Contested Education, Continuity, and Change in Arizona and New Mexico, 1945-2010 Stephen D
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository History ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations Fall 12-14-2018 Contested Education, Continuity, and Change in Arizona and New Mexico, 1945-2010 Stephen D. Mandrgoc University of New Mexico - Main Campus Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/hist_etds Part of the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Mandrgoc, Stephen D.. "Contested Education, Continuity, and Change in Arizona and New Mexico, 1945-2010." (2018). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/hist_etds/260 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in History ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. i Stephen Mandrgoc Candidate History Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Dissertation Committee: Dr. L.M. García y Griego, Chairperson Dr. Bárbara Reyes Dr. Jason Scott-Smith Dr. Diane Torres-Velásquez Dr. Joseph P. Sánchez ii CONTESTED EDUCATION, CONTINUITY, AND CHANGE IN ARIZONA AND NEW MEXICO, 1945-2010 by STEPHEN MANDRGOC Bachelor of Arts, Classics University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Master of Arts, History Illinois State University DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, History The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico May 2019 iii Dedication To my parents, David and Agnus Mandrgoc, and my sister Melissa for their constant support and love over this long process; to my chair, Manuel García y Griego for his helpful suggestions and patience; to Dr. Joseph Sánchez for pushing me to stick to it to the end and always having time for thoughts and suggestions about where to go next; and lastly, to my friends who gave me nothing but support in finishing this project. iv Acknowledgements Special thanks to Dr. David Dunaway of the Department of English and Director of the Route 66 Oral History Office and the National Park Service for use of their oral history transcripts. v “Contested Education, Continuity, and Change in Arizona and New Mexico, 1945-2010” By Stephen Mandrgoc Bachelor of Arts, Classics May 1997 Master of Science, History May 2004 Doctor of Philosophy, History May 2019 Abstract Sibling states split from the original New Mexico Territory, Arizona and New Mexico are neighbors geographically but very different otherwise: in how they were founded, in their ethnic makeup, in their sociocultural values, and in the forms of structural racism that are part of this history of both states. Mexican American residents who found themselves suddenly American citizens struggled in response to discrimination aimed at “Mexicans” by their Anglo American neighbors fueled by racist stereotypes built on the Spanish Black Legend and the mythology of the Alamo in Texas. Above all, Mexican Americans contested Anglo Americans for the right for an equitable education for their children. This study examines the struggles of Mexican American educational activists and organizations, stressing continuity and change, to identify the elements of New Mexico’s and Arizona’s educational policies that were shaped by their pre-1945 history. It begins with a discussion of the antecedents of the states of Arizona and New Mexico during the territorial period until statehood, with the goal of demonstrating the weight of early decisions, experiences and policies (i.e., those of pre-1945) on later policies and practices by comparing the history of educational policies, administration, and activism of both vi states between 1945-2010. Chapters alternate between discussions of national events outside New Mexico and Arizona, before examining how events played out within the contemporaneous national environment. Issues that plagued Mexican American education in both states included Americanization/English Only, bilingual education, segregation/desegregation, and the erosion of public support for educational equality from the 1970s onwards. The study also examines several important pioneers of education in either state, such as George I. Sánchez, Georgia Lusk, and Maria Urquides. The study concludes that the historical sociocultural values and structural racism inherent in Arizona and New Mexico at their founding as states have continued to inform decisions made by state actors post-1945. It tracks a steady erosion of pro-Mexican American court decisions and policies from the end of the 1970s to 2010 and suggests that New Mexico’s superior educational attainment for Mexican Americans may be due to a commitment to best practices lacking in Arizona’s responses. vii Table of Contents: Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... vii Preface............................................................................................................................ viii Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Historical Foundations of Education ............................................................ 14 Chapter 2: Legal Foundations of Education .................................................................. 44 Chapter 3: Education in The Post-War Southwest ........................................................ 71 Chapter 4: Post-War Education in Arizona and New Mexico ....................................... 100 Chapter 5: A Cresting Wave of Change ........................................................................ 133 Chapter 6: A Tide of Southwestern Support .................................................................. 162 Chapter 7: The Turn Against Equal Education .............................................................. 191 Chapter 8: A Shifting Southwestern Wind .................................................................... 216 Chapter 9: A Nation at Risk? ......................................................................................... 246 Chapter 10: Two Southwestern States at Risk? ............................................................ 272 Chapter 11: Education in the New Millennium ............................................................. 292 Chapter 12: The Southwest in a New Millennium ......................................................... 318 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 352 Afterword ....................................................................................................................... 366 References ...................................................................................................................... 382 viii Preface This dissertation came about from an interest in good education and good educational policies. Following the Recession of 2008, numerous states cut their education budgets as austerity measures, but few of those budgets have been returned to their pre-2008 levels. As someone who aspired to be a college professor, this concerned me, especially given the progressive expansion of university bureaucracies and the commoditization of education. When these cuts threatened to remain seeming permanent for New Mexico and other states, my interest grew – how could New Mexico, which has constantly supported rhetoric of pro-Spanish language and Spanish/Mexican culture be struggling so hard to meet the needs of its students? How was this different from its western neighbor, Arizona, and its blatant attacks on the same cultural elements? While researching this study, I was fortunate enough to work with Dr. Diane Torres-Velásquez, an associate professor at the Department of Education at the University of New Mexico. Along with Dr. Torres-Velásquez, I was part of a presentation at the New Mexico Association for Bilingual Education (NMABE) in 2013. This presentation, titled “Educational Policy in New Mexico,” laid out a brief history of educational policy in New Mexico and its constitutional protection of Spanish and education in Spanish for its students. This was offered alongside MALDEF’s contemporary explanation for bringing the case known as Martínez v. State of New Mexico (2014). MALDEF and the Latino Education Task Force (LETF) successfully sued the State of New Mexico for failing to live up to constitutional requirements for education programs and the education of Spanish-speaking students who were English Language Learners in general, and has renewed the original constitution pledge of New ix Mexico to serve its bilingual and multicultural populations by treating them as equals educationally as well as continuing the state’s search for what qualifies as “sufficient education. 1 Introduction Over a century ago, a series of cultural collisions and political decisions resulted in the carving of two distinct states from what had been New Mexico Territory. These states were Arizona and New Mexico, two states that began as one territory but that have diverged in ethnic makeup, sociocultural structure, and history. This study examines the struggles of Mexican American/Latino activists in both states as they fought for educational equity and compares both continuity and change in how structural racism and discrimination have shaped Arizona and New Mexico’s educational systems and policies. Structural