The Educational Journey Of Mexican Americans From K-12 To College And Beyond

PART I

SETTING THE CONTEXT

The Magic Key : The Educational Journey of Mexican Americans from K-12 to College and Beyond, edited by Ruth Enid Zambrana, and Sylvia Hurtado, University of Texas Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csupomona/detail.action?docID=3443788. Created from csupomona on 2020-02-26 11:20:25.

C op

yr ig

ht ©

2 01

5. U

ni ve

rs ity

o f T

ex as

P re

ss . A

ll rig

ht s

re se

rv ed

.

 

 

THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

The Magic Key : The Educational Journey of Mexican Americans from K-12 to College and Beyond, edited by Ruth Enid Zambrana, and Sylvia Hurtado, University of Texas Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csupomona/detail.action?docID=3443788. Created from csupomona on 2020-02-26 11:20:25.

C op

yr ig

ht ©

2 01

5. U

ni ve

rs ity

o f T

ex as

P re

ss . A

ll rig

ht s

re se

rv ed

.

 

 

CHAPTER 1

Locked Doors, Closed Opportunities: Who Holds the Magic Key?

ruth enID zambrana anD sylvIa hurtaDo

How racial barriers play in the experiences of Mexican Americans has been hotly debated. Some consider Mexican Americans similar to European Americans of a century ago that arrived in the United States with modest backgrounds but were eventually able to participate fully in society. In contrast, others argue that Mexican Americans have been racialized throughout U.S. history, and this limits their participation in society. The evidence of persistent educational disadvantages across generations and frequent reports of discrimination and stereotyping supports the racialization argument. vIlma ortIz anD eDWarD telles, “raCIal IDentIty anD raCIal treatment of mexICan amerICans”

Renewed concern has been generated in the twenty- first century regard- ing the educational attainment of historically underrepresented groups1 in institutions of higher learning. Mexican Americans are the most starkly underrepresented nationally with respect to access to and educational progress in institutions of higher education as students or tenure- track faculty.

The Obama administration has indicated a goal for the United States to once again become the highest- educated population in the world (Doug- lass 2010). The benefits of increased educational attainment serve to en- sure not only economic equity but also a democratically engaged citizenry. College- educated individuals are less likely to end up in prison and more likely to vote in elections and contribute to the public good. However, this national goal cannot be achieved without attention to the large numbers of Mexican Americans who are enrolled in schools, seek access to higher education, and experience success in American colleges and universities.

For Mexican Americans, their growing numbers in higher education

The Magic Key : The Educational Journey of Mexican Americans from K-12 to College and Beyond, edited by Ruth Enid Zambrana, and Sylvia Hurtado, University of Texas Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csupomona/detail.action?docID=3443788. Created from csupomona on 2020-02-26 11:20:25.

C op

yr ig

ht ©

2 01

5. U

ni ve

rs ity

o f T

ex as

P re

ss . A

ll rig

ht s

re se

rv ed

.

 

 

4 The Magic Key

belie educational progress, as relative underrepresentation is perhaps most notable in regions where they are most largely concentrated, in- cluding California (Astin 1982; Hayes- Bautista 2004; Hurtado, Sáenz, Santos, and Cabrera 2008), and equity in attainments remains elusive. Among Mexican Americans/Chicanos,2 a much- neglected population group in terms of research and policy, lower rates of retention in P– 12 and in higher education pose challenges for educational administrators and personnel, and consequently pose serious issues for the progress of their communities.

Data indicate that Hispanics3 will constitute 30 percent of the na- tion’s population by the year 2050 (Ennis, Ríos- Vargas, and Albert 2011). Mexicans are by far the largest Hispanic- origin population in the United States, accounting for nearly two- thirds (64.6 percent) of the U.S. His- panic population in 2011 (table 1.1) and 11 percent overall of the U.S. population (Gonzalez- Barrera and Lopez 2013).

