Subtractive Schooling

Angela Valenzuela

Description

Winner of the 2000 Outstanding Book Award presented by the American Educational Research Association
Winner of the 2001 American Educational Studies Association Critics' Choice Award
Honorable Mention, 2000 Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Awards

Subtractive Schooling provides a framework for understanding the patterns of immigrant achievement and U.S.-born underachievement frequently noted in the literature and observed by the author in her ethnographic account of regular-track youth attending a comprehensive, virtually all-Mexican, inner-city high school in Houston. Valenzuela argues that schools subtract resources from youth in two major ways: firstly by dismissing their definition of education and secondly, through assimilationist policies and practices that minimize their culture and language. A key consequence is the erosion of students' social capital evident in the absence of academically oriented networks among acculturated, U.S.-born youth.
Tables

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Chapter 1
Introduction

The Study
Mexican Immigrant and Mexican American Achievement
The Subtractive Elements of Caring and Cultural Assimilation
Unmasking Barriers to Progress

Chapter 2
Seguín High School in Historical Perspective: Mexican Americans' Struggle for Equal Educational Opportunity in Houston

The Early Years
Changing Demographics and the "Mexicanization" of the East End and Seguín High
Ross v. Eckels and the Struggle for Just Integration
The Seguín School Walkout
Conclusion

Chapter 3
Teacher-Student Relations and the Politics of Caring

Teacher Caring
The "Uncaring Student" Prototype
"Americanized" Immigrant Youth
"Not Caring" As Student Resistance
Caring and Pedagogy
When Teachers Do Not Initiate Relation
Contributions and Limitations of the Caring and Education Literature
Love Is One Taquito Away

Chapter 4
Everyday Experiences in the Lives of Immigrant and U.S.-Born Youth

The Experience of Schooling for Mexican Immigrant Youth
Immigrant Youth and the Question of Empeño
Cross-Generational Gender and Social Capital
Social Capital among U.S.-Born Youth
Conclusion

Chapter 5
Subtractive Schooling and Divisions among Youth

Relationships and the "Politics of Difference"
Subtractive Schooling
Divisions among Youth
Conclusion

Chapter 6
Unity in Resistance to Schooling

Mutiny in Mr. Chilcoate's Classroom
Cinco de Mayo, 1993
The Talent Show

Chapter 7
Conclusion

Epilogue: Some Final Thoughts

Appendix: Research Methodology

Notes

References

Index

Sujets

• Education

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 31 mars 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438422626
• Langue: English

