feel better about those things? Where does he go or who does he talk to?

Part Four: In your opinion, how much of Rodriguez's low self-esteem is just typical adolescent worrying about self-image? How much of it is a result of his specific situation and the people around him?

Essay Topic 3

Part One: What does Rodriguez argue about bilingual education? Explain his argument thoroughly and give specific examples that he uses to support his argument.

Part Two: Do you agree with Rodriguez's arguments? Why or why not? Provide your own examples to support your argument.

(see the answer keys)

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