Being a Latino/a college student comes with a lot of obstacles and one of them would be suffering from microaggressions. A microaggression is defined as “a statement, action, or incident regarded as an instance of indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group such as a racial or ethnic minority” (Google). Many college students experience micro-aggression, but they might not realize it. Some examples of Micro-Aggression would be a professor assuming one’s ethnic background based on how one looks or other students simply saying, “this is America, speak English”. Another example would be Tiffany Martínez, a Latina student at Suffolk University in Boston, who was blamed of plagiarizing a paper she wrote …show more content…
because according to her professor it sounded “too scholarly.” Being Latino college students ourselves, my Puente familia chose to research the question, “Do Latino College students Experience Microaggression?” we disturbed 75 surveys throughout the local community colleges, Skyline, San Mateo and Canada College.
In addition the articles “The Faces of Discrimination” by Fleming, Mali Michelle, and “ Moving Forward: Future Directions for Improving Institutional Support for Latino/a Students” by Caitlin J. Saladino, Magdalena Martinez demonstrate that Latino/a college student do experience some type of microaggression on their college campus. This essay will explore in greater detail how Latino College students experience microaggression and recommend various of solutions to college administrators to help Latino college students overcome this obstacle that .
One way to keep students interested in their classes would be creating a curriculum that they can relate too. Students would be more interesting in learning about things they can relate to because it makes class more interesting for them. Students do not want to read, nor learn about other culture; they can't relate too. They wanna learn more about their own culture and know what they're learning it is something they can relate and can later on use in life. According to the 75 surveys we conducted
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53.3% of the college students disagree that the instructors include Latino representation/experiences in their curriculum. More than half of the students can't relate to what they're learning in class. Which will make students less interest in the class and most likely not pay attention, nor care for the class. If students where to learn about their own culture experiences they would feel more comfortable in a class, and it would help students also realize that they are not the only ones who have to go through those experiences. In addition according to the academic journal “ From Hell No!” to “ Que Paso?”’; Interrogating a Hispanic-serving Institution Possibility” by Dulcinea Lara and Antonio Lara, “Universities are structured such that they overtly or covertly mandate that Latin@s leave their culture at home in order to succeed in higher education”(Acuna). The school systems needs to restructure their school systems and realize its not working for everyone. That the world is now very diverse and that not all students have the same experiences. The article also states that “ Overall Hispanics overall have the lowest rate of civil participations when compared to whites”(Lara). Latinos students will not participate in activities that they have no interest in, and the school system were to create more activities for Latino/as student the participation rate would go up. If colleges want to see their Latino students succeed a higher education they need to realize it starts by making sure students can relate to the curriculum which will lead for students to be more engaged in class and other activities. Colleges should be more aware of when and where microgroassion happens. Since the U.S is a very diverse country now students should not be scared to speak their own tongue because they might feel like other people will make negative comment about it. Student should know and feel safe when it comes to being who they are and their background. According to the the academic journal “Raughly hands of Hispanics have experienced discrimination” by Jens manuel Krogstad and Gustavo Lopez state, that “Among Hispanics ages 18-29, 65% say they have experienced discrimination or treated unfairly because of their race or ethnicity” (Kragstad and Lopez). That's more than half of the Hispanics who were asked said that they have been treated unfairly in their education or gender because of their race. When students are treated unfairly by others, they start to feel like they don't belong or out of place. This affects students because if they feel like they don't belong they will avoid going to those places and if that place is their college campus they will just give up on their education to avoid feeling left out. According to the academic journal “The face of discrimination” by Fleming, Mali Michelle, tells a story about a Latino Student who was speaking on the phone in spanish and when he hanged up a group of white students asked “ ‘what language were you speaking?’ when he replied that it was Spanish, the students were even more perplexed’ ”(Fleming). Living in the 21st century and in a very diviser country students should not be shocked just because another student is speaking another language. This causes students to feel insecure about their own language. In a latina college student education their professors have a big impact on their journey for a higher education.
