Chicana/o education and service learning.

Abstract

This paper provides a compelling starting point for extending the nature of service learning to disempowered Chicana/o students. Authors discuss educational benefits to students of discovering linkages between theory and practice in the development of personal identity and civic responsibility through authentic reconnection with their communities.

Introduction

Needled by the poor educational attainment of Chicanas/os one of the authors sought to isolate methods to aid them in grasping complexities and schemas involved in acquiring academic knowledge. Understanding historical-social and educational injustices divests students of the belief that a level playing field exists in the United States.

A review of service learning literature reveals scant information on minority students as service providers even though minority students participate in service learning throughout the United States. Specifically, no information was found showing Chicana/o students learning Chicana/o issues through service learning. For a number of years California State University Fullerton's Chicana/o Studies Department has provided students opportunities to acquire precisely this kind of service learning through their introductory course. "Introduction to Chicana/o Studies" enables students to experience in a realistic setting the nature of such issues as immigration, language, economic, educational and social discrimination. James A. Ferg-Cadina's (2004) treatise on Chicana/o historical education deprivation in Black, White and Brown: Latino School Desegregation Efforts in the Pre- and Post Brown v. Board of Education Era provides a historical framework for students' critical thinking about their experiences and subsequent societal outcomes. Points made by the author underscore students' need for innovative opportunities to engage in critical thinking about the Mexican American experience and subsequent societal outcomes.

Chicanas/os form a sizable part of the population in the United States. Of the nation's 280 million population, 38.8 million or 13.4 percent are Hispanics as of 2002, 67 percent or 26 million are of Mexican descent. On the national level statistics indicate few Chicano students ever get a postsecondary education, with only 11% of Hispanic population, 25 years old and over, ever completing a Bachelors degree and a paltry 6.4% with masters or doctorate degree (U.S. Census, 2003). California statistics indicate the high potential for Hispanic students' educational participation. California is home to 11.9 million Hispanics, or 34 percent of the population in scholastic year 2002-2003. Highly impacted K-9 schools enrolled 2,819,504 students who were Hispanic or 42.2 percent of its total enrollment. (California Dept. of Education, 2004)

Will the importance for addressing Hispanic educational needs diminish? The National Center for Education Statistics population projections indicate that by 2050 Hispanics will reach 98 million in number, thus representing about one-fourth of the total U.S. population (NCES, April 2003). If these population growth trends continue the implications for educational institutions are enormous; it will require educators to engage multiple educational approaches, including service learning, in order to facilitate students' cognitive growth, academic achievement, and subsequent civic engagement. "introduction to Chicana/o Studies" at California State University, Fullerton, uses service learning to engage students in learning about inequality that affects academic performance and subsequent societal outcomes for Chicanas/os in their communities. Benefits of integrating students' curriculum with service learning resulted in development of personal identity and civic responsibility. Students articulated an understanding of diversity and the impact of inequality. They also gained a broader understanding of abstract concepts through direct encounters, which illuminated societal issues raised in the university classroom, as evidenced by their field journals and classroom discussions.

Review of Service Learning Literature

The service learning literature includes multiple references to multicultural issues, cultural awareness, and civic engagement, most notably in Boyle-Baise, (F2000), and Deans, (F1999). For example, Deans concentrates on reading multicultural material with the goal "to facilitate cross-cultural awareness and understanding between college students and children in public schools". While this approach is helpful, it ignores the potential experiential contribution and the opportunity to broaden Chicana/o students' understanding of concepts by actively engaging students with real life experiences and issues.

We, on the other hand, have Chicana/o students do service learning that requires them to identify issues discussed in class such as discrimination, poverty and a lack of educational opportunities that will aid them in discovering linkages between Critical Race Theory (Crenshaw, 1995) and social practices (e.g., individualism, competitiveness, and consumerism). For example, students reported on overcrowded classrooms and unprepared or unmotivated teachers. This approach focuses attention on "the complexity of racial and cultural difference" (O'Grady, 2000, xiv) by requiring students to compare classroom discussions with field experiences thereby avoiding reinforcement of the "dominant hegemonic cultural ideology". According to O'Grady researchers need to develop a framework of social justice, which engenders "civic responsibility in a pluralistic but unequal society." Therefore, the purpose of our service learning assignment is to broaden students understanding of what we refer to as a "colonized blindness" to the reality of inequality. The following are instructions provided to students:

   Service Learning Ten service-learning hours are required. The
   purpose of a reflective field journal is to chronicle your learning
   process. Therefore, the journal will be graded on whether you
   address specific issues introduced in class such as migration,
   poverty, diversity, culture, and discrimination. The journal should
   include the date and hours served; a description of the activity;
   and an analysis of theoretical concepts related to theory and
   issues covered in classroom.

