The Mail-Journal, Volume 15, Number 14, Milford, Kosciusko County, 26 April 1978 — Page 16

16

THE MAIL-JOURNAL — Wed., April 26,1978

First of a series — Needed: Socio-cultural and linguistic relevance in Mexican American students' curriculum development

By ALFREDO G. CANALES Director of Bilingual Education Adrian, Mich., Public Schools Not too long ago I was walking home, and I came upon a little brown-skinned boy who was sitting on the street curb. He apparently seemed to have been involved in a scuffle with someone. He didn’t look physically injured, but he was spiritually hurt. He sniffled and sighed, and attempted to hold back the tears which swelled forth in his two large expressive brown eyes. What’s your name, son? What happened? I inquired. He hesitated at first, looked at rrie, and saw that I too was brownskinned, and then responded. “My name ees Jose. Jose Garcia, but my teecher call me Joe. My teecher say she call me Joe because that ees my Englich name and it ees eesier to tell. All dee keeds in school call me little Joe beecause I ees very small next to dem. Dee gringo keeds must eet lotsa frijoles beecause dey grow to bee very beeg, but dey my same years as mine, si. Dey joke a lot. Dey call me wetback, but I tell dem that I was borrf here, and mi papa tambien. I ees no meskin! Sometimes I ponch dem in the mouths. Sometimes I cry. I don’t know whoam I!” This monologue, the little boy uttered to me between sighs and tears. He wanted to know who he was. He wanted to know why he was forbidden to speak Spanish on the school grounds. He spoke Spanish at home. He wanted to know why, if he looked Mexican he was living in Adrian, Mich. , “I don’t know who am I!” Kept ringing in my ears. Here was a child of Mexican descent, like many, many others, who was crying for an identity. His school system and his society has deprived him of his Hispanic cultural heritage and Spanish language, and has yet to fully accept him. As Professor Rosenquist from the University of Texassays: The child’s world at first is his family, and this group continues for many years to supply his most important contacts. Here he becomes human, acquires a status and a self. In the family he is somebody, even though he is the youngest of all. The transition to the outside world normally begins when he becomes acquainted with children of the neighborhood, but the big chance conges when he starts to school. Difficult at best, adjustment in school is impossible if its activities are conducted in a language unknown to him. It is useless to try to teach new things to a child in a language he does not understand. Rather he must learn the new things in the

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language as an alternative to his own. Otherwise, he will become violently maladjusted and so seriously that he may never recover. These are facts of social life: To ignore them in the teaching process is to be assured failure. (1) Our public school philosophy is based on the assumption that education is not the sole responsibility of parents, but that at a certain point society’s agencies must step in and take over the task of educating its members. This being the case, it is important to examine to what extent schools realize this aim. especially with such groups of children as the Mexican Americans whose homes do not prepare them for adequate functioning in our society. (2) There is no question that the most acute educational problem in the American Southwest and large urban areas is that which involves Chicano students. “In the elementary and secondary schools of five states in this region — Arizona, California. Colorado, New Mexico and Texas — there are approximately 1.75 million children with Spanish surnames. Many of these young people experience academic failure in school. At best they have limited success. A large percentage become school dropouts.” Os the Spanishsurnamed population between the ages of seven and 13, 94.5,per cent is currently enrolled in school. This figure compares quite well with the percentage of aRsIo and Black population. The rTufio and Black population at the high school level has approximately 75 per cent of its population enrolled, while the Spanish-surnamed population has only 58.6 per cent enrolled. (3) The great disparity, therefore, comes in the 16 to 17 age level. What causes this disparity in proportionate enrollment? What are the factors involved in causing a Spanish speaking student to drop out of school? Is the present middle class, Anglosaxon oriented curricula relevant to the needs of this target population of Mexican Artierican children? These are questions that merit serious study and analysis of children caught in the mainstream of two cultures Speaking different languages. Do Mexican American children go to school to learn English or to be educated? Generally neither is accomplished very well. There is a difference because for these children, English is a foreign language. Every subject matter is taught in English. The assumption made with these children is that they already have a basic mastery of the language. This is not the case. Even with headstart projects and preschool

sessions for the Spanish-speaking child, the approach seems unrealistic because such children are expected to grasp the mechanic of the English language in a matter of months while the English speaking child has had a full six years to do so. "The efforts of social and educational impoverishment are cumulative and culminate in the wasteful situation of school dropouts and unemployed youth .. . The school is recognizing that the deprivation endured by a child of the disadvantaged culture not only impinges social and economic adjustment, within the framework of existing school programs, both public and private. A new kind of education is needed.” (5) How much further advanced, then, would these children be if the curriculum provided for some of the elementary and secondary school subjects to be taught at the beginning in Spanish, a language familiar to them since birth? Would not their command of English and Spanish have been enhanced? Is there not a definite linguistic need for the curriculum needs of these children? These are questions that need to be answered because American educators have long overlooked the relative failure of teaching English to and educating this major segment of the population. It is time to explore new ways of educating this target population when the head-on approach of teaching English while suppressing Spanish seems not to have yielded the right results. One can see a Spanish-speaking child that is trying hard. It is easy to imagine the number of children in the same situation who have become discouraged, leading to early dropout con vinced that they are dumb and therefore inferior, and fail to realize their full potential. They

