72.010 - Mexican American Educational Experiences and the Historical Struggle for Equal Educational Opportunity: A Critical Conversation

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

This Presidential Session examines the struggle for equal educational opportunity by Mexican Americans over time, space and in different regions of North America. Historians and sociologists of education offer a unique perspective on the experiences of Mexican Americans across the U.S. This breadth and depth of understanding the commonalities and variance across the experiences of Mexican Americans in the U.S. make for an exceptional way to grasp the texture of how individual communities have grappled with the challenge of providing educational opportunity in the face of formidable obstacles. This Presidential Session specifically engages in a critical conversation with a group of accomplished historians of education whose work explores how Mexican Americans have struggled for equal educational opportunities over time. Panelists will present an overview of their research on the history of Mexican American in the United State and relate it to the notion of educational opportunity and elements of the Coleman Report. The session will also include time for questions from the audience to allow for connections from the past and to present conditions.

Sub Unit

• AERA Presidential Session

Chair

• Ann Marie Ryan, Loyola University Chicago

Participants

• Vilma Ortiz, University of California - Los Angeles

• Laura K. Munoz, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi

• Mario Rios Perez, Syracuse University

• Edward Telles, Princeton University

• David G. Garcia, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Discussant

• Laura K. Munoz, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi