This week’s materials centered around educational inequities among Latino populations in the US. “Still Falling Through the Cracks,” a report conducted by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center examines how education attainment among Latines not only remains low, but actually continues to fall. The report then examines each part of the educational pathway – from K-12, to community and four-year colleges, to graduate school and beyond – and analyzes the structural failings which lead to students dropping out of these programs. These failings include Latine students’ increased likelihood to be suspended or given a disability classification, racial microaggressions, lack of representative role models, administrative and financial barriers, and lack of resources and support for undocumented students. These are all symptoms of both institutional and interpersonal racism, and this report argues that understanding the role they play throughout students’ educational careers can help to reduce the inequities they create. The report also includes recommendations to tackle each identified problem. Some solutions include recruiting and retaining inspirational Latine educators, creating curricula that reflect the experiences of students of color, fostering a college-bound school climate, providing resources for undocumented students, and maintaining effective diversity and inclusion initiatives. Some school districts across the country have taken these recommendations. Precious Knowledge captures these efforts in action at school districts in Tucson where a large population of Latine students are receiving their education. The documentary captures the very real and very material improvements that these efforts have brought about. We see how Raza and ethnic studies courses engage students quite profoundly. We see how exceptional educators make the classroom a safe and fun environment that keeps students coming to school when they otherwise might not. We see how these efforts have changed students’ relationship to school and widen their cultural understandings. At the same time, however, we see how these changes have provoked pushback from individuals who are at best misguided, and at worst malevolent. All of these things highlight the importance of scholarship in this area and, perhaps most importantly, resource allocation. I found this week’s materials to be very compelling, but I feel discouraged about the likelihood of this important work to be done in the current climate.
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