The service learning assignment for Introduction to Chicano Studies, specifically, springs from Paolo Freire's beliefs, as spelled out by Thomas Deans (1999) that puts critical consciousness at the center of education philosophy. According to Deans, this approach "implies an increasingly reflective, abstract and critical grasp of one's social, historical and class situatedness" (Deans 22). If the goal of education is to "change material conditions" as Deans states, then a service learning assignment prepares Chicana/o students to change "larger cultural and economic structures of oppression," first through the understanding that inequality exists, and then by marshalling energy toward change. Kolb (2004) introduced an educational model for experiential learning that provides a conceptual framework for subsequent student related activities. He posits a four sequence circular learning cycle that can begin at any of the following points:

* Concrete experience: a direct encounter with the phenomena being studied and learning through sense experiences (Jarvis, 1995, cited in Kolb, 2004)

* Observation and reflection: seeing and reflecting on everyday experiences

* Formation of abstract concepts: understanding the general principle under which the particular instance falls

* Testing in new situations: application through action in a new circumstance within the range of generalization 

Method

This qualitative study examines the perspectives of Chicana/o student participants. Service learning took place in community organizations such as: schools, hospitals, or libraries. During the fall semester of 2003 students were presented with alternative, critical historical viewpoints in the classroom, pertaining to the Mexican American experience in the Southwest. Students were required to create a service learning reflective field journal. The journal students created included: 1) date of activity; 2) number of hours engaged in activities; 3) description of the activities; and 4) analysis. The analysis portion was to identify and analyze issues discussed in the university classroom. Students were required to complete ten hours of service. A 22-person representative student sample was randomly selected from the larger pool of students that participated in on-going service learning classes over a seven-year period. Specifically, refocusing students' attention to linking experience with Chicano history and concepts introduced in the course captured the essential learning aspect of service learning. A qualitative analysis of themes present in students' statements from field data were coded into four broad categories: Cognitive learning--information perceived, encoded, stored, and retrieved; problem solving--implemented novel strategies and solutions; level of commitment--consistency in attendance and completion of assigned activities; and personal and social needs--statements reflecting accomplishment, competence, and belonging.

Ethnic Identity Development Through Service Learning

Group identity is an important aspect of an individual's self-concept. Earlier research suggested that an internalization of broader society's views of the minority group necessarily resulted in negative psychological outcomes. Conversely, positive identification with the minority group is assumed to be related to positive psychological outcomes (Jackson, McCullough & Gurin, 1988). A second underlying assumption in the ethnic identity literature is that the level of one's identity influences which environmental stimuli are encoded, as well as, the way information is utilized (e.g., organized, memorized, and later recalled and responded to).

Moreover, an individual's social functioning is believed to be influenced by the strength or weakness of one's ethnic identity. The more developed the structure, the more awareness individuals have of their own uniqueness and similarity to others, as well as more awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses in making their way in the world. Conversely, the less developed the structure is, the more confused individuals seem to be in evaluating their own distinctiveness from others and tend to rely more on external sources to evaluate themselves (Marcia, 1966). The continuous reflection, cyclic process involved in the service learning experience creates opportunities for participants to continuously modify their understanding with more direct ethnic community experience, information, and thought "meaning schemes" and "meaning perspectives" as an ethnic group member (Mezirow, 1994). The result of involvement in service learning activities produces a more complex, adequate and empowered view of themselves, with an enhanced desire to contribute to change within their community and the broader society. To illustrate this consider what our students wrote:

* This exercise is a way to keep me connected with my Mexican and religious roots. I remember who I am. I made a promise to never forget where I came from. --Armida.

* I bonded and worked with people who share the same culture. Overall, this experience was wonderful. Not only was it an eye-opening experience about our culture, but it is about what I want to do in the future, l want to be a bilingual Kindergarten teacher-Carla.

* I attended this high school and I remembered the tutors use (sic) to help me. --Dalila

* With the passing of many years I forgot I had grown up with the same things these children are facing today--Angel

* Made me feel so important right there and then I knew I was making a difference in her life--Juan

* The majority of the children's native language is Spanish. I also realized that some children felt comfortable when I spoke to them in Spanish. I guess having this in common with the children made them relate to me even more.--Bobby

Civic Responsibility and Commitment Development Through Service Learning

The use of a border pedagogy, such as suggested by Hayes and Cuban (1997), along with Kapoor's and William's (2003) challenge to educate citizens in higher education, provide a framework to discuss civic responsibility and the commitment developed through service learning. Hayes and Cuban state that metaphors of crossing borders and borderlands

   ...  suggest how service-learning prompts students to understand
   their own culture in new ways, appreciate cultural differences,
   become more critically aware of social inequities and power
   relations, and envision a more democratic society (72).

Our students' observations wrote about realities they experienced. Consider the following examples:

* "non or limited English speaking children in overcrowded schools."--Ronaldo

* "poverty manifested through dental needs and low income parents living in crowded apartments with 10 other people.--Emma

* Having volunteered before, I never saw what was right in front of my face.--Mary

These conditions made real the terms "educational and economic deprivation" discussed in the university classroom. Concrete examples, among others, stimulated students to express feeling a surge of civic responsibility and commitment such as:

* "This experience made me want to do more."--Mark

* "Very emotional for me to see the children struggle through the California state public school system."--Kathy.

