Tam Nguyen Professor Escalante V. English 101: MW May 8, 2014 Chicanos: Oppression to Success Achieving the best education is a rewarding accomplishment for many students, especially for minority groups. It allows the individuals to pursue careers they love and be financially secure. But not everyone has been able to receive the best education possible . Throughout history Chicanos had to face inequality in the education system. They have been segregated, tracked, and denied culturally relevant programs. These problems have driven Mexican American student to fight for education rights with protests and lawsuits. Even though Chicanos have continued to struggle for many years, no progress has been made in the American education system. To this day, Chicanos continue to struggle with inequality in the education system such as the concerns with the increase dropout rates of no English speakers. During the 1930s, Chicano parents, who suffered from Mexican revolution and hard labor, had hope for their America-born children to get the best education possible only to be obstructed by anti-Mexican Anglos that wanted a separate school for children of indigenous background. This issue was addressed in southern California within the Lemon Grove community. The Lemon Grove School District’s reason was that almost half of the students enrolled were Mexican descendant became a threat and claims that Chicano students were handicaps for Anglo students. A secretary of the Lemon Grove parent teacher association, Ms. Mandy claimed, “Overcrowding in the present classrooms, Mexican children are deficient in knowledge of the English Language, causing their classmates to learn at a much slower rate and a separate school would improve morals” (Espinosa)... ... middle of paper ... ...e to districts with large number of language instruction. So with all these propositions going against bilingual students like Mariam’s daughter who was able to learn better with a bilingual instructor, Chicano students will continue to struggle in school with all the political changes going against them. CONCLUSION Chicanos have faced inequalities in segregation of school, unequal treatment of school officials and the ban of ethnic classrooms. They did not accept being walked over without a fight. There was many victories and loses that provide changes in the education system but not all have been resolved. Their struggle in education will continue and to ensure the changes are being met, we must provide the equipment such as facilities, teachers, programs; supports of family, teachers and educators; and provide the funding need to improve the education resources.
Valenzuela utilizes various compilations of research to construct her exceptional argument regarding the issue of subtractive schooling with regards to 2nd generational immigrant students. She thoroughly analyzes and assesses the multitude of differences between 1st generation and 2nd generation students and their affinity for education. She divides the topic into 3 categories and asserts how each one adds to the issue of inadequate education for Mexican/Mexican-American students in the US public school system. Her research is conducted at Seguin (pseudonym) High School in Houston, Texas. She examines the effects of substandard education in regards to the students and their academic performance. She uses quantitative and qualitative research
The essay “Still Separate, Still Unequal”, by Jonathan Kozol, discusses the reality of inner-city public school systems, and the isolation and segregation of inequality that students are subjected to; as a result, to receive an education. Throughout the essay, Kozol proves evidence of the inequality that African American and Hispanic children face in the current school systems.
In American history, civil rights movements have played a major role for many ethnics in the United States and have shape American society to what it is today. The impact of civil rights movements is tremendous and to an extent, they accomplish the objectives that the groups of people set out to achieve. The Mexican-American Civil Rights Movement, more commonly known as the Chicano Movement or El Movimiento, was one of the many movements in the United States that set out to obtain equality for Mexican-Americans (Herrera). At first, the movement had a weak start but eventually the movement gained momentum around the 1960’s (Herrera). Mexican-Americans, also known as Chicanos, began to organize in order to eliminate the social barriers that prevented them from progressing in American society (Bloom 47). Throughout the years of the Chicano Movement, Mexican-Americans had a “desire to integrate into the mainstream culture while preserving their own identity” (Bloom 47). The Chicano Civil Rights Movement was a progressive era when Mexican-Americans had goals that they wanted to accomplish and sought reform in order to be accepted as a part of the United States.
It has often been said, that high quality education is a privilege base on Race and ethnicity. Let’s take Susan’s example, an enthusiastic Mexican teen who aspires to be a lawyer. She came to the U.S. when she was only twelve, she has work twice as harder
Education is the key to individual opportunity, the strength of our economy, and the vitality of our democracy. In the 21st century, this nation cannot afford to leave anyone behind. While the academic achievement and educational attainment of Hispanic Americans has been moving in the right direction, untenable gaps still exist between Hispanic students and their counterparts in the areas of early childhood education, learning English, academic achievement, and high school and college completion.
The Chicano community has endured and overcome many struggles since the conquest by conquistador in 1491 and eviction from Atzlan. Race was used by the white community as tool to structure inequality for the Chicano community by classifying the Chicano community as white but treat them as a minority community. Chicano activist during the Mexican American generation found community self-determination by becoming actively involved in their community and taking hold of their own destiny. The Mexican American activists created a new way of seeing themselves by taking the term Chicano and making the term a symbol for who they truly are and who they want to become. The new ethos of the new identity of a Chicano is community self-determination; it is a community that is in total control of its own destiny.
Many people all around the United States aren't aware of the role that Mexican Americans have played struggling to be accepted in a all one race school. Hearing about the case of Mendez v. Westminster where Mendez was rejected from a “White” school for being dark skin and Mexican has really shook up a story and made headlines everywhere when Mendez parents decided to sew the school district. People don't realize how race can impact any little thing to even registering for an education.
