Examples of Possible Responses to Villanueva: Villanueva is right when he says that people shouldn't have to just throw away their own cultural history and identity in order to be successful in this country. I've met dozens of guys like Villanueva, and they're all radicals with no sense of reality whatsoever. They're all the time whining about how white people stole their land, stirring up some sort of unnecessary conflict or another all in the name of "la raza." I would like to be able to agree with Villanueva's argument in favor of bilingual education and in opposition to cultural assimilation. But my experience makes that impossible, since time and again I have seen minority, Hispanic (not immigrant) parents struggle to have their children taught in a monolingual (English) classroom. When I was discussing this issue with my aunt, an Hispanic mother of two who lives in Albuquerque, she told me this Going through the Albuquerque public school system, I realized that bilingual education did nothing to help me succeed in life and school. I dropped out in the 9th grade, but my friends who learned English early went on to graduate. This success is what I want for my kids, even if it means they have to give up a part of who they are to get it. Villanueva's ideas about resisting assimilation go against the time-honored melting pot ideal our nation is founded upon.