Cristina Giansante

April 5, 2014
Dr. Martinez/ ESC769

Assignment 2: Culture Study

The history of Mexicans in America has been plagued with discrimination,
segregation, and maltreatment since the first large influx of immigrants arrived.
Throughout history Mexican Americans have fought for their educational rights, but
the struggle continues. Although there has been improvement and greater success
for these individuals, they still struggle with having to fit into an educational system
that has essentially been tailored to fit the norms of Angelo Americans.
In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed between the United
States of America and Mexico. This treaty called for Mexico to give United States
Texas, California, and a large piece of land that would soon be New Mexico, Arizona,
Nevada, Utah, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado. This treaty guaranteed
citizenship with full rights to Mexicans that wanted to continue living in these
territories (National Archives.) Over 90% of the Mexican population stayed and
were told they would be considered white by treaty. However, they were still
discriminated against on the basis of language and culture rather than race (Gross,
2007.) From then Mexican Americans began to see themselves subjected to abuse,
and exploitation.
Between 1850-1880, 55,000 more Mexicans immigrated to the United States
to work in agriculture, mining, and railroad industries. Due to the large expansion of
Cattle Ranches and fruit production, United States employers imported large
numbers of foreign manual labor. During the Mexican Revolution (1910-1917) over
50 thousand workers per year migrated to the United States to escape the violence
of the war, and to search for better employment opportunities (McWilliams, 2000.)
Another factor that drew in immigrants was the need for migrant workers during
World War I; many growers in California imported Mexicans in large numbers to
work in their fields to replace Americans who went off to war.
The Immigration Act of 1924 created the United States Border Patrol and a
national origins quota system that limited annual immigration to 1 percent in the
United States (U.S.-Mexico Timeline, 2006.) These events changed the status and
views of immigrants who now became fugitives of law, and also renamed illegal
aliens. With these newly negative views on immigrants, discrimination begun to
further rise.
While the population of Mexican migrant workers increased, so did the
population of Mexican children in schools. During the late 1920s, S. Parker Friselle,
a California grower, was sent to Congress to get Mexican students out of the school
systems. Although many Mexican children worked in the fields some did attend
school, but only for half day. California School Board officials only allowed Mexican
students to attend school in the morning so that they could return to the fields by
noon to work (Starr, 2001.) Due to the discrimination Mexican students faced, they
were segregated from White schools and placed with African Americans. These
students educational rights were disregarded deeply as they were placed in barns
and garages to receive their education. Due to the lack of educators for these
individuals, many classrooms often had over 100 students to one teacher, which
resulted in nearly 50% dropout rates (McWilliams, 2000.)
The 1930s and 40s were large turning points for Mexican Americans as far
as educational rights. Mexican Americans began to challenge the segregation of their
children in Public Schools. Many court cases paved the way for Mexican American
students to receive their civil and educational rights. In 1930, Independent School
District v. Salvatierra was the first Mexican American court case. Jesus Salvatierrra
sued the town of Del Rio, Texas on the grounds that Mexican American students
were not receiving the same resources as their white peers. The Mexican Americans
were forced to go to different schools due to language deficiency and part-time
enrollment during harvest season (Montoya, 2001.) The Texas Court of Civil
Appeals decided that school authorities have no right to segregate and exclude
Mexican American children from other white races. In 1931, Roberto Alvarez v.
Board of Trustees of the Lemon Grove School District took place in San Diego. Alvarez
sued the school district when principal, Jerome Green, of Lemon Grove Grammar
School prevented Mexican American students from entering his white school. These
students were sent to a barn where they would be instructed. Judge Chambers ruled
in favor of Alvarez due to California laws that stated Mexican Americans were in fact
White by Treaty. These students were reinstated back into the Lemon Grove
Grammar School (Montoya, 2001.)
In 1942 the Bracero Treaty was signed between Mexican and the United
States of America to alleviate shortage of labor while soldiers were away during
World War II. More than four million Mexicans came to work temporarily, and
signed terms of labor in English without understanding the rights they were giving
away. However as soon as the war ended in 1947, the Emergency Farm Labor
Service was working to quickly decrease Mexican presence in the labor field to give
American soldiers their jobs back. Mexicans were seen as dispensable and
exploitable to these American employers.
In 1944, Sylvia Mendez was denied admission to an all white elementary
school in Westminister, California. This led to a lawsuit against five Orange County
Schools that claimed Mexican American students were the victims of
unconstitutional discrimination. After two years, the United States Court of Appeals
for the Ninth Circuit ruled that these children could not be segregated due to race,
however could be segregated if they failed their English proficiency exams. Mendez
v. Westminister School District played a large role, and was known as the precursor
to Brown v. Board of Education (Santiago, 2013.) Although these lawsuits helped
advocate for educational rights for Mexican Americans, the segregation and
discrimination was still extremely prevalent.
Mexican Americans faced difficulties integrating into Anglo schools due to
the social and linguistic aspects. There was a large belief that the failure of Mexican
Americans in the school systems was not because of the schools, or society, but the
views and cultural assumptions of Mexicans. This cultural deficit model perceives,
Mexicans, and the Spanish language as irregular and inferior. The assumption that
