The Future of Education
Pluralism, Parent-Teacher Interface, and the Potential for Alienation: Multicultural-Bilingual Programs in the American Southwest of the 1970s
Lois Lee, St. Andrew’s School (United States)
Abstract
The rapid postwar growth of the Latino population in the U.S., particularly in the Southwest, led to an increase of bilingual-bicultural programs in regional schools. In 1974, Title VII of the Bilingual Education Act authorized more money to further expand bilingual education in the United States. Research shows that bicultural programs became more widespread as bilingual education were increasingly seen as both breakthroughs from ethnocentric rigidity, and as opportunities to build biculturalism. Nevertheless, some scholars have argued that bicultural programs actually caused acculturation and neglect of self-identity. Comparing two sets of evidence concerning the sociocultural experiences of Chicano students in bilingual-bicultural education programs in the Southwest in the 1970s, this study analyzes the relationships between teachers of multicultural-bilingual school programs and Chicano parents. Data established from several interviews have been used to examine the character and impact of the relationships that exist between Chicano parents and educators of multicultural-bilingual programs. Positive results reflecting a sense of ethnic identity among educators established through studies of relationships with Chicano parents have been compared with contrasting evidence that teachers’ intentions for cultural pluralism yielded cultural alienation. This paper shows that multicultural-bilingual programs were indeed effective in the Southwest in the 1970s, arguing that failings in educators’ bilingual proficiency, conflicting philosophies of education, and lack of institutional support were outweighed by effects of positive coordination between parents and teachers.
Keywords: Multicultural-Bilingual Programs, Chicano parents and Educators.
References:
[1] Two Approaches to Acculturation: Bilingual Education and ESL, Guillermo Bartelt
[2] Bilingual-Bicultural Education for Chicanos in the Southwest, Henry T. Trueba
[3] Chicano Studies in a Pluralistic Society: Contributing to Multiculturalism, Refugio I. Rochín and Adaljiza Sosa-Riddell
[4] Mexican-American Perceptions of Parent and Teacher Roles in Child Development, Elena Parra and Ronald W. Henderson
