DOCUMENT RESUME ED 101 867 RC 008 282 AUTHOR Post, Donald Eugene TITLE Ethnic Competition for Control of Schools in Two South Texas Towns. PUB DATE Aug 74 NOTE 521p.; Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Texas EDRS PRICE MF-$0.92 HC-$26.02 PLUS POSTAGE DESCRIPTORS Administrative Personnel; *Anglo Americans; Boards of Education; Conflict; Doctoral Theses; *Ethnic Relations; Ethnology; Leadership; *Mexican Americans; *Power Structure; School District Autonomy; *Sociocultural Patterns; Socioeconomic Influences IDENTIP/EPS Chicanos; *Texas ABSTRACT The study examined the competition for control of schools between Anglos and Mexican Americans in 2 South Texas towns, The study's major objective was to describe the history of, and conceptually account for, the development of this new ethnic power struggle in which the control of schools played a primary role. Both towns, situtted in a region known for its year-round vegetable economy, shAred such demographic characteristics as population size, ethnic composition, and Anglo dominance of the economy. Among the 146 persons interviewed were past and present school board members, persons who had unsuccessfully competed for school Boardpositions, administrators, teachers, city and county officialsand Raza Unida Party members. Observations of such events as school board meetings, city council meetings, football games and practices, church services, and confrontations between the Better Government League, local Ciudadanos, Crystal City Anglos, and the Crystal City Raza Unida Party were conducted. Some findings were:(1) historically Anglos had dominated the Mexican American socially and culturally by controlling the agricultural economy;(2) both ethnic sectors perceived schools as a basic local energy source to be used as power in controlling the local physical and social environment; and (3) ethnic conflict resulted in a decrease of ',latitude" for subordinates' actions within the school domain. (NQ) ETHNIC COMPETITION FOR CONTROL OF SCHOOLS IN TWO SOUTH TEXAS TOWNS A3I1Od e0 NOwSO4 NOuv3n03 3o/uSNs lyNOuvta 1vi3Idd0 im3S sedanAltavSS333N ON 00 031vS SNOofid0 NO Main tO SiNIOd ONuv NIOIMO AIOUVZINV0a0noNostats Stu Woes03A13336 SV Al3vra 03300 whimsN330 Ulm LNIINM)00 Sou Ii0o11131102 by d011.1"tolSNI1104011VN 511,ot1itaNOILV*1101 111.1111IN 110 1,4111V481111d10 '1 to DONALD EUGENE POST, B.A., M.Th., M.S. DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY f PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS COPY RIGHTED MATERIAL HAS MEN GRANTED BY Donald Eugene I 9A t_ IU ERIC AND ORGANIZATIONS OPERATING iwnf i4 AGREEMENTS WITH THE NATIONAL %mutt Of EDUCATIONFURTHER P: PRO RUCTION OUTSIDE THEERIC system RE mows pf nom,sfons(If THE COPYRIGHT OWNER THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN August 1974 0002 Copyright by Donald Eugene Post 1974 i 1 0003 BEST COPY NAMABLE ETHNIC COMPETITION FOR CONTROL OF SCHOOLS IN TWO SOUTH TEXAS TOWNS APPROVED BY SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE: ,* ' I. / C e ...., 0004 ETHNIC COMPETITION FOR CONTROL OF SCHOOLS IN TWO SOUTH TEXAS TOWNS Publication No. Donald Eugene Post, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 1974 Supervising Professor: Douglas Foley The major objective of this research is to describe the history of, and conceptually account for, the develop- ment of an ethnic power struggle in two South Texas towns in which the control of schools plays a primary role. The primary focus of the analysis is upon the way in which schools and school leadenihip have operated to maintain the subordinate power position of Mexican-Americans and the effect upon school leadership of Mexican-Americans' attempts to gain control of the school boards. The two towns analyzed form part of a regional area experiencing significant changes in Anglo-American and Mexican-American relationship. The transformation is, on the one hand, a result of a long history of Mexican social and cultural subordination. On the other hand, it can be conceptualized as an ethnic socio- cultural, revivication movement which. with varying degrees, consciously rejects many characteristics iv 00W) of thedominant Anglo population and deliberately seeks to politicize allAmericans of Mexican descent in order to en- hancethe group's socio-economic position in the environ- m-nt. The chief reference point for the movement in Texas has cometo be Crystal City, where the movement, through the newlycreated La Raza Unida Party, has taken control of the formalpolitical apparatus. Other towns in the region use CrystalCity as a reference in measuring their own location on an ethnic power transformation scale. The con- trol of schools is one of the key objects of competition between the two ethnic sectors. Such competition heightens the consciousness of the actors andprovides an