Latinos Accuse Colorado Schools of Slighting Culture in Big, Small Ways

DENVER — There are big issues, such as recognizing the contributions of Hispanics throughout history. But it’s the little things, too, that rankle: the frequent mangling of Hispanic names and places, for instance.

A coalition of organizations, believing Hispanic culture and accomplishments are being slighted in public school classrooms throughout Colorado, has demanded that the state get involved.

They want the state Department of Education to enforce a law stating that history, culture and contributions of minorities “shall be taught in all public schools.”

The complaint cited no individual district, and Ramon Del Castillo, co-chairman of the Latino Education Coalition, claims that the law is ignored statewide. His group wants the state to investigate and, if necessary, strip the accreditation of any district not following the law.

“We would like the state Department of Education to do an all-out assessment of all the districts, particularly where there is a high concentration of Latino students,” he said.

Art Ellis, assistant education commissioner, says requiring compliance is hard, because Colorado’s constitution gives local districts curriculum control.

And some district officials say they are providing opportunity for minority learning.

“It is being done,” said Jo Thomas, director of multicultural education for Denver schools. “Maybe they just aren’t informed. I don’t know that they have checked in detail to see what we offer.”

The complaint also cites low scores for Hispanic students on the Colorado State Assessments of fourth-graders in reading and writing. Eighty-one percent of Hispanic students scored in the unsatisfactory or partially proficient categories for writing, the two lowest positions.

“If the bilingual skills were enforced, the scores would be higher,” said Luis Torres, chairman of the Chicana and Chicano Studies Department at Metro State College in Denver.

Joanna Maes, coordinator for the privately funded Educational Initiatives, for the Latin American Research and Service Agency, or La Rasa, is not convinced districts are doing all they can to teach about the Hispanic culture.

And she isn’t sure it’s happening in other Western states, either.

“When a teacher enters the classroom he or she thinks Black History Month or Hispanic Heritage Month are the only time during the year they can expose people to their own culture.”

Maes and other educators believe teachers should be the initiators, and that minority awareness programs should go back to teacher education, with would-be teachers being taught more about minority contributors to American society.

“It’s going to take a lot more work,” Maes said. “We have calls all the time about who the famous Hispanic artists, poets and doctors are. The teachers themselves are not taking the time to learn about them.”

A state lawmaker, Rep. Gloria Leyba (D-Denver), said that as a student she was embarrassed, ethnically, by a teacher.

“You can feel lonely in the classroom, where there is no recognition of your own history and you have experiences that show no appreciation for your name or language,” she said.

“I remember a history class and discussion of Porfirio Diaz, president of Mexico. The teacher insisted his name was pronounced ‘Dye-azz.’ This was a woman teacher, and when I attempted to tell her the right pronunciation, she said she had never heard that before and corrected me. She said I was wrong.”

Leyba said her son, Raoul, has that problem with the way teachers and others pronounce his name. “They pronounce it ‘Rall.’ He’s given up and now pronounces it that way himself. It isn’t worth it anymore.

“And we picked that name because of its wonderful sound.”

Leyba, whose mother was born in Mexico, also notes that Spanish was not spoken in the home when she was growing up. Leyba had to learn her own language as an adult, an experience shared by many others.

And in Colorado, as in other Western states, towns and geographic areas are dotted with Spanish names. But, still, people pronounce Buena Vista as “Bewna Vista,” and “Pueblo” as “Pee-eblo,” and Mesa Verde as “Meesa Verrd.”

That, too, is a frustration, Leyba said, but education could correct the problem if anyone bothered.

Darlene LeDoux, director of human resources for the Cherry Creek Schools, and a longtime teacher and administrator, said instruction on Hispanic contributions can only help students.

LeDoux, who is of Hispanic heritage, said: “The sad thing about kids in the Southwest is that they are missing a wonderful opportunity to learn about the beauty and special history that occurred here, because so often the Southwest is ignored in the history books.

“The history and culture is invisible, and there’s nothing worse than growing up and not knowing any of that. Maybe kids would stay in school if they knew what they were all about,” she said.

LeDoux noted that many Colorado counties--including Baca, Huerfano, Costilla, Las Animas, LaPlata and Otero--and counties in other Western states reflect the Spanish culture, but often schools don’t teach the significance of those names.

She, like Maes, believes that they should be taught the value of contributions to the community, “rather than hear about the East and what happened in England. Why don’t we learn?”

“Learning about culture should perhaps start in the home, but the celebration of culture should extend to the schools--because sometimes our own parents weren’t taught about their history,” LeDoux said. “That teaching of our culture could be integrated in all subjects, rather than in just a separate course. Put it in social studies, and reading, and in science, so it becomes a part of the whole.”