Extrait

Praise for Subtractive Schooling
“Valenzuela’s thoughtful and thorough analysis of Latino/a students’ experiences in a large urban school powerfully defines the educational challenges facing Latino immigrant and U.S.-born youth and outlines important elements for transforming their academic experiences.”
— Harvard Educational Review
“Professor Valenzuela’s book suggests what has to change fundamentally for real reform to occur. This ethnography highlights teacher practices that need to be emulated and rewarded. There are models for becoming an effective teacher with Latino/a and other minority students. Overall Subtractive Schooling is a valuable text that is certain to become a standard in sociology courses in the areas of education, race and ethnicity, and Latino/a studies.”
— Contemporary Sociology
“What gives credibility to Valenzuela’s powerful account is excellent ethnohistorical documentation and a profound knowledge of youth’s thought processes. The selection of eloquent and vivid descriptions of the relationships between students and teachers or counselors permits the reader to internalize, from the students’ perspective, the meaning of institutional neglect, hostility, and prejudice on the part of school personnel.”
— Qualitative Studies in Education
“…every government representative, whether at the local, state, or federal level, including the President of the United States, should read this book. Maybe then subtractive schooling would be seen for what it is really worth by people who have the power to ‘subtract’ it from American society, and to replace it with policies of bilingualism and biculturalism.”
— Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
“In focusing her attention on caring … Valenzuela provides an important vantage point from which to consider and understand the implications of educational policies and practices designed to move youngsters into the so-called American mainstream.”
— Anthropology and Education Quarterly
“…a powerful and important addition to the literature on multicultural secondary schooling … Subtractive Schooling greatly increases our understanding of the intricate complexity of ethnicity and schooling practices. At the same time, it provides a model for a more authentically caring approach to ethnography as well as a more authentically caring style of teaching.”
— Bilingual Research Journal
“…groundbreaking….”
— Race and Pedagogy Project
“This beautifully written book provides powerful documentation of the conditions under which many children of color try to get an education in this country. It should be read by both educators and policy-makers. And then something should be done!”
— Nel Noddings, Lee Jacks Professor of Education, Emerita, Stanford University and Professor of Philosophy and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
“Valenzuela’s credible first-hand account of the struggles of Mexican and Chicano high school students brings about a better understanding of underachievement of Latino youth, their feeling of neglect, and their call for help. This volume is a solid sociological study beyond conventional quantitative analysis. It brings the readers into the school and makes them feel in their own flesh the dilemma faced by Latino high school students. An extraordinary contribution; one of a kind. A volume that must be read by teachers and researchers alike.”
— Henry Trueba, coeditor of Ethnic Identity and Power
SUBTRACTIVE SCHOOLING
SUNY series, The Social Context of Education Christine E. Sleeter, editor
SUBTRACTIVE SCHOOLING
U.S.-Mexican Youth and the Politics of Caring
ANGELA VALENZUELA
State University of New York Press
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 1999 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Production by Susan Geraghty Marketing by Nancy Farrell
Cover photo by Emilio Zamora.
“The teacher was surprised…” by Tomás Rivera is reprinted with permission from the publisher of … y no se lo tragó la tierral … And the Earth Did Not Devour Him (Houston: Arte Público Press-University of Houston, 1987)
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Valenzuela, Angela.
Subtractive schooling : U.S. -Mexican youth and the Politics of Caring / Angela Valenzuela. p. cm. — (SUNY series, the social context of education)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-7914-4321-3 (hc : alk. paper). — ISBN 0-7914-4322-1 (pb. : alk. paper)
1. Mexican Americans—Education (Secondary)—Texas—Case studies. 2. Children of immigrants—Education (Secondary)—Texas—Case studies. 3. Mexican American youth—Social conditions—Texas—Case studies. I. Title. II. Series: SUNY series, social context of education.
LC2683.4.V35 1999
371.829’6872073—dc21
98-43568 CIP
17 16 15 14
CONTENTS
Tables
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Chapter 1 Introduction
The Study
Mexican Immigrant and Mexican American Achievement
The Subtractive Elements of Caring and Cultural Assimilation
Unmasking Barriers to Progress
Chapter 2 Seguín High School in Historical Perspective: Mexican Americans’ Struggle for Equal Educational Opportunity in Houston
The Early Years
Changing Demographics and the “Mexicanization” of the East End and Seguín High
Ross v. Eckels and the Struggle for Just Integration
The Seguín School Walkout
Conclusion
Chapter 3 Teacher-Student Relations and the Politics of Caring
Teacher Caring
The “Uncaring Student” Prototype
“Americanized” Immigrant Youth
“Not Caring” as Student Resistance
Caring and Pedagogy
When Teachers Do Not Initiate Relation
Contributions and Limitations of the Caring and Education Literature
Love is One Taquito Away
Chapter 4 Everyday Experiences in the Lives of Immigrant and U.S.-Born Youth
The Experience of Schooling for Mexican Immigrant Youth
Immigrant Youth and the Question of Empeño
Cross-Generational Gender and Social Capital
Social Capital among U.S.-Born Youth
Conclusion
Chapter 5 Subtractive Schooling and Divisions among Youth
Relationships and the “Politics of Difference”
Subtractive Schooling
Divisions among Youth
Conclusion
Chapter 6 Unity in Resistance to Schooling
Mutiny in Mr. Chilcoate’s Classroom
Cinco de Mayo , 1993
The Talent Show
Chapter 7 Conclusion
Epilogue: Some Final Thoughts
Appendix: Research Methodology
Notes
References
Index
TABLES 2.1 Membership Comparisons by Ethnicity, 1968–1977 2.2 Forecast to Year 2000 of Houston Independent School District Membership by Ethnicity 2.3 Number and Percent of Graduates, 1970–90 A.1 Composition of Interview Groups N.1 Generational Differences in Self-Reported Grades among Regular-Track Youth at Seguín by Sex N.2 Analysis of Variance of Teacher Caring and School Climate Items by Generational Status N.3 Generational Differences in Parental Education, Males and Females Combined
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am indebted to so many individuals who helped me throughout the various stages of this work. My mentors, Sanford M. Dornbusch, Jerry Herting, John Meyer, Amado Padilla, and Marta Tienda, are a good place to begin. I thank you for encouraging my research interest in both the sociology of education and minority schooling issues, and also for supporting and guiding my career through the years.
Financial support from local and national funders proved critical to bringing this project to fruition. Locally, these include the Rice University Center for Education, Union Texas Petroleum, Price Waterhouse, Towers Perrin, Fulbright and Jaworski, and Andrews and Kurth. Carol Cox of Union Texas Petroleum merits special mention for both supporting me throughout and for facilitating additional support at a critical juncture in my project.
At Rice University, I credit Linda McNeil and Ron Sass, the co-directors of the Center for Education, for their unflagging support. Linda McNeil, in particular, has modeled for me what caring in the professional world looks and feels like: it includes and expands into the realm of the personal. The McNeils—Kenneth, Linda, and their daughters, Kathryn and Carrie—will forever occupy a special place in my, and my family’s, heart.
Other Center friends and colleagues whose growth I witnessed and who witnessed mine include Patsy Cooper, Cheryl Craig, Catherine Crawford, Wallace Dominey, Connie Floyd, Debra Gamble, Noni Harcombe, Marvin Hoffman, Bernie Mathes, Doris Robins, Margie Sass, and Richard Smith.
While at Rice University, my writing group—comprised of Elizabeth Long, Anne Klein, K