excellent opportunity to specify the cultural values and meanings attached to schools by both ethnic sectors and test a num- ber of issues existent in educational research,such as the extent to which school systems are "open" or"closed," the relative control of schools exerted by locals versus professicnals, and the effect of state and federal controls upon school governance. Historically the Anglos have con- trolled the school boards, the administrativepositions, the faculty, and student leadership offices and awards. The analyst used traditional anthropological methods of interviewing key informants and observing local events. Yet, the analysis is a modified ethnography since only the socio-cultural network most directly linked to the governance then only in terms of the power of schoolswas mapped, and and culturalfeatures used as basic ethnic organizational featuresin forming the present competition for control of theschools and local socialtransformation. The analyst alsoconducted a content analysis of school boardminutes and school annuals. Extensive agricultural and social demographic data were gathered. The investigation was con- ducted during theperiod of NOvember, 1972, through December, 1973. The analysis revealed that historically Anglosin the two localities havedominated the Mexican-American socially and culturally by controlling theagricultural economy. Within this context the study provides a case of how the school domain isperceived by one ethnic sector (Chicano /RUP) as functioning historically tomaintain their socio-cultural subordination. Concomitantly, there is a significant number of Anglos who, with varyingdegrees of consciousness, view the school domain asfunctioning to maintain Mexican-American socio-culturalsubordination. The following findings wereassociated with this basic conceptualization:(1) culture and power were found to be intimately related and brokered by units atall levels for either system maintenance or change; (2) theschool system functions as an open system, if viewed from theperspective of organizational behaviorfound in political education vi 0007 (3) professional school leaders were powersub- research; ordinates inthe local power domain; and (4) ethnicconflict resulted in adecrease of "latitude" for subordinates' actions within theschool domain. e 4 vii 0008 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page, LIST OF TABLES ix Chapter I. THE PROBLEM The Relationship of Educational and Social Science Literature to Ethnic Competition for the Control of Schools 3 Community Studies 11 Summary and Interpretation: Community and Educational Studies 30 Methodological and Conceptual Contributions 33 The Concept of Community 36 The Holistic Perspective and the Ethno- graphic Method 38 The Concept of Culture andits Utility in Developing a Theory of Ethnic Relations 42 The Concept of Power and ItsRelation to Culture and Social Change 58 Summary and Interpretation 75 The Research Design 78 II. THE PHYSICAL CONTEXT AND SOCIALCOMPOSITION OF THE MIMIC UNITS IN THE TWOLOCALITIES . 87 The Physical Context--Regional andLocal . 88 Summary and Interpretation 98 Social Characteristics 101 Population Characturistics 101 Age and Sex Characteristics 103 Natural Increase Factors 109 Migration Increase Factors 111 Summary and Interpretation 116 viii 0009 Ent 524211.E Education 118 Economic Characteristics 125 Summary and Interpretation . .. 131 i11. THE HISTORY OP INTER-ETHNICRELATIONS . 135 North Town Anglos Interpret Local Social Evolution and Ethnic Relations . 138 Ethnic Boundaries and School Governance . 157 Anglos Lose Control of Schools 169 North Town Mexican-American Interpretations of Local Social Evolution and Ethnic Relations 174 Mexican-American Perceptions of Schooling . 181 Mexican-Americans Conmeptualize Anglo Rela- tions as Internal Colonialism: A Summary and interpretation 184 South Town Anglos Interpret Local Social Evolution and Ethnic Relations 189 Ethnic Boundaries and School Governance . 211 Anglos Lose Control of Schools 219 Summary and Interpretation 222 0 a. South Town Mexican-Americans Interpret Local Social Evolution and Ethnic Relations . 223 Mexican-American Perceptions of Schooling 229 Summary and Interpretation 235 IV. THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN THREAT TO DOMINANCE AND THE ANGLOS RESPONSE -- PART I: THE CASE OF NORTH TOWN 243 Upper Level Contributions: A Preface to Local Mobilisation 245 North Town's Mobilization 265 Summary 288 Anglo Response to the Mexican-American Threat 292 School Leadership Response 308 Summary and Interpretation 316 ix 2 0010 Chanter /2.42P.. V. THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN THREAT TO DOMINANCE AND THE ANGLO RESPONSE -- PART II: THE CASE OF SOUTH TOWN 3k0 Summary and Interpretation: North and South Town Mexican-American Mobilization