If professors make a student feel less because of their race or ethnicity they are more likely to become less interested in their education and start to feel like school is not for them. For example is in the article “Latina College Student Used ‘Hence’ In Paper, Is Accused Of Plagiarism” by Elyse Wanshel. Explain what happened with Tiffany Martínez, a Latina college student at Suffolk University in Boston. Tiffany Martinez used the word “Hence” in one of her papers and her professor accused her of plagiarizing the paper and gave her an F. (Wanshel). Just because she was Latina her professor believed that she was not capable of writing a good paper. Professors should not view any of their students less because of their skin color nor background. What professors don't realize is that students become less interested in school when they received negative feedback just based on their looks. Tiffany Martinez also states that “[Her] last name and appearance immediately instills a set of biases before [she] [has] the chance to open [her] mouth.”. Latino college Students should not feel this way about themselves; They shouldn't feel insecure about their names or appearances because of how others will view them. Latino college students receiving negative comments will just make them doubt themselves and start to believe what others have to say. Colleges should make
sure that all their students are being treated equally and their skin color nor their names will impact how others view them academically. If instructors were to include Latino representation or experiences in their curriculum. Learning about things that have to do with ….. In the Academic journal “ Moving Forward: Future Directions for Improving Institutional Support for Latino/a Students” by Caitlin J. Saladino, Magdalena Martinez. The authors talk about “Recommendations for academics and practitioners as colleges and universities prioritize institutional policies and programs to ensure Latino/a student success”(103 Saladino, Martinez). After all Latinos and other races in the U.S will be the future leaders of this country and to ensure that the country will be in good hands and motivate students to succeed a higher education. The academic journal always states that “ Educators can incorporate Latino/a culture as a strength rather than a deficiency.” (103 Saladino, Martinez). The college system is built to make Latinos students feel like they have to leave their culture at home to be able to succeed a higher education. This forces students to learn how to code-switch between their home culture and the American school system, because for students those two things are completely different. There is some students who are not able to cope with the struggle having to code-switch that they rather lose their culture identity because school system make it hard for students to feel secure that even with their background culture they are able to succeed a higher education.
In the article “Academia, Love me Back”, by Tiffany Martinez, the author writes about the stereotyping by her college professor and society in general. She contends that her college professor is biased based on the comments her professor wrote on her assignment. She establishes her academic credentials, describes a biased society against Latinos, describes the racism she has encountered personally, describes her feelings of inadequacy, and makes a challenge to academia at the end. Martinez effectively communicates her arguments to academia based on her logic, organization, and style.
Tara Yosso’s is a motivational, informational book that gives us an insight and awareness of how the Chicana/o students struggles throughout their education in the American society. Critical Race Counterstories Along the Chicana/Chicano Educational Pipeline, portrays how Latino students have been marginalized in the educational system. Yosso addresses the problems that might be hindering students of color to drop out of school to continue to higher education. She does this research by analyzing various situations that still happen in the K-12 educational system, as in high school, and higher education. Yosso also addresses counterstories to better understand the experiences and struggles Chicanas/os go through in their schooling. Counterstories are important to be able to know what Chicanas/os struggles go through. Also tells about the outcomes that Chicanas/os have overcome when they are in a situation were they ate being underrepresented and how they have been dealing with these unequal educational opportunities. Her book addresses, awareness of how the Chicana/o culture is being underrepresented in the American educational system. It gives an understanding of why the Chicana/o students are leaking out of the educational pipeline. It also shows the obstacles this Latino students have to face to be able to make it through the educational pipeline. Chicana/o students want to continue to higher education they have to transform the educational system and acknowledge this culture to be successful instead of setting them to failure. Furthermore, this critique will analyze the strengths and the weaknesses of Tara Y...
