As the idea of Manifest Destiny continued to thrive in America, so did its dominant racial ideology that Mexicans were far less superior to the “pure”, white race. Because of this racial idea, several factors arose in the early 1900’s that ultimately created personal troubles, which in turn, became public issues. These personal troubles were roadblocks for the Mexican Americans attempting to climb up the social and economic ladder, which was predominantly run by Anglo- Americans. One incredibly unjust practice America had was that of educational stratification, which was justified through ridiculous theories of inequality. This factor created personal troubles for the Mexican American children because if they were not able to learn the same material the Anglo children were learning, how would they ever be able to adjust to the American social and economical life? This, in turn, becomes a public issue because if there is a population of people being omitted from equal educational opportunities, then the social and economic systems are unbalanced. Despite the unequal distribution of power, the segregation of minority children continued to thrive. The Americanization, socialization, and work force preparation of Mexican children were all factors that influenced the unjust increasing educational stratification in “the land of opportunity”, America.
Because many Anglo Americans believed that people of Mexican descent held a cultural deficiency, “…Americanization programs swung into action.” (Ruiz 33) These programs were aimed at Americanizing Mexican children in terms of their cultural patterns, because apparently Mexicans were known to be “dirty, shiftless, lazy, irresponsible, unambitious, fatalistic..” (Acuña 179) These unjust assumptions simply fueled the ethnocentricity of the Anglo Americans as well as their attempt to justify the segregation of Mexican children into “Mexican schools”. These schools emphasized patriotism in tedious, obscure ways. One example would be by changing Mexican names into American names in order to have a proper, “normal” student name. (Acuña 179) Another harsh obstacle thrown at Mexican American children was the “No Spanish Rule”. (Acuña 179) This rule was meant to assimilate the students into the “American way” be adopting the correct language that was to be spoken in America. (Acuña 179) This was a major issue because if one could not speak Spanish or English, how were they to communicate with the people around them? These examples clearly demonstrate the lack of importance placed on a strategic curriculum that would have helped Mexican American children rather than marginalize them any further.
By the same token, the socialization of Mexican Americans also became a dilemma. Several of the rules the Anglo teachers practiced then can be seen in today’s society. Such rules would include the seating arrangements, the emphasis on proper behavior, and the Pledge of Allegiance. Seating arrangements were meant to condition a cooperative behavior, thus demonstrating the Mexican students’ obedience to the white, Anglo instructo. The Pledge of Allegiance was also a practice used to “..cure…evils through an appreciation of the institutions of this country.” (Acuña 179) If one were to examine the literature in The Pledge of Allegiance, they would notice an obscure form of literature. Its literature uses “the flag” rather than “my flag” to prevent immigrants from pledging allegiance to a foreign flag. (Acuña 179) This demonstrates a form in which America implements segregation through their literature. At any rate, the ways in which Mexican American children were conditioned in these “Mexican schools” is a form of structural discrimination that was more advantageous for the white population.
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Lastly, one of the major factors that influenced the educational stratification in America was the focus on the work force preparation programs. These vocational schools were not only segregated by ethnicity but also by sex. This segregation not only fueled a racist but also a sexist belief, both of which we continue to see to this day. Mexican male children were placed in schools were they would learn to work with picks and shovels, thus encouraging hard labor as their go-to jobs. (Lecture. 18 February 2015) This focus of work was seen as most effective for males because women were expected to do the domestic work. From a young age, many young Mexican girls in South El Paso were placed in institutions called Houchen’s. These institutions “placed Americanization and proselytization at the center of their efforts.” (Ruiz 37) One is able to recognize that this form of segregation was most definitely fueled by biological and bias theories. These theories allowed Anglos to justify their understanding of Mexicans and ignore the structural foundation of the racism they perpetuated upon the Mexican community. (Lecture. 16 February 2015) The want to transform both Mexican boys and girls was a ridiculous effort that as we will soon learn, resulted to be unsuccessful.
Of course, with such discrimination, chances are there must have been some sort of educational resistance. Because the children of the Mexican community were being treated unfairly, despite the majority of them having been American citizens, a want for change quickly sprouted in the barrios. One major example would definitely have to be the Lemon Grove Incident. (Lecture. 23 February 2015) The white Americans running the chamber of commerce had originally expected the Mexican community to stay quiet and abide the segregation of Mexican children into the unsanitary barns they called schools. Unfortunately for them, Mexican communities’ nationalism played a bigger role in their understanding of the problem. As a result, several communities then came together and formed “esquelitas” in order to better the experience of education for the Mexican children. These efforts demonstrate the consciousness of the institutional racism that was placed on people of Mexican descent.
The Americanization, socialization, and work force preparation of Mexican children were all factors that influenced the unjust, increasing educational stratification in “the land of opportunity”, America. The educational stratification was fueled by the dominant Eurocentric ideology that flowed through America, which ultimately affected Mexican communities in the long wrong when it came to moving up the social and economic ladder. Because of this racial idea, the factors that arose in the early 1900’s ultimately created personal troubles, which then became public issues. A sociologist would say that this unequal distribution of educational opportunities is disadvantageous to minority groups and thus, increases the poverty rates in any society. Clearly this segregation was unjust for both the Mexican population and the White Americans when it came to representing America in a positive light, as the “land of opportunity”, which it claimed to be.
