This statistic shows the lack of diversity in the educational work force. Robert Jensen, a professor at the University of Texas and the author of the 1998 White Privilege Shapes the U.S., points out a simple observation; that even white professors who lack the preparation and knowledge that is required in order to successfully teach, can have their disqualifications easily overlooked based not only on their race, but also on their social class, and often times their
One of the most strived for things in life is academic excellence however the path to it is never easy. Author Thompson Ford’s article “How To Understand Acting White” outlines Stuart Bucks arguments about the irony of desegregation in education. A separate essay written by, Alfred Lubrano, “The Shock of Education: How College Corrupts” has similar ironies about the average college student. If Ford was to read Lubrano’s essay, Ford would come to a more complex conclusion by incorporating arguments and concepts from Lubrano’s essay. Ford may utilize Lubrano’s essay to expand on certain concepts such as the proximity effect, socioeconomics, and the level of education in top tier schools to further explain the “acting white” phenomenon from his own article.
In Julie Bettie’s, “Women Without Class”, she studies the differences between white and Mexican-American working-class senior year girls in high school. She aims to explain how race and gender intersect with class to shape both success in high school as well as class future. Not only are symbolic boundaries found between the girls that she studies, but also many factors including cultural capital and peer hierarchy that effect these students. Firstly, the symbolic boundaries created between the preps and las chicas starts with the symbolic economy of style.
The Making of Chicana/o Studies discusses the historical development of Chicana/o studies from Civil Rights movements until today. In addition, the book written in 2011 by Rodolfo Acuña, one of the 100 most influential educators of the 20th century, identifies the mistakes and consequences of Chicana/o studies in the past and offers solutions for the future. It portrays the struggles of becoming Mexican and building of Chicano Studies, the sixties and the rise of the Mexican American youth organization, the trenches of academe, and the resist in the mainstreaming of Chicano Studies.
She notes attending Northeastern University where she felt at odds with the topic of feminism, not for its analysis and empowerment of women, but because as a Latina--in addition to lesbian, teenage mom, and on welfare--her experiences from mainstream feminism were significantly different (141). Noriega’s experience at Latina Lesbians en Nuestro Ambiente (LLENA) exposed her to a multitude of realities in the dealings with being Latina and lesbians in a heteronormative worlds where issues such as, immigration, education, class background, language diversity, etc were being considered and discussed. The author noted that her legacy is defined by her ability to have created an infrastructure where intersectionality is addressed and expressed, such as being Latina/o in the context of civil
In her ethnography account Women without Class, Julie Bettie explores the relationship that class along with race and gender work to shape the experiences of both Mexican American girls and white working class students. In her work, Bettie finds that class cannot only intersect to impact the school experiences of both working class and middle class girls, but also their transition to adulthood and their future outcomes. Thus, Bettie explores how working class girls are able to deal with their class differences by performing symbolic boundaries on their styles, rejecting the school peer hierarchy and by performing whiteness to be upwardly mobile. In women without class, Bettie describes the symbolic boundaries that both las chicas and the preps
“The common denominator all Latinos have is that we want some respect. That 's what we 're all fighting for” - Cristina Saralegui. Judith Ortiz Cofer published the article, “The Myth of the Latin Woman,” where she expresses her anger towards stereotypes, inequality, and degradation of Latin Americans. Cofer explains the origins of these perceived views and proceeds to empower Latin American women to champion over them. Cofer establishes her credibility as a Latin American woman with personal anecdotes that emphasize her frustration of the unfair depiction of Latinos in society.
Although El Plan de Santa Barbara outlined the Mexican American curriculum that would best serve the Chicano population as well as the community, the Chicano Coordinating Council on Higher Education highlights problems that Mexican American students and faculty face to this day. In the Chapter titled Organizing and Instituting Chicano Programs On-Campus, the proposal mentions that “[o]ne target where hostility can focus most damagingly is funding.” Legislation in conservative states, such as Texas
Garcia references Consuelo Nieto beautifully summing up Chicana feminism separate from the mainstream culture explaining, “The Chicana must demand that dignity and respect within the women’s rights movement which allows her to practice feminism within the context of her own culture… Her approaches to feminism must be drawn from her own world” (232). Martha Cotera spoke very much on the subject of race, sex, and class in her most famous book The Chicana Feminist. She dedicated the last section of this book to explain the ways in which Chicana feminism is separate from white feminism and how and why class plays a major aspect in that difference. Today, Chicanas are still working hard on issues directly affecting the Chican@ community such as high school drop outs, healthcare, bilingual education, and immigration reform to help Chican@s gain visibility as a whole group that remains constrained and
The researchers from the study concluded that based on what they survey participants voted that, ‘when we analyzed this perception with beliefs about Latino inequality, the same relationship found for beliefs about African American inequality appeared also: These respondents tend to agree that Latinos do not work hard enough to improve their life circumstances”.15 What many white students attending those universities do not understand that it is not the fault of the minority student’s effort in college, but rather it is the environment the student grew up in. In dominantly Latino and Black communities there are not many resources for
The road to critical literacy in English was not an easy one, however. Also, due to rac-ism as well as sexism, Alvarez had barriers towards her education as well as towards her future job prospects. Males were able to go out of the house and do what they wanted, which could en-tail getting higher education and staying up late (135, 155). Meanwhile, women’s primary goal was to be good wives and good mothers (135). Also, the vast majority of the characters in the books Alvarez read for school were not people of color, which is why Alvarez jumped at the op-portunity of reading about books with people of color as characters (134, 168).
The Latino population in the United States is one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in the country and in 2014 a new record of Latino population was set of 55.4 million, an increase of 1.2 million of the year prior (Krogstad and Lopez, 2015). Since the population of Latinos increased so did the rate of Latinos attending college. One of the major problems we have related to higher education in America is that the Latino male community possesses the lowest high school graduation rate and also the lowest college enrollment of any subgroup (Sáenz and Ponjuán, 2012). Latino males endure many different challenges before heading off to college and while attending college such as being home sick, not fitting in, being discriminated against, experiencing
Delgado and Stefancic (2011) stated that Critical Race Theory explores how “race, racism, and power intersect to create different circumstances for people of color within society [...] and in postsecondary institutions” (as cited in Quaye, 2013, p. 172). Within the field of higher education, it is important for student affairs professionals to recognize how race permeates all aspects of an individual’s life to fully understand their students’ experiences. Unlike other student development theories, such as Baxter-Magolda’s (2008) self-authorship and Abes, Jones, and McEwen’s (2007) Model of Multiple Identities, CRT places race at the “center of the analysis and assumes that race is omnipresent” in an individual’s life (Quaye, 2013, p. 167).
Black women academics are excluded from higher education on two levels. Firstly, they continue to be statistically under-represented in higher education institutions, particularly in senior positions. This is evident in statistical data concerning Black and Minority Ethic (BME) staff as well as statistical data on female academics. Secondly, discrimination occurs within higher education institutions against the minority of BME female staff. To understand this case of exclusion, it is necessary to begin by exploring the statistics surrounding black women academics and progress to consider their experiences in higher education.
Additionally, female children of immigrant parents are also likely to aim towards higher status occupations and reveal this through early educational expectations (Feliciano & Rumbaut, 2007)”. This demonstrates that I am not alone in my struggles, and plenty of Latina daughters have the desire to further their education. As the first in my family to go to college, my education and social class have provided numerous challenges in navigating higher education. Coming from a lower class background, I lacked access to support and resources that were available to more privileged
