Chicano Education in the Era of Segregation

Introduction: Background to Segregation

Introduction Background to Segregation The American public school system has treated Mexican-Americans differently from other Americans; the consequences have contrasted markedly with the proposed objectives of dominant educational policies and practices. To understand the full nature of this contrast, we must first begin by acknowledging that historically, political domination and socioeconomic inequality have dictated the course of educational policy in America. As a result, we find that various factors and conditions external to the Chicano community have shaped the educational experience of that community. This appears evident in the Southwest , for example, where regional agricultural economies relied heavily upon migrant family labor and where the seasonal nature of this type of work affected the schooling process for members of the entire region and for Chicanos in particular. This does not mean, however, that regional factors dominated educational policy as applied to Chicanos. To be sure, that policy originated in national theoretical and practical constructions such as mass compulsory education, intelligence testing and tracking, curriculum differentiation, vocational education, Americanization, and segregation. In part, such international conditions as World War II and the cold war also influenced the development of this policy. This educa- 2 Chicano Education & Segregation tional process has resulted in the inequality in educational achievement between Chicano and Anglo populations, and, as a result, it has impelled Chicano political action to overcome it. The twentieth-century history of Chicano education may be divided into four periods. The first period, 1900–1950, represents the era of de jure segregation. Although there were no laws that mandated the practice of segregation, educators did invoke the state power granted to school administrations to adapt educational programs to the special needs of a linguistically and culturally distinct community. Thus, for example, as early as 1919, the superintendent of the Santa Ana, California , School District referred to a state attorney general’s opinion upholding segregation as a legitimate educational policy for meeting the “special needs” of Mexican children. During the initial forty years of this period, educational policies for Chicanos involved the application of principles of biological determinism. Throughout the period, the Mexican community participated to a high degree in the agricultural economy, although many took up residence in cities and adapted to an urban industrial environment. During the second period, 1950–65, the pattern of segregation remained, but without the deliberate official sanction of Mexican schools. For the most part, this period witnessed an educational policy that adhered to the culture concept: that is, Chicano culture was recognized as an impediment to Mexican-American adaptation to Anglo-American culture. In keeping with this perspective, educational programs tended to emphasize the acculturation of Chicanos to the dominant American culture, while at the same time Chicano laborers experienced an increasing shift away from agriculture and toward urban employment. The third period, 1965–75, marked the militant and reformist era. Not surprisingly, education received much of the attention of the Chicano movement during this period, and the mass demonstration of discontent and demands for change forced substantial reforms of the schooling Background to Segregation 3 process. Programs such as bilingual and bicultural education, affirmative action, integration, curriculum reform, special admission to higher education, and financial aid, provided a substantially modified educational atmosphere. The reform phase, short-lived and quickly subverted by a conservative retrenchment, constitutes the fourth period beginning in 1975. Marked by a political conservatism emphasizing reliance upon traditional individualism and the marketplace and de-emphasizing and questioning the effectiveness of state-sponsored reforms, this period has witnessed at least a halt and, in some instances, a rollback of the reforms enacted during the previous period.1 A comprehensive study of the educational history of the Chicano community has yet to appear. I hope to provide the beginning of such a study in this book by examining the education of Mexicans in the Southwest during the era of de jure segregation covering the first half of the century. My intent includes an interpretation of the roots of inequality in education. The few texts examining the history of Chicano education somehow do not explain oppression. On the other hand, they are long on factual evidence. My analysis emphasizes the political economy (and not merely racial oppression as in most texts) as the key factor in shaping the social relations between the dominant and minority communities. Thus, I focus on an examination of that oppression by dissecting it and holding it up for analysis...