This type of student-heightened conviction would be difficult to replicate in the university classroom without service learning. Understanding the need for commitment can further be found in Armida's statements, among other students, that she had related the class lectures to real life issues:

* I believe that people should return to their former communities from childhood. They should help the children because the children are the future of America. -Armida

* Gave me a sense of pleasure within myself because I feel like I have done something good for the community.--Maria

* I am giving back by returning to this school to help out.--Dalila

* I feel like such an integral part of their life (sic). I found that influencing the children at a young age-with every aspect would make a difference in their future.--Sol

* She made me feel proud to have helped her overcome her fears.--Roberta

* We have to help each other. I understand that with opportunity comes responsibility to help the young children. They are our future.--Bobby

Additional evidence of the impact seen in the service learning experience was evident when students continued involvement beyond the 10-hour assignment because they were committed to making a change within the community. Many students also stated they planned to continue their service activities into the subsequent semesters.

Benefits of Authentic Reconnection with Community

Educational benefits to students through authentic reconnection with their communities are realized through engagement with "large kinship networks, ... high levels of visitation, and exchange behaviors " (Keefe, 1984 ref. in Zambrana, 1995). Students visited service-learning sites within the Chicana/o community regularly, thereby creating conditions consistent with networking and traditional community relations.

Implications, Limitations

Some students started at a disconnected Eurocentrically informed position and developed an informed understanding of personal beliefs, values, experiences. They better understood discrimination, poverty, and a lack of educational opportunities in ways that allowed them to reconnect with their Chicano communities and begin to construct new social relationships. Students identified and reflected upon the communities' personal/social needs. The following statements outlining their observations:

* Discrimination: Some children didn't want to play with her because she didn't speak English. She was different from them.-Juan

* Poverty: Poverty/dental needs. Children of gardeners, maids, house cleaners, painters, waiters, cooks, dishwashers, construction workers, fruit pickers, housewives. Some of the people live in an apartment complex or rent a room in a house with 10 other people. Child was left with her grandmother because the 20-year old mother left for Arizona to find a better paying job.-Emma

* Poverty: Poverty, overcrowded schools, combination classes. Both parents have to work just to make ends meet.--Lily

* Poverty: Used fundraising to get equipment for Chicano students to play baseball. These parents didn't make enough money to be able to enroll their children in local sports programs.--Gladis

* Lack of educational opportunities: A major problem for children is that they are not able to understand the assignments from the teachers.-Roberta

* Lack of educational opportunities: Students need help to go to college.--Dalila

* Lack of educational opportunities: Classes overcrowded-it affects how the teacher plans the lessons.--Bobby

* Lack of educational opportunities: Need instruction in English, updated school supplies. Gangs in area around school, need safety for children.--Mary

* Lack of educational opportunity: Poverty, poor educational standards, lack of motivation.--Angel

This research provides a compelling starting point for extending the nature of service learning to disempowered Chicana/o students. Through service learning experiences student engage in identification creation, developing civic and community commitment, and civic engagement by actively linking of the course content with a direct encounter with the phenomena being studied. This approach can help higher education institutions address their moral and civic goals and actualize their mission statements by engaging students' interests in involving themselves in voting, creating of community based organizations, and establishing mentoring networks. These and other related activities call for a proactive development of pro-social behavior, a concern for others and a desire to make a positive change.

References

Boyle-Baise, M. and Kilbane, J. (2000) What really happens? A look inside service-learning for multicultural teacher education. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, Fall 2000, 54-64.

California Department of Education (2004). http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/pn/fb/yr04fingertipffacts.asp.

Crenshaw, K. [et al.] Critical race theory: the key writings that formed the movement New York: New Press: Distributed by W.W. Norton & Co., c1995

Deans, T. (1999). Service-learning in two keys. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning. Fall 1999.15-29.

Ferg-Cadima, J. (2004). Black, White and Brown: Latino school desegregation efforts in the pre-and post-Brown v. Board of Education Era. Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. 50th Anniversary of the Supreme Court Ruling. http://www.maldef.org.

Hayes, E. and Cuban S. (1997). Border pedagogy: a critical framework for service-learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, Fall 1997, 72-80.

Jackson, J. S., and McCullough, W. R., & Gurin, G. (1988). Family, socialization environment, and identity development in Black Americans. In H. P. McAdoo (Ed.) Black_Families, Newbury Park: Sage Publications, 242-256.

Kapoor, P., and Williams, D. R. (2003). Higher education's imperative: Rising to the challenge of educating citizens. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, Fall 2003, 70-75.

Kolb, D.A. (2004). david a. kolb on experiential learning, infed. Encyclopedia archives search, http://www.infed.org/biblio/b-explrn.htm.

Llagas, C. and Snyder T. (April 2003). National Center for Education Statistics, Status and trends in the education of Hispanics. U. S. Department of Education.

Marcia, J. E. (1966). Development and validation of ego identity status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 3, 551-558.

Mezirow, J. (1994). Understanding transformation theory. Adult educational quarterly, 44(4), 222-232.

O'Grady, C. (2000). Integrating service learning and multicultural education in colleges and universities: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers: New Jersey.

United States Census Bureau (2003). Facts for Features. http:://www.census.gov

Hein, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Chicana/o Studies and Stokes, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Afro-Ethnic Studies