Mexican-American course gets a new name
Board of Education tentatively OKs elective, alters title in disputed move
AUSTIN — Four years after refusing to embrace a “Mexican-American Studies” course in a state with a booming Latino population, the State Board of Education tentatively agreed Wednesday to adopt standards to make the class a statewide high school elective as soon as the 20192020 school year.
But in a move that sparked a fresh backlash, the board voted to change the program’s name to “Ethnic Studies: An Overview of Americans of Mexican Descent,” after one member objected to using hyphenated terms to describe people.
“I find hyphenated Americanism to be divisive,” said member David Bradley, a conservative Republican from Beaumont who proposed the name change.
Several Democrats spoke against switching the name, including board member Lawrence Allen Jr. of Houston.
“So many people can’t embrace just the concept of just ‘America’ by itself because it seems to be that America is exclusively for whites,” said Allen, who is African-American.
The board approved the name change on a 10-4 vote, with four of five
Democrats opposed.
The board then voted 14-1 for proposed standards for an elective modeled after a Mexican-American Studies, MAS, course taught in Houston. Allen was the lone vote against. The board also approved a motion to establish a process for approving more elective courses in ethnic studies.
Board members who want to keep the name said the fight isn’t over.
The board will revisit the standards in June and solicit public comment over the summer before giving final approval to the standards, likely in September.
Schools can offer the class now, but the state provides no standards for teachers to use in creating classes. The board’s approval of the course may make it easier for teachers and superintendents to establish the class at their schools.
Overall, the day was a win for people who want schools to offer students more opportunity to connect to Mexican-American history, said Emilio Zamora, a history professor at the University of Texas who testified before the board. Changing the name is an example of the board wanting to have the “last say,” he said.
“They just don’t want to grant us anything,” said Zamora.
Donna Bahorich, a Houston Republican who chairs the board, said the state needs elective classes like this to help connect underserved students “with their American story.”
But she is torn over the name. “These are American kids and we want them to be deeply American,” she said, but added that she wants to hear what people in the community think. If people don’t like the name, they should tell their State Board of Education member, she said.
More than 30 teachers, students and advocates gave impassioned speeches to state education officials early in the day, urging them to embrace standards for the elective, which would provide a road map for schools and show textbook publishers there’s a market for books on Mexican-American studies. No one testified against the course.
Important for ‘our history’
Many speakers said adopting the class is important for other reasons: to promote equality, help Mexican-American students understand their identity and history and teach all students about the contributions Mexican-Americans and their culture have made on America.
“It’s changed my life. It’s given me a chance to identify myself and see who I am,” said Clara Perez, 15, fighting back tears. She took a MAS class last year at KIPP Camino Academy in San Antonio.
“My people, Mexicans, are seen as less because of our classrooms. You don’t see our history in our classroom,” she said. “My people … should not be seen as the bad people. They should be seen as people.”
Standing at the podium with a large blue and red native Aztec headdress, Laura Yohualtlahuiz Rios-Ramirez lamented that it took her until college to gain an understanding of her cultural identity.
“We just feel cheated we didn’t learn this sooner,” she said.
Board Member Pat Hardy, a Republican from Fort Worth, bristled at the testimony. While she said some people had compelling testimony, “To try and bully the board into doing something because they feel like they’ve been downtrodden kind of bugs me.”
The Latino population is booming in Texas, with 52 percent of the state’s 5.4 million school-aged-children coming from Mexican or Latino backgrounds.
The State Board of Education opted four years ago not to establish official standards for a Mexican-American Studies course, leading teachers and researchers to build a road map for the class on their own from scratch.
Instead of approving the elective in 2014, the politically polarized board asked for Mexican-American studies textbook proposals.
That led to a controversy over an error-ridden book that referred to Mexicans as lazy and was ultimately rejected by the board. In all, the board rejected the only two book proposals publishers proposed.
“Texas has a sad and tortured past of having to be here at venues like this at every critical juncture to argue for facts, to argue for history, to argue for inclusion, and to argue for the value and the beauty of diversity,” Rep. Celia Israel, an Austin Democrat who belongs to the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, told a crowd of people gathered to rally for the standards before the board meeting.
The pursuit of diversity
Advocates for the class say adopting official state standards will help students from Mexican and Latino backgrounds perform better in school by having them connect with stories of people with similar backgrounds. Research out of Arizona has shown students who take MAS courses have higher graduation rates and score better on standardized tests.
“The story of Texas has left a lot of people out and I think this that this an opportunity for the board to put those diverse stories into those classrooms so students see people who are like them in our history and understand how those people have shaped the state that we have today,” said Dan Quinn of the Texas Freedom Network, a liberalleaning watchdog group.
The lack of textbooks or approved education standards hasn’t stopped Houston Independent School District and other schools from teaching Mexican-American Studies. In the 2016-2017 school year, 454 students took a MAS course here, according to a National Association of Chicana Chicano Studies committee.
Advocates say Texas would be the second state to adopt the elective. Arizona had offered the course for years, although the Legislature there banned the course because it was “designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group.” Late last year, a federal judge permanently barred the state from banning the class.