Rejecting "Proximity to Whiteness" as a Theory of Change in Dual-Language Education

• In Event: Intersectionality of Language, Race, and Class Within Urban Classrooms: Resisting Hegemonic Whiteness in Language Education

Abstract

A growing body of critical scholarship has drawn renewed attention to issues of equity and access in dual language education (Cervantes-Soon, 2014; Cervantes-Soon et al., 2017; de Jong & Howard, 2009; Delavan, Valdez, & Freire, 2016; Flores, 2016; Martínez, 2017; Morales & Rao, 2015; Palmer, 2009; Valdez, Freire, & Delavan, 2016). In particular, these scholars have interrogated what Valdez, Freire, and Delavan (2016) call the gentrification of dual language education, highlighting the ways in which current policies and practices privilege white and wealthy students while marginalizing poor racialized students. In this paper, I situate these current dual language education trends within a broader approach to educational reform that posits ‘proximity to whiteness’ as a theory of change. In contrast to the underlying assumption that proximity to whiteness necessarily promotes equity, I argue that educational inequality is actually inevitable when the interests of poor racialized students are tied to those of white students, and I suggest that educational justice in dual language educational contexts is possible only if we begin to center working-class students of color.

As an illustrative case, I share the example of a small, public, dual language school in Los Angeles, California that has focused exclusively on educating Latina/o/x (including Indigenous Mexican), Filipina/o/x, South Asian, and East African children of immigrants. I highlight lessons to be learned from this context in which working-class students of color have been the sole focus of dual language education, and in which non-Latina/o/x students learn Spanish and English from—and along with—their Latina/o/x peers. I share some details related to the founding of this school, and I emphasize how the decision that was made early on to privilege racialized working-class students has been central to promoting educational equity at this site.

Building on this local example, I advance a conceptual argument in favor of decoupling whiteness and educational opportunity for working-class students of color. In particular, I argue for the decoupling of whiteness and access to dual language education. Proximity to white students should not be a goal in and of itself, nor should it trump other social justice-oriented efforts in dual language education. If we seek to make critical, high-quality dual language education accessible to working-class students of color, then we will need to think beyond current conceptualizations that are contingent on the enrollment of white students. To be sure, white students can be integrated into some dual language programs in ways that promote educational equity. However, this integration must be carefully and thoughtfully subordinated to the interests of working-class students of color. Moreover, in educational contexts where there are simply not enough white students to go around, educators have the unique opportunity to ground educational reform efforts in their respective demographic realities. I conclude by arguing that we can begin to imagine possibilities for educational justice in dual language education if we look to examples of contexts in which these students are already privileged and centered.

Author

• Ramon Antonio Martinez, Stanford University