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Chicano School Failure Essay

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The worst three plights that are discussed in Valencia’s Chicano School Failure and Success are language/cultural exclusion, teacher student interaction, and Chicano teaching force. Valencia discusses how “Chicano students have experienced persistent and persuasive language suppression and cultural exclusion” in the public-school system (8). These laws and policies were instated, with one purpose, “to ensure the dominance of the English language and Anglo culture” (Valencia 8). White culture enforced this belief, that being bilingual and bicultural will create a threat to the dominant white English-speaking population. In addition, another adversity Chicano students faced is the “limited use of bilingual education” (Valencia 9). In my own K-12 education, I saw …show more content…

The erasure of your bilingualism and biculturalism is something that should not be eradicated from our brains, instead learning English should just be another tool added to our tool kit. In addition to language/cultural exclusion, teacher student interaction is also something that needs to be improved. As mentioned by Valencia, teachers tend to treat different “types” of students different (26). Teachers tend to hold lower expectations for Chicanos, due to the stereotypical notion that Chicano students are less intelligent than white students. With that thought seeded within an instructor’s mind, the system is already flawed from the beginning. Certain individuals even believe that there are undesirable traits attributed with your race (Valencia 26). With teacher’s racist beliefs, they will only further perpetuate the stereotype that Chicano students do not remotely compare to white students. A Chicano teacher force is also needed. Role models are important in any child’s life, white or Chicano. It is important to note that Chicano students need role models that look like them, so they can picture themselves in the near

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