Just As Spanish Would Have Been A Dangerous Language By Richard Rodriguez

“Just as Spanish would have been a danger language for me to have used at the start of my education, so black English would be a dangerous language to use in the schooling of teenagers for whom it reinforces feelings of public separateness.” When Rodriguez says this, it appeals to the reader’s emotions as well as logic. Rodriguez effectively uses logos and pathos to convey his message that speaking a different language than what’s around you increases separateness in the public. “Just as Spanish would have been a danger language for me to have used at the start of my education…” This part of the quote appealing to logos and saying that if Rodriguez would have used Spanish when he went to school then he would not have made the friends he had,

he wouldn’t have learners what he did, he wouldn’t have become the person he is. If he chose to speak Spanish, the people who were his friends would have been people who also spoke Spanish, he would not be able to understand what the teachers were teaching, therefore learning nothing. “…so black English would be a dangerous language to use in the schooling of teenagers for whom us reinforces feelings of public separateness.” The second part of the quote appeals to pathos. When reading this part of the quote, the reader is then persuaded to think about slavery and segregation in comparison to how speaking a different language would be. In the past, blacks used a language that was different than others, they had slang and different words that meant different things. When they had tried to communicate with others, no one understood what they were trying to say except for other blacks. Thus causing more separation because of language.