The Fight For Bilingual Education Essay

Orozco explains how the personal actions and organization actions by Mexican Americans in Texas branded an important social movement that she refers it as the “Mexican American civil rights movement.” Orozco climaxes how the work done in the 1920s and 1960s laid the groundwork of social movements to come, rather than the Chicano movement as the begging of the Mexican American social movements.

More young americans nowadays are being raised in homes speaking non-English, but these students are falling behind in schools where there is not a bilingual program available. According to the U.S. Department of Education, in schools without a bilingual education program, 71% of English speakers are at or above the basic requirements for fourth grade reading while merely 30% of non-English speakers reach this level. 35% of English and 8% of non-English speakers reach proficient reading levels while only 9% of English and 1% of non-English speakers perform at advanced levels. It’s evident that the availability of a bilingual program is crucial to the success of an individual who needs the resources that can be given to them through the use of bilingual education. The percentages of the non-English speaking students previously mentioned could undoubtedly be comparable to those percentages of the English speaking students if the education they were being provided with was cohesive to their comfortability, and the material being taught was in a language they could better understand.

In Hunger of Memory, Richard Rodriguez situates his individual experiences with education in such a way as to expose what he sees as the fallacious logic behind bilingual education and affirmative action. He uses arguments to propagate the systematic problems with such programs. His autobiography explains in great detail the entangling problems all American children face by instituting bilingual programs and affirmative action endorsements.

David G Gutiérrez’s Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the Politics of Ethnicity discuss the deep and complex understudied relationship between Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants. This relationship was a natural consequence of the mass illegal immigration from Mexico to the United States that had constantly been increasing the population of “ethnic Mexicans” and along with it brought tensions between those who were Americans of Mexican descent and had been living here for generations and those who had freshly arrived to the United States and as such did whatever they had to do to make a living.

Francisco writes this book and describes his adventures while living illegally in the U.S. He teaches kids around the world that racial barriers aren’t a bad thing but is a good

Becoming Mexican American is George J. Sanchez’s document how Chicanos survived as a community in Los Angeles during the first part of the twentieth century. He goes into detail of how many thousands of Mexicans were pushed back in to Mexico during a formal repatriation. Those that survived in Los Angeles joined labor unions and became involved in New Deal politics.

As we know, Mexican Americans had been oppressed for years in the United States. We can say that they were sometimes treated worse than African Americans. According to the textbook, the Mexican American Political Association (MAPA) formed in 1959, but there were a few memberships. Besides that, “many MAPA members were active in the liberal California Democratic Council (CDC), which supported the Civil Rights movement and promoted representation for African Americans but ignored Mexicans” (Acuna 300). Recognizing that, Gonzales wrote the poem I Am Joaquin, which spoke of the oppression of Mexican Americans to reach out to Chicano youth fighting to get the cultural security and the political and economic justice. The poem was appreciated because it provided the revolutionary movement with a brief statement of Chicano nationalism and ideology. Similar to the poem, the photograph had outlined the Chicano people's political ideology. They wanted to live in the peaceful, non-violent, and they wanted to fight for civil rights and to end the war. In order to promote the Chicano movement, Chicano people had given out many strategies. By 1967, more students of Mexican entered into the colleges. They “formed the Mexican American Student Association (MASA) and on May 13, 1967, Chicano students met at Loyola University (Los Angeles) and founded the United Mexican American Students (UMAS)” (Acuna 309). The organizations mainly gained the rights for Chicano people about the public education, Mexican American studies programs, antiwar, and labor movements. Besides fighting to achieve the civil rights, Mexican Americans established many organizations

Specific Purpose: To inform the audience of the struggle for identification faced by Mexican-Americans as well as provide a brief historical analysis of these struggles.

Chicano Studies has been taught in schools for many years now, however there has been recent issues on whether Chicano Studies should be banned or stay available in schools. Many believe that Chicano Studies has played a beneficial role in student’s success while others strongly disagree. I will be presenting both sides of the issue on whether there should be a Chicano studies curriculum or not. I propose having several regulations for Chicano Studies in a way that may not be too liberal and will essentially satisfy both parties.

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.

Mexican’s are often labeled in American media to be uneducated laborers who do nothing to contribute to the growth of society. The reality is however, that these Mexican laborers who are faced with these preconceptions have contributed a lot to American society as can be seen in the novel "Latino in America" by Soledad O’Brien. This novel highlights the injustices Mexican’s face due to the medias view on them. In this novel Luis Ramirez, a resident of Shenandoah Pennsylvania, is killed in a hate crime committed by a group of white football players at a local high school. Ramirez’s mother wrote how her son always worked two jobs and cared for his

Bilingual Education where Supporters feel that students miss a great deal by not being taught in their family’s language. That children that retain their family’s language will retain a sense of individuality. Their ethnic heritage & cultural ties. Helping Students acquire the skills of a classroom crucial for public success. Rodriguez also discusses the use of teaching and using a single language.

C.  Thesis Statement – The Us education system is alarmingly promoting the Hispanic achievement gap with segregation, discouragement and discrimination.

The Mendez v Westminster case of 1946 ultimately attempted to create an education system that strived to promote success for children of Mexican descent by desegregating the public schools in California. Racist individuals dominated society by supporting these segregated schools which lacked a full staff and satisfactory teaching materials, thus inhibiting Latino youth from attaining a noteworthy educational experience. A photograph of Hoover Elementary, a “Mexican” school, found in the Frank Mt. Pleasant Library of Special Collections shows the horrible

Depicted on the cover of Quixote’s Soldiers is a group of Mexican- American men and women in protest formation. They carry with them signs that say “Justice for La Raza,” “Ando sangrando igual que tu,” and “Cops out of our communities!” David Montejano argues that Mexican- American reform groups are often left out of the Civil Rights Movement taught in a classroom. San Antonio was the birthplace of the Chicano movement. Here, various organizations were formed to encourage the government to increase Mexican- Americans opportunities in the educational field as well as in the work field. The Brown Power movement campaigned for Mexican- Americans to reject assimilation into the American mainstream society, and celebrate their Chicano history.