ABSTRACT
What visions have immigrants had of America and American schools? What can we learn from the lives of those who have learned to become Americans? Millions of immigrants have participated in American public education, and their reactions to schooling have been, and continue to be, varied. In what follows I examine some of our history of immigrant education policies by comparing and contrasting the experience of two children of immigrants, Richard Rodriguez and Leonard Covello, who have written autobiographies about their educational experiences in America.1 Hunger of Memory (1982) is Rodriguez’ story of how he achieved a public American identity through education. The book and its author have been influential since the 1970s as debates over bilingualism and affirmative action have raged. The Heart is the Teacher (1958) is less well known. It recounts Covello’s life from his days as an immigrant child in America through his years as a principal in the New York City schools. Although Covello and Rodriguez both grew up in immigrant families in the United States, in many ways their stories are quite different: Covello was an Italian American who arrived in New York at the turn of the century, whereas Rodriguez was a Mexican American growing up in Sacramento in the 1950s, Covello’s family lived in a tenement building surrounded by fellow countrymen and the Italian language; Rodriguez’ family lived in a middle-class Anglo neighborhood where the language of the street was English; Covello championed the teaching of immigrant languages in the schools, whereas Rodriguez champions the use of English, the language of public life; Covello’s educational life was community-centered; Rodriguez’ centered on the individual. Yet, the crossing of linguistic and cultural boundaries
between the home and the school held similar consequences for both Covello and Rodriguez in their familial relationships.
