2018

Education on Mexican
American History

JARED OSTLER
 According to research, minorities of Hispanic origin make up just over 17% of the

population of the United States. (Flores, 2017) To some people, this is frightening. To others it

is exciting. Whether people like it or not, that is the largest minority group represented in the

United States, coming in higher than African Americans and Asians. There is still a large amount

of debate and argument centered around people from Mexico coming to the United States.

Some people don’t like it because they say that they take away jobs from hard working

Americans. Others say that they are fine with them coming but don’t like it when they come

over “illegally.” Instead of discriminating against them and looking down on them, isn’t it about

time that people in the United States start to embrace them?

Mexican Americans often live in run down neighborhoods often referred to as ghettos

or barrios. Due to a lack of education, many of them work low paying jobs, oftentimes working

more than one job. They work long hours and don’t receive much compensation for doing so.

This starts a miserable chain of events that is referred to as the poverty cycle. Generation after

generation, families are unable to break this cycle. Due to housing segregation and having less

privilege, it is difficult for the average Mexican American to receive enough education to have a

higher paying job in order to beat poverty. 61% of Mexican Americans have a high school

education or less, 24% have a two-year degree or some college, and only 15% have a bachelor’s

degree or more. (Flores, 2017) This data shows that parents often resort to their children to

help them financially and ask them to work in order to support the family. This is a terrible cycle

that seems nearly impossible to break. This is the dilemma that society faces today. What can

be done to break the pattern?

 Although in years past, the number of Hispanics in the United States was due to

immigration, there has been a change over the years. In recent data, it is estimated that there

were approximately 5 million Hispanics born in the United States between 2010 – 2015

compared to about 1.9 million Hispanics that came as result of immigration. (Flores, 2017) This

data shows that much of the growth we are seeing in the Hispanic population is not coming

from a family crossing the border, but instead is coming from children being born within U.S.

borders. With that being said, there are a large number of Mexican Americans that may have

little to no knowledge about the country their family come from or their ancestral origins. The

fact that they do not know about their history is a direct impact on the lack of identity that they

feel. Since the majority of the country is white, they are taught about white history and close to

nothing about their own history. In order to develop their own racial identity, it is highly

important that they learn about their own history and their people. Focusing on this issue in

Utah, there would need to be many changes in school curriculum in order to make this possible.

The current curriculum in Utah has history listed under social studies. There is a specific

core of information that is taught throughout the entire state about the history of the United

States. It is interesting to examine the information that is presented to students and what

exactly they are being taught. There are basically seven core areas that are reviewed in each

class to discuss the history of the United States. It starts off before the country was established

and goes on until about the Civil War and the late 1800’s. (uen.org, n.d.) There are a couple

areas that can be improved in order to provide students the opportunity to learn about

Mexican history and the influence it had on the United States. These areas for potential

improvement will be outlined below.

 In the first section covered by the current curriculum, it discusses how three worlds

come together. This is all about the Americas before and just after Christopher Columbus came.

The three worlds that are taught about are “sophisticated American Indians,” along with

Europeans and African Americans involved in slave trade. (uen.org, n.d.) Understandably, the

areas that were first discovered by Europeans were on the east coast of the American

continent, but it makes no mention of other ancient peoples that also inhabited these lands

such as the Aztecs. However, there is one guiding question mentioned in the curriculum that

could help a teacher at least bring up other cultures. That question is, “How is your own cultural

history woven into the history of America?” (uen.org, n.d.) This is a good start to help students

begin to think about their own history and their own culture. These are thoughts that help

them question their own racial identity. There is much more that could be discussed to build

upon those thoughts they may start to have. Part of the curriculum could teach about all of the

native groups that lived in the United States before colonization and growth. They could give

respect and at least cover some background on who inhabited the continent before Europeans

came.

The other section that could be adjusted to include more information on Mexican

history is the sixth section talking about the expansion of the United States. In this part of

teaching, there was a very large impact on the country of Mexico and their people. Aside from

the Louisiana Purchase, the land that was battled and fought over during the Mexican-

American War, was the largest mass of land acquired during that time period. This territory

includes land from 9 different states. Battle for land is more widely discussed in association

with the American Indians during this time. The curriculum states, “Significant advances in
industrial technology, discoveries of vast natural resources, a series of gold rushes, visions of

the destiny of the nation, continuing conflicts between American Indians and settlers,

disagreements between slave states and free states, and a number of push and pull factors

influenced territorial expansion.” (uen.org, n.d.) The focus continues to be on one or two ethnic

groups as they were pushed out of their lands. Again, there is a guided question to help in

teaching these concepts, but it is only the beginning stage of a great idea. The question asks

how events such as the Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican-American War continue to affect

the United States. (uen.org, n.d.) This question does a great job at getting students thinking

about how these events continue to affect the U.S. even now, but it does not go any further

than that.