The experiences of Mexican Americans warrant particular attention because they simultaneously are the largest of the Latino subgroups, have the longest history on American soil, and are the group with the lowest levels of educational attainment (Motel and Patten 2012). Before explor- ing the causes behind such adverse educational experiences, it is necessary to acknowledge that population growth is accompanied by greater hetero- geneity in the Latino population. The percentage of Central Americans in the country has almost doubled since 2000, and close to 10 percent of the Latino population is now Puerto Rican (Ennis, Ríos- Vargas, and Albert 2011). Migration activity has also dispersed and has led to the establishment of new settlement locations in regions outside of those that already had large concentrations of Latinos (Flores and Chapa 2009), creating new precollege socialization contexts for students from differ- ent Latino subgroups. Moreover, the long history of settlement and mi- gration since the colonial era suggests distinct variations in the charac- teristics of Mexican Americans today—some with many generations in the same region and others from more recent (im)migration experiences. For these reasons, it is important to disaggregate the Latino population by self- reported ethnic identity categories and other identity markers that intersect with ethnicity, such as race, class, and nativity, to increase our understanding of educational outcomes and experiences among Latino college students.

Recent changes in the demographic composition of the United States demonstrate that the population is becoming more diverse while stagger- ing educational disparities grow more problematic. While investigators

The Magic Key : The Educational Journey of Mexican Americans from K-12 to College and Beyond, edited by Ruth Enid Zambrana, and Sylvia Hurtado, University of Texas Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csupomona/detail.action?docID=3443788. Created from csupomona on 2020-02-26 11:20:25.

C op

yr ig

ht ©

2 01

5. U

ni ve

rs ity

o f T

ex as

P re

ss . A

ll rig

ht s

re se

rv ed

.

 

 

Locked Doors, Closed Opportunities 5

offer a number of different paradigms and theoretical explanations for why enrollment and retention in higher education remain low for Mexi- can American men and women, the historical and social contexts help to reveal the larger structural forces associated with these realities. All re- searchers conduct their studies within contexts that are bounded by his- torical time. The chapters in this book represent the educational trajec- tory experienced by Mexican Americans/Chicanos across a broad span of historical time frames.

Table 1.1. Statistical Portrait of Hispanics, Detailed Hispanic Origin: United States 2011

Number Percent

Mexican 33,539,187 64.6 Puerto Rican 4,916,250  9.5 All Other Spanish/Hispanic/Latino 2,373,901  4.6 Salvadoran 1,952,483  3.8 Cuban 1,888,772  3.6 Dominican 1,528,464  2.9 Guatemalan 1,215,730  2.3 Colombian 989,231  1.9 Honduran 702,394  1.4 Ecuadorian 644,863  1.2 Peruvian 556,386  1.1 Nicaraguan 395,376  0.8 Venezuelan 258,791  0.5 Argentinian 242,221  0.5 Panamanian 180,471  0.3 Chilean 148,532  0.3 Costa Rican 127,652  0.2 Bolivian 114,094  0.2 Uruguayan 60,764  0.1 Other Central American 40,001  0.1 Other South American 28,719  0.1 Paraguayan 22,876 <0.05 Total 51,927,158 100.0

Source: Pew Hispanic Center tabulations of 2011 American Community Survey (1% IPUMS). Note: Hispanic populations are listed in descending order of population size; universe is 2011 Hispanic resident population. Hispanic origin is based on self- described ancestry, lineage, heritage, nationality group, or country of birth.

The Magic Key : The Educational Journey of Mexican Americans from K-12 to College and Beyond, edited by Ruth Enid Zambrana, and Sylvia Hurtado, University of Texas Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csupomona/detail.action?docID=3443788. Created from csupomona on 2020-02-26 11:20:25.

C op

yr ig

ht ©

2 01

5. U

ni ve

rs ity

o f T

ex as

P re

ss . A

ll rig

ht s

re se

rv ed

.