Mexican American Education: Learning from the Past, Prospects for the Future
Dr. Ruben Donato


The segregation of Mexican American children (in schools) extended to an existing duality that was similar to that of the African American experience…(it) reflected the social divisions within the larger society…

Dr. Donato spoke about the educational experiences of Mexican Americans in the American southwest from a historical and contemporary perspective with a focus on school segregation. It is important for educators across the U.S. to understand what Mexican Americans have faced in public schools in the southwest because Mexican American communities are now developing in many other parts of the country, especially in the American South.

School segregation evolved for Mexican Americans in the southwest after the U.S.-Mexican war in 1848 and became entrenched (by custom although not law) by the 1930s. To this day it continues to be an issue for a substantial number of Mexican American children and youth. In fact, although segregation decreased somewhat during the bussing era, in the post-busing era it has been increasing again.

The segregation of Mexican Americans in schools reflected the social divisions within the larger society in the southwest that was formed by residential segregation, political disenfranchisement, labor market differentials, socioeconomic disparities, and racial oppression. In schools it took the form of either segregated classrooms or segregated schools with inadequate resources, poor equipment, and unfit accommodations.

The idea behind the segregation was to Americanize the Mexican child in a controlled cultural and linguistic environment. In many cases this was considered an educational necessity. At the same time, popular and academic opinions held that Mexicans were a problem for the schools because of their alleged intellectual, cultural, social, economic, moral, and physical inferiority. In reality, segregated schools did not help Mexican children gain the skills to they needed to compete in mainstream classes, and many of these children dropped out from elementary or junior high schools.

In the later part of Dr. Donato’s presentation, he discussed his six recommendations for systemic reform to improve the education of Mexican American children and youth:

• Provide low-income, urban schools with a disproportionately larger amount of resources since they have greater needs than other schools.
• Make low-income, urban high schools smaller so that there is more and better teacher-student interaction.
• Implement AVID (Achievement Via Individual Determination) programs to enhance students’ social and cultural capital, i.e., maintain high standards for all students including having them all take college preparatory courses and creating a sub-culture of academic achievement. • Form coalitions of African Americans and Mexican Americans working together on improving the schools for their children since they share common concerns and problems.
• Expose pre-service teachers to critical theory in teacher education programs so that they are able to develop activities to work for social justice and change.
• Increase Mexican American representation on school boards.