ABSTRACT
Scholarship has noted that Latino culture is unwelcome in the teaching jobs. Up until the middle of the twentieth century, Mexican-origin children in the U.S. were forced to undergo “Americanization” programs that urged them to shed their ethnic culture and assimilate into a White mainstream (González 1990b ; Urrieta 2009 ). In many instances, Latino culture and foreign language capabilities were perceived as obstacles to schooling success and as pathological defi ciencies (Ochoa 2007). It was not until the Civil Rights Movement and the Chicano Blowouts of the 1960s when celebratory multiculturalism and multicultural education formally entered schools after pressure from teachers, students, and parents challenged institutionalized discriminatory practices in public educational institutions (Garcia 2011 ). Celebratory multiculturalism became institutionalized in the U.S educational system (Banks 1989) and was used to promote ethnic diversity in school settings, but these aspects of Latino culture in schools have largely remained symbolic, limited to foods and festivities.
