ABSTRACT
Latinos are represented by the media and by educational researchers through overwhelmingly negative images. Clara Rodríguez’s (1997) research, reported in Latin Looks: Images of Latinas and Latinos in the U.S. Media, captures the degree to which the media and other institutional entities typecast Latinos. Described as illiterate, educationally and culturally disadvantaged, poor, non-English-speaking, welfare burdens, and criminally inclined (Fine, 1990; McDermott, 1989), Latinos are viewed as a “problem” in U.S. society. Research in education represents Latinos as being the most “at-risk” of student populations, with the highest dropout and teen pregnancy rates, the worst HIV-positive health statistics, and one of the highest criminal and delinquency records.