A student should never be denied the right to learn and become successful because of a different skin color, or because they speak a different language. “No saco nada de la escuela” by Luis Valdez is a play that discusses the racism in schools. The play starts with students going to elementary school and then ascending to middle school and college. At the beginning the students were not aware of what racism really was because of their innocence. However, the teacher that they had was very racist and bullied the students of color. That experience made the other kids realize that not everyone was the same and because of color or language they should be treated differently. There are five different students who take part of this play, two of those students were white, and there were two Chicanos and one black. That is great diversity of cultures. The teacher that the students have in elementary school was an example of the other professors they were going to have throughout their school years. Very arrogant and not understanding of the minority students. Their teachers were not really interested in teaching the minorities and always showed her discontent of having students of color. Their teachers didn’t believe that students who were part of a minority should be placed in the same classroom as the white students. Maybe that was because they didn’t know the potential a minority student could have. One Chicano student named Francisco never denied his roots and became very successful. He had many obstacles in his learning environment, but at the end he becomes a great example of perseverance. Francisco is the student who I think showed the greatest development in the play. He had to deal with racism all the time, but that didn't stop ...
This claim, is not only false but also ignores the diversity among students that mirrors U.S. today. Ethnic Studies acknowledges that everyone is from various backgrounds, they tailor the curriculum as needed to make sure inclusiveness even with students who aren’t considered part of the Mexican American culture. In addition, those opposed hold the concept that all students will be treated equally and gives the dangerous, rather radical notion of color blindness,in treating all students the same and not accounting for their cultural backgrounds, language barriers, socioeconomic status etc. This is very harmful to their overall well-being because one is disregarding crucial aspects of one’s lives that negates opportunities for POC and goes along with the rhetoric of individualism. In the article “Edu as an Instrument”, illustrates how legislators such as Horne and Huppenthal thought about Ethnic Studies, their false assumptions and critiques of the program. Since their culture shown as dominant to what's considered “American”, these legislators have white privilege. This place of simply being the dominant culture, gives little leeway for them to understand what it means to become discriminated against based on the color of one’s skin and don’t
The backlash that Sotomayor experiences because of her decision to apply to and her acceptance into Princeton reveals how most Puerto Ricans experienced forms of racialization, or racial classification, by Caucasian Americans. Sotomayor experiences the culmination of years of racial discrimination and oppression when her school nurse asks with an “accusatory tone” and a “baleful gaze” how she got a “likely” and the “two top-ranking girls in the school only got a ‘possible’” (Sotomayor 102). She expects Sotomayor to experience “shame” under her gaze because her “perplexed discomfort” in answering her question is “clearly not enough” (102). The nurse demonstrates society’s common expectation for Puerto Rican and other minority students to not be at the same intellectual level as Caucasian Americans.
In the book “Academic Profiling” by Gilda L. Ocho, the author gives evidence that the “achievement gap” between Latinos and Asian American youth is due to faculty and staff of schools racially profiling students into educational tracks that both limit support and opportunities for Latinos and creates a divide between the two groups. Intersectionality, the ways in which oppressive in...
Latino grassroots politics in the academic realm has been considered as predominantly Chicano in nature. However, the geometry of this academic sector is no longer one dimensional, due to the formation of a Chicana feminist consciousness; the rise of an identified gay community within the Chicana/o student populace; and the emergence of “Latinos” in era of Chicanismo, The abrupt growth of Latinos (e.g. Spanish speaking of Mexican, Central or Latin American decent) in the United State’s educational system led the general population to characterize them as subjects on the cusps of political power and influence. But this widespread depiction of Latinos as an untapped potential is intrinsically linked to an impression of civic cohesion within the Latino student population. Although there is a correspondence between these parties in terms of the alienation they have felt and the discrimination they have endured throughout their academic careers, there is a minimal collective effort in confronting against their oppressive status. This is mainly a result of conflicting ideologies and social agendas within the Latino student community, as well as the relegation of Hispanic subgroups into the lower echelons. Latino students, nevertheless, have demonstrated their capacity, when both Chicanos and the marginalized Hispanic subgroups join efforts to reach a communal objective. This debunks the historical notion that Chicano students are the only group of Hispanics in the academic sphere that have been actively challenging the processes of social exclusion, and also displays the capacity of a collaborative effort.
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva and Sue both demonstrate from their research that Whites do not comprehend the impact of their unconscious biases. These biases towards students of colour in a white-based post-secondary school environment can result in stress and weak interracial relationships. This is an issue since the significance of these everyday actions is not fully recognized and acknowledged. I will elaborate on a variety of examples, specifically the influence of the peers, and faculty.
