http://youtu.be/W6yPtM-p3G4
For the first time in its history, Texas will offer high school students statewide the chance to take an elective course in Mexican-American Studies starting in 2019. Except they’re not calling it that.
In April, the Texas State Board of Education unanimously approved to model Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKS standards, after a Mexican-American Studies course offered by the Houston Independent School District. But not before Beaumont Republican Board Member David Bradley proposed to rename the course from “Mexican-American Studies” to “Ethnic Studies: An Overview of Americans of Mexican Descent.”
Members of the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies Tejas Foco rallied in El Paso and five other Texas cities to protest the decision. Johanna Lopez-Velador, a University of Texas-El Paso alumna with degrees in Chicano studies and history said the name is a disservice to Mexican-Americans.
“To call it an overview tells me that they are erasing us from the history instead of adding us to the discourse or to the academia and so for us to have Mexican-American in our title then we are educating our youth who identify as Mexican-American that they are part of Texas history,” Lopez-Velador said.
Bradley called the term Mexican-American Studies “hyphenated Americanism” and said narrowly defining the course is not inclusive.
“It is restrictive and in my opinion and apparently the majority of the board is also borderline racism against all Spanish-speaking students and I’ll give you a classic example; The resistance when we suggested that possibly we make it a Latin or a Hispanic or a Chicano or any other designation that would bring in other Spanish-speaking cultures was met with fierce resistance by members of the board," Bradley said. "It baffles me. I can’t understand why we would not want to include Spanish-speaking cultures of Central America, South America, the Caribbean, Cuba and be so exclusionary.”
Hispanics and Latinos made up 52.4 percent of the roughly 5.4 million students enrolled in the state during the 2016-17 school year and have increased 32 percent over the last decade. The Texas Education Agency classifies Hispanic and Latino students as “students of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.”
Chicana historian and UTEP Professor Dr. Yolanda Leyva said the name change is an erasure of Mexican-American history and disrespects the academic field. Leyva said it’s essential for students to see their history reflected in their education to make it relevant to them.
“So, if you say Mexican-American is a divisive term, what does that do to the feelings of Mexican-American students as far as being part of this nation, being part of this community? It creates a sense of alienation saying that what they call themselves is un-American," Leyva said.
The 15-member, Republican-majority board rejected a proposal to create a Mexican-American Studies course in 2014. This time, Bradley said the name change was part of a compromise to pass the initiative and that the curriculum will stay the same.
"There are going to be no changes to the course and again this course was developed by the Houston school district to use in their district and it’s available today, it was available last year, it’s been available for five years for other districts in the state to use. It’s just this initiative of folks wanting to make this a state-approved course giving it some stature, I guess," Bradley said. "So, I really see this as more as political posturing and moving forward an agenda folks have that really defies any reasonable expectation.”
Leyva said while Bradley has the voting authority to rename the class, he doesn’t have the credentials.
“He is not a scholar of Mexican-American studies, he’s not familiar with the long history of Mexican-American studies," Leyva said. "There have been courses called Mexican-American studies offered in Texas for over 50 years at the higher education level so he doesn’t have those qualifications at all.”
Lopez-Velador agreed and said those who aren’t Mexican-American shouldn’t name a course about Mexican history.
“I think that we have the right to name ourselves for who we are and the history that is about us and so Mexican-American again is an empowerment and it is what we want to be referred to as because we’ve never felt more American than being able to call ourselves Mexican-American," Lopez-Velador said.
The board has scheduled a public hearing to discuss course standards at its June 12 meeting. Protestors said they plan to rally at the meeting.
