Challenges Facing Chicano Students in American Education

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Hispanic population has been increasing since the 1930s. As the article, Historical Development of Chicano/a Student Organizations: Their Role in Post-Secondary Education Recruitment and Retention, mentioned, “Even more discouraging is census data indicating that approximately 50% of Chicanos/as leave high school before graduation (U.S. Bureau of Census, 1994)” (pg. 1). This quote displays the number of Chicano students that are not motivated to continue furthering their education. This is a very serious issue because the population of Mexicans is increasing, but they are not able to incorporate their expertise in various field industries. In addition, the ratio of Chicanos attending college to the number of students living in California do not correlate. The percentile of Chicano students attending diverse universities like UC Davis is low. With the ____ changes in society, the number has slightly increased, but it is not sufficient enough. Over the past 80 years Chicanos in the United States dealt with social nuances that prevented many of them from pursuing or furthering their education in universities, due to second generation discrimination, immigration patterns, economic issues and _____.
I never realized the seriousness about Hispanic students questioning their identity and not attending college until I experienced it in my previous course Chicano Studies. I was very fortunate enough to have a class that demonstrated how students not taking courses related to their cultural history history become less motivated to attend college expenses and lack of motivation. Being a Chicano student is very difficult because the number of Chicano students attending college is very small and causes students to lack of motivation. STEM m...

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...urses in high school. The purpose of having these requirements was to Americanize bilingual students during the 19th and 20 century. However, most of the times, it confused Chicanos more because English is a complex language and American history was greatly influenced by other ethnic groups. As Guadalupe San Miguel Jr stated, "Not only the language but the curriculum was foreign to most Spanish-speaking students . . . the public schools did not teach the traditional subjects of La Doctrina Catolica. Instead they emphasized secular subjects.” (Status of the Historiography of Chicano Education: A Preliminary Analysis pg. 528) This goes to show that Mexicans are not able to interpret religious or cultural texts because of the confusion transitioning form to distinct languages, along with not being able to distinguish the difference between Catholicism and Christianity.

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