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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. What does his mother think about his reading?

2. How does Rodriguez feel about his religious education?

3. How does Rodriguez feel about learning English?

4. What two versions of his religion does Rodriguez say his parents had to choose between?

5. Does Rodriguez think his religious education had the effect it was supposed to?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Rodriguez describe each language (Spanish and English) differently?

2. Why does Rodriguez say he spent so many years in the classroom?

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

4. How does learning to speak English change Rodriguez's mother? His father?

5. What does Rodriguez identify as the symbol of how these two versions of Catholicism intersect in his life?

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

7. How does Rodriguez describe himself as a student?

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

9. What does Rodriguez say about his experience of growing up Catholic?

10. What do other people think of the "scholarship boy"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Rodriguez claims that it is his education that made him successful. That is the reason he is writing this history of his education.

Part One: Find examples that prove his point. How is the person he is today a result of getting a good education?

Part Two: Find examples that disprove his point. What other advantages does he have (for example, where he lives, people he knows, personal characteristics) that could have led him to be successful even without a great education?

Part Three: Decide for yourself -- did Rodriguez's education make him successful? Explain your reasoning.

Essay Topic 2

Rodriguez clearly sees books as something powerful and potentially dangerous. Early on in the book, Rodriguez describes himself as being afraid to learn to read because he was aware of the power of books. Later, he describes his mother asking him what was in all those books and why he needed to read all of them. At the end of the book, he describes his nephew, who is reading, as someone who may cause trouble.

Part One: What has happened in his life to lead him to that conclusion? Give specific examples.

Part Two: Do you think other people in the book would agree with his conclusion? Why or why not? Give specific examples.

Essay Topic 3

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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