LEGALS LEGALS NOTICE TO VOTERS Notice is hereby given that the Board of Commissioners of Kosciusko County, Indiana, has designated the following places for holding the General Election for the County of Kosciusko on Tuesday, 2nd day of May, 1978. . JACKSON TOWNSHIP First Precinct Sidney School Second Precinct Jet. 13 and 14 Service Center MONROE TOWNSHIP First Precinct Eel River Community Church WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP First Precinct Pierceton Methodist Church Basement, Rd. 13 Second Precinct Mildred Vance Res 3 Blk West ME Church Third Precinct T ° wn Hall ' Pierceton TIPPECANOE TOWNSHIP First Precinct Camelot Hall, Counting House Bank Bldg. Second Precinct Fire Station, North Webster Third Precinct Barbee Lake Conservation Club Bldg. Fourth Precinct Palace of Sports, Counting House Bank Bldg. TURKEY CREEK TOWNSHIP First Precinct St. Andrews United Methodist Church Second Precinct Lakeland Youth Center (Wawasee Village) Third Precinct Syracuse Scout Cabin Fourth Precinct Jr High School, Syracuse Fifth Precinct Saint Martin de Porres Church Sixth Precinct Turkey Creek Conservation Club (Rd. 13A) VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP First Precinct Masonic Building Second Precinct Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, Main St. Third Precinct Fire Station, Milford PLAIN TOWNSHIP First Precinct Oswego Comm. Center near Baptist Church Second Precinct Town Hall, Leesburg Third Precinct National Guard Armory Fourth Precinct Chapman Lakes Conservation Club House WAYNE TOWNSHIP First Precinct Grace College Seminary Lounge, McClain Second Precinct Jefferson School Third Precinct Fire Station, Winona Lake Fourth Precinct Jefferson School Fifth Precinct County Highway Bldg. Old Rd. 30 East Sixth Precinct Warsaw Moose Lodge Seventh Precinct Walnut Creek UM Church Basement, Rd. 15 Eighth Precinct Kos. Co. Fairgrounds, Woman's Bldg. Ninth Precinct Pleasant Valley Community Church CLAY TOWNSHIP First Precinct Claypool Elementary School Second Precinct Lion's Club Bldg., Claypool LAKETOWNSHIP First Precinct Fire Dept. Silver Lake Second Precinct School House South Door SEWARD TOWNSHIP First Precinct Civic Building, Burket Second Precinct Conservation Club House, Diamond Lake FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP First Precinct Fire Station, Mentone Second Precinct Beaver Dam United Methodist Church HARRISON TOWNSHIP First Precinct " Etna Bank, Atwood Branch gecond Precinct Bell Memorial Library, Mentone Third Precinct Robert E. Miller Residence West Side of Rd. 25 In Palestine PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP First Precinct Clunette Methodist Church Second Precinct Atwood Community Building JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP First Precinct South Elementary School in Nappanee Second Precinct Island Chapel UM Annex SCOTT TOWNSHIP First Precinct Mt. Tabor Fellowship Hall ETNA TOWNSHIP First Precinct Poulson Display Room, Etna Green Second Precinct Heritage Community Building WARSAW FIRSTWARD First Precinct ' Lincoln School Second Precinct McKinley School Third Precinct 812 E. Ft. Wayne St., (Mitchell Residence) Fourth Precinct Fred. O. Carey Construction, N. Detroit St. SECONOWARD First Precinct Redeemer Lutheran Church, 1720 E. Center Second Precinct Senior High School, E. Smith St.. First Aid Third Precinct City Hall Fourth Precinct Shrine Building, Fairgrounds THIRDWARD First Precinct License Bureau, 120 W. Market St. Second Precinct 617 S. Union St. (Holderman Residence) Third Precinct Zola Smith Bldg. 212 S. Union St. Fourth Precinct Washington School FOURTH WARD First Precinct Masonic Temple, 118 N. High St. Second Precinct American Legion, 301 N Buffalo St. Third Precinct Madison School IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I HAVE HEREUNTO set my hand and the seal of the Board of Commissioners of Kosciusko County, Indiana, this 24 day of April. Jean Northenor, Auditor Kosciusko County, Indiana SERVICES SERVICES one LOGHL GRfIFGBCDfID C USTom Carpentry 6 Woodworking fcfeXnk by Courtney A. Blue ' JiJ * 400 South Lake Street (219) 457-3018 Syracuse. IN 46567

