ABSTRACT

The historical rooting of Chicano school failure has been clearly documented (e.g., Donato, 1997; González, 1990; Moreno, 1999; San Miguel and Valencia, 1998; Valencia, 1991b). In addition to historical expressions, it also manifests in various ways in the contemporary period. In my view, such school failure has largely been shaped by educational inequality, a form of oppression. 1 This is why Chicano school failure has been so difficult to combat. Chesler (1976) in an essay on theories of racism-which, I assert, can be generalized to the study of other forms of oppression-asserts that there are three forms of evidence from which theorists can draw to identify the existence of oppression. These evidential bases are: (a) personal attitudes or cultural values-as seen in symbol systems and ideology; (b) institutional processes-as seen in mechanisms that lead to differential advantages and privileges; (c) effects or outcomes-as seen in unequal attainments among groups. Within this framework, Chicano students-the target group of this book-are prime examples of pupils affected by the pernicious ideologies, institutional practices, and outcomes of educational inequality. How some people have viewed the educability of Chicano students (i.e., through the ideological lens of “deficit thinking”), how the schools have been structured to disallow Chicanos from learning (via unequal schooling arrangements), and the resultant differential schooling outcomes attained by Chicano and White students (e.g., differences in high school graduation rates) are all important subject matters for the present volume. I need to underscore, however, that “how” Chicano students can achieve “school success” is also a very important topic of this book.