Brown, Not White: School Integration and the Chicano Movement in Houston

2. Providing for the Schooling of Mexican Children

chapter 2 Providing for the Schooling of Mexican Children During the twentieth century Mexican children in Houston received instruction from different types of educational institutions, including Catholic schools, private secular instruction, and public education.1 Although diverse forms of schooling existed, by the late 1920s public education became the dominant means of formal instruction in the community as local authorities established an increasing number of segregated “Mexican” schools throughout the barrios. Despite their location in the barrios, the schools were alien to the community and did not serve its specific needs. School board members, administrators , and teaching staff, for the most part, were non-Mexican, did not speak Spanish, and were indifferent or, at times, hostile to these children . Most educators viewed Mexican children as racially or culturally inferior. They also demeaned and denigrated their linguistic and cultural heritage. Generally speaking, school authorities took positions that clashed with the community’s academic and cultural interests. The community, for example, desired educational facilities for all children , but local officials denied Mexican children full access to the existing resources or failed to establish sufficient schools for them. The Mexican community also supported additive Americanization, i.e., the learning of American ways and the preservation of Mexican traditions. School officials , however, advocated subtractive Americanization—that is, they supported the learning of American cultural forms and the “subtraction” of the Spanish language and Mexican cultural heritage from the schools. Through these actions public school officials sought to legitimize and af- firm the dominance of Anglo-only cultural and religious values. The Mexican-origin community, likewise, sought to use the schools as instruments of upward mobility, structural integration, and civic involvement . But local school officials had other purposes in mind for them and sought to use the schools for reproductive ends. For public officials, the schools became instruments of social control aimed at reproducing the existing social class structure and the dominant-subordinate relations found between Anglos and Mexicans in the larger society. This dynamic interaction between two cultural groups occupying varying positions in the society and with quite distinct views and needs is reflected in the history of Mexican-origin education in Houston during the twentieth century. origins of public education for mexican children, 1900 – 30 Public schooling for Mexican children in Houston originated during the first three decades of the twentieth century. Because of class bias, racial prejudice, inadequate resources, and their subordinate status in the larger society the nature of the education provided for this group of children was substandard and inadequate to meet their diverse needs. Mexican-origin individuals obtained increased but inequitable access to segregated and unequal schools. They also received an inferior quality education and a subtractive curriculum. The ultimate result was the establishment of a historic pattern of uneven academic performance characterized by a tradition of poor school achievement and minimal school success. Because of discrimination and high withdrawal rates from the public schools in the early decades of the twentieth century, segregation was confined to the elementary grades. Politics, prejudice, and population shifts were key in the establishment of segregated facilities during these years.2 Public school officials in Houston began to provide segregated schooling for Mexican-origin children in the early part of the twentieth century.3 The earliest evidence of schooling for Mexican children is in 1900. In this year a handful of Mexican children enrolled in the old Rusk Elementary School located in the heart of El Segundo barrio.4 This school originally was constructed to serve white children residing in the community, but once Mexican children began enrolling, the groups were segregated. Segregation initially began in the drinking-fountain area and in the cafeteria 20 Origins and Development, 1900–60 but soon spread throughout the school. As Anglo families found alternative schools for their children, local officials did little to discourage white flight and soon began to neglect the school’s physical needs. By the latter part of the decade the deteriorating school building became a segregated school for Mexican children.5 The number of Mexican schools increased over time largely as a result of the growing presence of Mexican children in the various barrios. In 1920, for instance, public school officials in the Magnolia Park barrio built Lorenzo de Zavala Elementary largely in response to the growing number of Mexican children in the two predominantly white elementary schools...