Richard Rodriguez, a writer who in 1990 had just published his autobiography, Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez. He talks about his growing up in the American melting pot society. He denounces affirmative action and bilingual education, and advocates the melting pot ideal. He believes that children who use their family languageʺ in school will not be able to enter the public realm in an adequate way. According to Rodriguez, family and school should remain separate. He discusses the impact of language on life, and the use of language as a force of separation.