Students were grouped by IQ, those who had an above average or higher were helped to go to college and those who had a low IQ’s were not given the support or the push needed to get them into college. Educators allowed low education standards and refused to see students as equals. The advisors set students sights low for the future by encouraging how service jobs were a practical choice for us Mexicans. Cleaning houses were the normal thing to do for Mexican-American females. Students were tired of the inadequate staff and the staff's lack of concern for their students. The students sent out a survey among the other students to see if they were satisfied with what they were getting from their education. The result was that the schools and instructors were not meeting the needs of the students’ more so of the Chicano students.
Similarly, research literature on the experience of women of color college students has placed emphasis on exploring women’s experiences with racism much more than their experiences with sexism. Recent studies have explored racism on college campuses in a variety of ways including, racial discrimination (Chao, Mallinckrodt, & Wei, 2012; Henson, Derlega, Pearson, Ferrer, & Holmes 2013; King, 2005), colorblind ideologies (Coleman, Chapman, & Wang, 2013), racial stereotyping awareness (Johnson-Ahorlu, 2013; Muñoz, & Maldonado, 2012) , typology of racial incidents (Harwood, Huntt, Mendenhall, & Lewis, 2012; Yosso, Smith, Ceja, & Solorzano, 2009) , racialized school spaces (Barajas & Ronnkvist, 2007), and internalized racism (Hipolito-Delgado, 2010). Findings from these studies suggest that a major implication of racism on college campuses is the impact these in...
The adage of the adage of the adage of the adage of the a College access and the K-16 pipeline: Connecting policy and practice for Latino student success. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 3(2), 117-124. Saunders, M., & Serna, I. a. The adage of the adage of the adage of the adage of the a Making college happen: The college experiences of first-generation Latino students. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 3(2), 146-163.
Solorzano, D., Ceja, M., & Yosso, T. (2000). Critical race theory, racial microaggressions, and campus racial climate: The experiences of African American college students. Journal of Negro Education, 69(1/2), 60-73.
Americans have pursued negative stereotypes specifically with Hispanics as a way to give Latinos a racial value that separates them from Americans. This results in Latino Americans feeling like they aren’t “American enough” and they aren’t welcomed in their own country. A lot of the stereotypes that are given to Hispanics are mainly negative and meant to give a name for a whole ethnicity. A very common
Latinos face a lot of discrimination when they come to the united stated or they try to assimilate to the American culture. Most immigrants have to deal with the police investigating them because they think they are all drug dealers or are in some type of illegal organization. They also have to deal with people calling them names because of their skin color. Americans also accuse Hispanics of stealing their jobs (Ramos, 53). They also face seeing racist graffiti on homes or wall of a building and they have to face hate crimes (Plunkett, 15). They sometimes get excluded from white communities (Plunkett, 39). Latinos are also blamed for serious problems the country faces (Ramos, 195). There are reasons for Americans to discriminate Latinos and reasons why they shouldn’t discriminate them.
Getting people, especially kids interested in school is the one and only thing that no one has quite figured out yet. If you teach on a project based learning curriculum you take the risk of having kids fall into a lazy slump. If you teach primarily with textbooks and lectures, you run the risk of kids skipping and falling asleep. Is there truly a way of keeping kids entertained while teaching them the necessities? A study done in Lincoln, Nebraska by Laura Parn states “As teachers, we are getting so busy and burdened with the federal, state, and district requirements that we forget to think about the emotional needs of our students. It is not common that we have time to stop and think about what our students want or desire, but according to Damico and Roth (1994), it is necessary for the success and engagement of our pupils”. This proves that the challenges in the educational system need to be seen and acted upon by higher ups before public schools can even think about making a difference. That really does make things exceedingly difficult because we all know how long it takes federal higher ups to make decisions. Laura also says that teachers tend to forget about the emotional needs of students. Which is very unfortunate because when a teacher helps you with a math problem, or eve...