meet with few successes in school, and unfortunately experience life in the same manner. There are four questions that need to be asked about our present curriculum and methodology in teaching Spanish speaking students in American schools. These being: (1) Is the current practice which requires that only English, as the instructional medium, be used in our schoools really effective in training native speakers of Spanish to use English? (2) Is it wise and just to forbid and punish any pupil for speaking his native language? OiSDo educators have any concern and responsibility for the child in social roles other than that of a student? (4) Should curricula reflect the sociocultural and linguistic needs of the target population? The first question merits a negative answer. The current practice of requiring only English to be used as a means of instruction for the Spanish speaking child is not entirely effective. The fast and bright students can do it, but not the average and slow ones. If we are to live up to our ideal of an education for all, the dull, the average, as well as the bright, then, we must find away in which children of Mexican descent can be educated, as well as learn a foreign language (English) and be educated in it. The second question merits a very strong negative answer. It is neither wise nor just to forbid and punish a child for speaking his native tongue. It is not wise because restricting the pupils use of his native tongue actually creates a conflict of values for him as he interacts with family and peers. Associated with this restriction is the idea that the Spanish language is bad and therefore makes him feel ashamed of his family and

culture. He could be seriously maladjusted with feelings of inferiority and inadequacy with no hope for recovery. The best way is to teach new things in the language he already knows and learn the new language as a required alternative. It is not just because Spanish is not a "foreign” language to America or for that matter the entire Southwestern part of the United States. Aside from this indigenous aspect of the Spanish language, there is also the fact that the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ceded the Mexican Territory and approved the prior annexation of Texas, guaranteed the property and political rights of the “native” population, and also the rights for their cultural autonomy, i. e., they were given the right to retain their language, religion, and culture.(6) The third question merits a positive answer. It should be the concern and responsibility of educators when the public school system is affecting the adjustment of a child to this society. If the school curricula and its approach causes embarassment, and feelings of inferiority, and inadequacy in the child, if it creates a conflict of values making the child feel that what he represents is shameful and bad, and if it renders him unable to adjust to his bicultural environment; then, it certainly should be the concern of the educators responsible! Most present day authorities agree that there should be sociocultural and linguistic relevance in the making of a curricula. Children should not fit a model curricula derived from a “sup posed standard middle-class mold.” It is not really fair nor just, nor even reasonable to force culturally different children to become middle class Anglos. What’s done in schools must be re-examined, validated and offerings restyled. Teachers and administrators must be trained differently so that they do not fear the different—or label them disadvantaged, when they frequently are advantaged. Teachers and administrators must learn to tune in on their different clientele before they begin basic communication with those youngsters and their parents. They must stop rewarding all those who have become like them, and punish or ignore those that appear different. (7) We have neglected to deal with Mexican American needs and ignored their cultural background in forming the basis for the curricula. Instead, we have tried to fit the Mexican American child to a middle class, Anglo-Saxon model of behavior and linguistic expectations. “Curriculums are derived from the culture and therefore contain elements of value system, artifacts, cultural (national and regional) myths, and attitudes of people. Circumstance, tradition, existing practices, ana cultural values determine the nature of the educational enterprise.”(B) Socio-cultural and linguistic relevance for the Mexican American population is a must. Curriculum improvement must take note of the target population and incorporate the relevant needs. Such three faceted improvement would serve five positive purposes for the child and the school: 1) It reduces the educational retardation which occurs when a child is required to learn through a language which he does not command fully or at all. 2) It gives the child opportunity

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to experience immediate success in his educational endeavors. 3) It helps establish a closer tie between the parents and school, thus avoiding the prospect of alienating students from either the school or the home. 4) It projects the child into an atmosphere of acceptance within the school and fosters reinforcement of his self-worth. 5) It provides the opportunity for the child to become literate and fluent in two languages, thereby offering additional opportunities for cultural enrich ment and economic gain. (9) Our situation, spatially, historically, and culturally, between the two great cultures of the Americans is so unique that a bicultural and bilingual based curricula in the American Southwest is a relevant need. This applies also to other urban American areas with a large

