ABSTRACT
The history of the Latino educational experience in the United States, although different from the African American, is one fraught with similar hostility, misunderstanding, and distrust (San Miguel and Valencia, 1998; Moore and Pachon, 1985). Basic to an understanding of educational opportunities for Latinos is the importance placed politically on bilingual education (Fernandez and Guskin, 1981). Although African Americans saw the main battle to be fought on the field of integration with the hope of increased resources, Latinos, particularly Mexican Americans, have sought improved educational access and success through bilingual education. The ironic result has been that, in tandem with residential discrimination, ‘bilingual education,’ as it has been traditionally administered rather than as it is imagined to operate, has tended to reinforce segregated schooling. Latino students are more segregated today than at any other time in the past (Orfield and Eaton, 1996).
