"Appreciating Ethnic Diversity with _When I Was Puerto Rican_," Colleen A. Ruggieri

I really enjoyed this article. I liked that Ruggieri addressed not only Hispanic students but all minority students, that she gives great activity and discussion suggestions, that she suggests many texts, that she quotes and explains the pertinence of When I Was Puerto Rican, and that she even points to Antonio Novello as a person to bring up to and discuss with students.

Ruggieri's observations are often keen and she packs tons of information and ideas into a short article without losing sight of her thesis. I think one of the most important things she addresses is the idea of assimilation. Is there such a thing as too much assimilation? I remember Ruggieri's discussion of Negi (When I Was Puerto Rican's protagonist) and her feelings of guilt about enjoying pizza and "American life," as well as her opening discussion of a Puerto Rican student's wish that his parents had taught him Spanish instead of wanting him to "'be more American.'"

There are so many good ideas in this article, and I think many of them can be applied not only to English classes, but also to social science and history classes, especially the parts that deal with assimilation, the melting pot theory, immigration in general, and the immigrant experience regarding work, school, language, and prejudice.

Ruggieri's activity and discussion recommendations allow teachers to offer their students an avenue to express and share with other students their personal experiences and help them see the prejudices with which minorities are faced and the social choices they must make. There is a great balancing act taking place for many of our students and allowing them to share those experiences not only teaches whole student populations (and teachers, too), it provides the opportunity for immigrant students (or children of immigrants) to see that they are not alone and that they can, indeed, be successful both personally and professionally.