Mexican American students couldnt achieve success like their Anglo peers was
because of language and cultural differences (Mirande, 1985.)
In present time, Mexicans are the largest Hispanic-origin population in the
United States of America, accounting for more than half of the entire Hispanic
population (Pew Hispanic Center, 2013.) They also represent the largest and fastest
growing group of Latino origin in K-12 schools (Education Week, 2012.) Although
they are the largest and fastest growing group they have the lowest entrance levels
to educational institutions, and even higher levels of drop out rates. Ana Uribe
(2013) writes in her article Migrants, Education, and Culture that only 10% of
Mexican Americans obtain a bachelors degree, and only 4 out of every 10 Mexican
Americans have their high school diploma. According to the census (2012), 80% of
all English Language Learners are Hispanic in the United States, and only 18.7% of
these students are on or above grade level reading. The need for improving success
of these students is a national priority and a very dire situation.
There are several reasons as to why Latinos and Mexican Americans are
struggling with success in the American educational system. Sofia Villenas and
Donna Deyhle (1999) discuss the difference between education, and educacion in
their article Critical Race Theory and Ethnographies Challenging the Stereotypes:
Latino Families, Schooling, Resilience, and Resistence. They discuss how Americans
view the word educated as book and school smarts, but Latinos view the word
educacion as not only school smart but that they have strong morals and values.
Mexicans, as well as Latinos, base their lives around their families and many of these
students are forced to drop out, or do poorly in school because they have strong
family priorities.
It seems as if for Mexican Americans, and fellow Latinos, in order to be
successful in the United States Educational System they must be de-educated first.
The students must lose their language because its not what we use here, and
change their previous cultural values when it comes to school and education. If
these students are incapable of adopting these new values and performing within
the schools, they will unfortunately fail. They are expected to come to this country
and be ready to meet their grade level requirements, even if they have never spoken
English prior.
As educators it is imperative to be aware of these situations and
disadvantages that foreign students face. These students cannot be undermined of
their academic success solely because they lack resources, or language. The national
education system must realize this growing population needs to be assisted and
educated in the proper way to receive their best chance at success, as it is their
human rights as American citizens. As educators we must keep in mind that these
families often come from limited economic backgrounds, educations, and social
resources, therefore they may be reluctant to help their child with school, or actively
interact with the school system. We must create safe, accepting, and welcoming
classrooms where students feel free to be who they are, and take chances. The
growing need for English as a Second or Other Language teachers are a positive sign
for the country, as it shows we are making positive steps in properly educating
these students however we have much ground to make up for as many years have
passed with these students receiving well below adequate educations.
Researching the history of Mexican Americans in America, and their longtime
battle with the United States educational system was extremely eye opening. Prior
to researching I had not the slightest clue of the magnitude of the struggles and
discrimination that Mexican Americans faced in their fight for free and proper
educations. It is very frightening to see how many Latinos are failing or dropping
out due to something they have no control over, such as a language barrier. One
thing I will definitely take with me, and integrate into my teaching is finding a way
to involve the parents of all students regardless of language barriers. If the families
of the students feel involved and accepted I believe the student will feel safer,
accepted, and more responsible in the school. After researching and reading several
articles on Latinos in the educational system I also must remember that if the
students arent finding success in the classroom, changes must be made, and
services must be provided. As simple as that may seem, its apparent that it happens
often and teachers let it go by the wayside. There are many ways to reach a student,
and instruct them even if the language barrier is there, especially through oral and
visual examples. As I instruct in the future, I will definitely take my new findings
and research with me for it provides more of an understanding of the Mexican
culture as well as the issues and discriminations they face. It is my goal to find a way
to connect with these students and properly educate them with hopes that they will
go on to further education and be successful.









References


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from http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/guadalupe-hidalgo/

Gross, A. (2007). The caucasian cloak: Mexican americans and the politics of whiteness
in the 20th century southwest. Georgetown Law Journal, 95, 6-20.

Latinos' School Success: Work in Progress. (2012). Education Week, 31(34), 1-4.

McWilliams, C. (2000). Factories in the field. Boston: Little Brown.

Mirande, A. (1985). The Chicano Experience (Book). Library Journal, 110(13)

Montoya, M. E. (2001). A Brief History of Chicana/o School Segregation: One Rationale
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Nora, A., & Crisp, G. (2009). Hispanics and higher education: An overview of research,
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Starr, R. (2001). FACTORIES IN THE FIELD (Book Review). Journal Of The West,
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Uribe, A. B. (2013). Migrants, Education and Culture. Estudios Sobre Las Culturas
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Villenas, S., & Deyhle, D. (2002). Critical race theory and ethnographies challenging the
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U.S. Census Bureau. (2012). The 2012 statistical abstract: Education. Retrieved from
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