This doesn’t seem to be asking too much of teachers to include a couple of small

changes in the curriculum taught to students. The results could make a difference in the lives of

those students whose families come from Mexico. There are some changes being made already

by some individuals to incorporate these teachings in Utah. There is a textbook focused around

the history of Latinos specifically in Utah. This book was written by Professor Armando

Solórzano, a professor at the University of Utah. In his book, it uncovers in more detail, the

topics previously discussed. “The book covers several aspects of a changing Latino demographic

in Utah, including a rich cultural history. It examines anthropological evidence that the Aztecs,

the ancestor of the Mexican-Americans, were part of the Uto-Aztec groups that inhabited the

territory of Utah 5,000 years before the arrival of the Europeans… More recent chapters of

Latino history in Utah, including the state’s Chicano civil rights movement, are also depicted.”

(At the U, 2015) This clearly addresses the issues that were brought up with the current
curriculum. Details about the ancient inhabitants of Utah are taught and allow students to

connect with their ancestors and culture. It also opens up for discussion about the Chicano

movement and how it impacted the state of Utah. More importantly, this textbook will help

Mexican American students on their quest to discover their racial identity.

There are people other than this professor that believe that educating students about

Mexican history would be beneficial to not only the Hispanic students but also to those who

aren’t. In a recent interview with Katelyn Hester, a teacher at a local school, she said in

response to a question about how a change in curriculum could benefit students, “By focusing

on traditions and having the students share their own traditions I see more comradery amongst

my students. They start to feel more included in the class and feel more comfortable sharing

their own experiences and learning from others.” (Hester, 2018) Although Mexican history is

not part of her teachings, Katelyn takes the time to let her students share some of the

traditions their families have. As she said, sharing traditions and taking the time to understand

each other’s cultures helps bring the class together. They are more accepting of each other and

feel part of a bigger group. This feeling of comradery is something that can benefit every

student as they are encouraging and welcoming to each other.

Aside from creating feelings that help students to come together and be more united,

Katelyn mentioned another way in which she sees this change being beneficial. She said that

she believes that these studies should be taught, “through the lens of trying to gain a deeper

understanding by viewing events from both sides, America’s view and Mexico’s view. This way

it would allow students, Hispanic or not, to understand where other people are coming from

and how it changes and defines who they are.” (Hester, 2018) This is a great definition of what
it means to be culturally competent. In a country where there are so many different cultures

and ethnicities, becoming culturally competent should be one of the goals each individual has.

This means truly understanding why people do what they do and also why they have certain

traditions. Changing one aspect of how students are taught would bring about huge changes in

the upcoming generations that would help reshape society. These changes would be extremely

great for Hispanic people and really for people of any minority group.

Even with all of these great benefits in mind, there will still be some people that look to

inhibit these changes. One of the reasons they may look to is what these changes would look

like financially. How much would it cost to make this change? The only real monetary cost to

this change would be purchasing the textbook that relates the information. One can purchase

the book for a small cost of $20. If schools were to implement this change in curriculum, they

would need to buy enough textbooks for each student in the class. Also, if the school continues

to reuse the textbooks and lend them to students during that module, they can keep the books

for a good amount of time. This means that for each school, it could cost them $2,000 to

purchase 100 copies. Compared to the price of other textbooks, this is actually fairly cheap.

There may be a small amount of training that would need to be given to teachers in order to

adequately teach these topics, but for the most part, teachers would be reading the textbook

to understand the concepts that they are expected to bring up in class. Overall, the financial

cost of this change would seem to be feasible for schools.

In the beginning there may be some pushback from non-Hispanic parents or students

who may not understand why these changes are being made. That seems to be the biggest

obstacle in accomplishing this change. Some people don’t have the desire to see things from a
different perspective or to change their own thinking process. These are the people that will be

the most difficult to influence even with an adjusted curriculum. There will be some people that

will probably never change their ways, but the people that will change outweigh those that

won’t.

Over the last 35 years, the percentage of Hispanics that have a high school education or

less has decreased dramatically. From 1980 until 2015, that number has decreased from 78.4%

to 61.4% which is a 17% drop. Of those that are graduating high school, the number of those

with two-year degrees or less has increased slightly from 13.9% to 23.6%. (Flores, 2017) This is

good news that illustrates that more Hispanics are furthering their education outside of high

school but at the same time shows that less of them are graduating from high school. The issue

is clear. As time moves on, if this issue is not corrected, the trend will continue. The only way to

fix it is by educating Hispanics on their own history to help them figure out who they are. In a

society where many lose their way because they don’t have and identity of who they are, it is

important to rescue those that are lost and help them rise up. Education on Mexican history is

the step that America needs to take in order to help Mexican Americans identify who they are

and what they can achieve.

Bibliography
At the U. (2015, January 19). Retrieved from Professor Highlights Latino History in Utah:
https://attheu.utah.edu/facultystaff/professor-highlights-latino-history-in-utah/
Flores, A. (2017, September 18). pewhispanic.org. Retrieved from Pew Research Center
Hispanic Trends: http://www.pewhispanic.org/2017/09/18/facts-on-u-s-latinos/
Hester, K. (2018, March 10). Interview on Teaching Mexican History in Schools. (J. Ostler,
Interviewer)
uen.org. (n.d.). Retrieved from Utah Education Network: Social Studies:
https://www.uen.org/core/core.do?courseNum=6420