Clean-Up Day proclaimed

Saturday, April 29, has been proclaimed Spring Clean-Up Day in Kosciusko County by Commissioners Gerald Smalley, Frederick Gilliam and Maurice Dorsey. The county-wide cleanup campaign will be spearheaded by KEEP (Kosciusko Educational and Environmental Practices, Inc.) and the Kosciusko District of the Anthony Wayne Area Council of Boy Scouts. All Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts will participate in the Clean-Up Drive as part of their annual SOAR (Save Our American Resources) program. They join KEEP in urging every civic organization, service club and youth group to participate in this once-a-year concerted effort to rid the county of trash and litter Civil Defense discusses tornado safety rules The Syracuse Civil Defense met Thursday, April 20, to discuss tornado safety rules. April is tornado month with tornado season lasting until October. Tom Gilbert, city director, gives this advice in case of a tornado, “Listen to your radio or television station for tornado advisories. Seek shelter inside, preferably in a tornado cellar, underground excavation or a steel framed or substantial, reinforced concrete building.” He added, "Stay away from windows, prepare your emergency plan and rehearse it and take emergency precautions immediately. Don’t panic.” The Syracuse civil defense has been in existence for over 20 years ready to help in any type emergency whether it be tornados, power outages, snow or traffic control. Some of the equipment on hand are four generators, two chain saws, six high intensity lights on a cluster and two hand lights. Besides Gilbert, other officers of the group are: Paul Van Dyke and Don Wooten — assistants Kenny Phelps — treasurer Mrs. Virginia Gilbert - secretary The group also discussed a bake sale to be held May 20 in the Scout Cabin starting at 9 a.m. Proceeds will go for equipment. The civil defense is seeking new members. Anyone interested, should attend a meeting held the third Thursday of every month at 6:30p.m.

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concentration of culturally and linguistically different target population. This need, not only to help “Joe Garcia” resolve his identity crises, but to culturally enrich his fellow immigrant cocitizens. In a shrinking and interdependent world, the focus in school programs while aimed at distinct socio-cultural and linguistic targets, should also reflect international needs. In our case, the microcosm is also the macrocosm of this hemisphere. tl» Rosenquist. Dr Carl M . "Why 1 speak Spanish," Texas Foreign Language Association Bulletin, Vol. 5. Austin. Texas. December 1963. p. 4 <2> Heller. Celia S. "The School Ex perience," Mexican American Youth: forgotten youth at the crossroads. Randam House. New York. 1967, p 45 (3) United State Senate, "Hearings before the special subcommittee on Bilingual Education of the Commitee on Labor and Public Welfare. First Session on S 428, Part 1, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, May 1967, p 158 (5) Pounds. Ralph L., and Bryaner. James

that has accumulated during«the winter months. The clean-up project is being organized on an “area” basis with volunteers collecting litter from roadsides, vacant lots, streets and alleys and lake areas in their own community. The Commissioners have announced the Dewart Lake and Packerton Landfills will be open until 5 p.m. on that day and have waived the usual fee for Spring Clean-Up Day. Each group is encouraged to take the trash collected from their area directly to one of the landfills; however, arrangements can be made to have the litter picked up from central collection points. In addition to the group effort by clubs and organizations, the Commissioners have urged every citizen to participate by cleaning up their own property and perhaps organize neighbors to clean up an entire street or block or subdivision. A meeting for representatives of participating groups and other interested individuals will be held Thursday, April 20 at 7:30 p.m. at the REMC Building in Warsaw. Plans for the campaign will be finalized at this meeting and trash bags and supplies will be distributed to area representatives. Anyone desiring additional information may contact Charlotte Marie Butler, president of KEEP or Neil Bennett, scouting chairman.

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R.. "Problems of the Depressed Areas. ’' The School in American Society. MacMillan Co., New York. 1967, p 370 (6> McWilliams. Carey, North From Mexico, the Spanish Speaking People of the United States, Monthly Review Press. New York, 1961, p 51 (7) Hepner, Ethel M Ph D., "Self concepts. Values and needs of Mexican Americans underachievers" or '"Must a Mexican American child adopt a self concept that fits the American school’’’'). Symposium Paper presented at the University of California. Irvine, September 3, 1970, ERIC 048954 <Bl Unruh, Adolp. and Brent. Rudyard K.,“The Evolving Curriculum Theories and approaches," The Secondary School Curriculum, Ratheon Education Co., 1969, p 3 (9) Linton, Thomas H.. "Rationale for Bilingual Education in South Texas." Education Service Center, Edinburg. Texas. November 21.1972, ERIC 068 256 Reprinted with permission from El Renacimiento, 1132 N. Washington Ave., Lansing, Mich. 48906.

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