According to the data base form The Struggle for Chicano Liberation states, “The Graduation rates rose well into the 90% and the dropout rates were the lowest it had been in years. Students were excited to be in school and took their education seriously as they went on to bigger and better achievements after graduation” (Pollack 1971). But this program did not come without opposition. In 2011, the state of Arizona started a lawsuit against the school district claiming this ethnic history class was unconstitutional as it was un-American and taught un-American ideas. As students, faculty, and schools are fighting to keep their program or to revoke it, it’s has become an intense debate.
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...
Segregation in schools has been around for a very long time. Recently, schools have become equal to all students, but schools still experience forms of segregation. "African American and Latino students continue to lag behind white students on achievement exams, in high school graduation rates, and college completion rates." (The Pursuit of Racial and Ethnic Equality in American Public Schools : Mendez, Brown, and Beyond by Bowman, Kristi L.) Over the last century American school's racial and ethnic equality has changed significantly.
In a world filled with useful resources, everyone dreams to be able to achieve great things; however, in order to do so, one must attain a respectable fluid and crystallized intelligence; education is a significant part of human resource development. The imparting of education leads to the development of understanding, perception, attitude, and efficiency of the working population. It has been considered as a lever to raise one's position in society as well as a tool to fight against poverty and ignorance; it is a gateway to the American Dream. However, nowadays, the quality of education for the citizens of America is now based on race. For many years now, evidence of discrepancies in accomplishments for students have shown up in grades, drop-out and graduation rates, test scores, and mostly every other pertinent indicator of academic success and performance. Even worse, these significant differences in levels of achievement by African American, Native American, and Latino students (who generally are located in the lower end of the achievement spectrum), with larger numbers of Asian and White students more likely to be found at the higher end, have been accepted as an unproblematic norm. The constancy of such patterns in almost every school district in the nation reinforces suppositions regarding the relationship between race and education.
Many teachers took pride in the way they ran their classrooms. The classes provided a new style of teaching that encouraged students to learn cultural relevance, cultural competence, social justice emphasis, alignment with state standards, and academic rigor (Acosta, 2012). They witnessed many improvements in their students' academic progress and likelihood of graduation. The teachers affected by the ban take the position of being completely against the ban. They believe that the school officials are antagonizing a program that has helped students academically and personally. Another reason is that they have a preconceived notion of the ban being a hate act towards Mexicans. Out of all the ethnic classes offered at Tucson high school, the Mexican American class was the first to go. This notion could have been a result of the adverse thought of Mexican immigrants entering the United States illegally. Most teachers attempted to convince officials to overthrow the bill by creating petitions, protesting, publishing articles, rallies, and sit-ins. Their audience is composed of other high school teachers, students, and parents. They persuade their audience by putting themselves in the same shoes, that way they resonate together to complete a common goal. Teachers are able to talk to every other stakeholder, except school officials. These teachers claim that government or school officials do not wish to listen their pleas because they do not want to differ from their own opinions (Soto, S. & Joseph, M., 2010). The decision of banning Mexican American Studies classes was ultimately finalized by school officials. School officials did not discuss the pros and cons of the ban with teachers, but instead decided on the ban on their
Even though he was born in the United States, his parents are illegal immigrants. As the first generation in his family to enter go to college, Herick is was academically outstanding in his high school. He designed his own webpage in high school while working at in several technological companies to sustain helping his family financially. I asked him how he felt in his high school. His answer surprised me. “Public schools in Denver that admit both white and Hispanic students divide the whole class into two different sections. One part is equipped with the best teachers and resources whereas the other one has the worst teachers and has totally different study pattern.” “Then which part were you in?” I asked. “My school had a test at the beginning of freshmen year of high school to divide students. Since I did well, I was placed in the better group. Hispanics on the other hand were underprivileged and therefore at a disadvantage because they were not properly educated in middle school.” Herick was one of the exceptions who realized the inequality and worked extremely hard to make it into the better part of his high school. The segregation Herick experienced in high school reminded me of Mendez v. Westminster’s story in which Hispanics students were sent to different schools intentionally opposed to different classes. However, even if when he, with his own effort, made it into the better part of his high school tried making the best of it, he
The United States of America has long been considered the “melting pot” of cultures, ethnicities and even languages. For decades, the experience of immigration into America has influenced the linguistic assimilation into the English language, a prevailing characteristic of American society. The rapid growth of English assimilation and the clash with cultural identity extends to modern generations, especially in modern education. David Nieto’s history of bilingual education discusses the influence of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, having initiated the use of bilingual Education in America. Eventually, the Bilingual Education Act of 1974 defined and legitimized bilingual education in schools, which added special programs for minority students
Carger explains that incompetency of teachers attempting to educate students who are limited-English proficient. “The problem… is educational systems which have not adapted successfully to such diversity, which have not looked into the face of such a child and seen beauty and potential, but function instead in a deficit finding mode” (Carger, 7). Carger reveals how society was reluctant in accepting and adapting the culture of Mexican immigrants, which left many to suffer. The suffering is not only seen in Alejandro’s academic challenges, but also in the obstacles of his family’s everyday life. “The Juarez family, which reflects the bronzed race that is Aztlan (decedents of Aztecs), had experienced persistent and abiding prejudice from employers, educators, and community members in general” (Carger, 11).