Felix M. Padilla - The Struggle of Latino/Latina University Students

In Search of a Liberating Education

FELIX M. PADILLA

Published in 1997 by

Routledge

29 West 35th Street

New York, NY 10001

Published in Great Britain by

Routledge

11 New Fetter Lane

London EC4P 4EE

This edition published 2011 by Routledge:

Routledge

Taylor & Francis Group

711 Third Avenue

New York, NY-10017

Routledge

Taylor & Francis Group

2 Park Square, Milton Park

Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Copyright 1997 by Routledge

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Padilla, Felix M.

The struggle of Latinota university students: in search of a liberating education t Felix M. Padilla.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.

ISBN 0-415-91293-8 (HB: alk. paper). ISBN 0-415-91294-6 (PB: alk. paper)

1. Hispanic American college students. 2. Hispanic AmericansEducation (Higher)Social aspects 3. Critical pedagogy-United States. I. Title.

LC2670.P33 1997

Acknowledgments

I recall hearing Julio use the phrase lets kick that knowledge and I thought for a while to understand its meaning. Julios remarks were made at a moment when he realized, perhaps for the first time, the intellectual abilities and insights he and his classmates possessed, but of which he and other students had lost realization since these had been squashed, without their knowing, by prior education experiences. This was a moment of collective empowerment, a moment of jubilation and celebration because Julio and his classmates were becoming less and less intimidated by the academys scholastic challenge. Lets kick that knowledge was a call for students to pursue liberating knowledge, to transcend the limitations of conventional academic exercises so as to locate themselves, their knowledge, in new recreated forms of knowing.

Julio was one of many students I have been privileged to serve as teacher, as friend, and an ally-in-struggle. There are so many to whom I owe so much, for through their commitment to an education for freedom my own commitment and struggle are confirmed. There is Jessica, Kilo, Stephanie, Elvis, Fernando, Enrique, Andres, Jeanette, James, Raquel, Melodie, Luis... there are so many more of them, their names and commentaries are so central to the stories found in this book. I am being honest when I say that all of these students certainly made my three-year stay at Northeastern humanly possible. Without them things would have been that much more difficult and unbearable.

Although I am fully responsible for the story contained in The Struggle of Latino/a University Students, many of its ideas were shaped by the work of many critical educators. In particular, there is Paulo Freire, who I finally met in person after so many years of reading and using his extensive volume of research, publication, and practice. In his presence I once again became hopeful about the power of liberating education, for he reminded me that the meaning of a life of struggle indeed represents an eternal campaign. At the age of seventy-plus, he was still involved in the struggle to produce a liberated humanity. My personal conversations with Henry Giroux about teaching, learning, and liberating education in its most general form as well as my participation in several of his seminars and workshops during a semester he spent with us at Northeastern University as a Visiting Professor served as constant sources of theoretical enlightenment, as a push to look beyond the obvious for theoretical explanations which will reveal their real meaning and significance. I was fortunate to have worked with Jim Fraser in a project about teaching and research where I was not only exposed to his extraordinary way of thinking about teaching and working with students and teachers, but also to the creative ideas of other colleagues and friends. So, The Struggle of Latino/a University Students could be seen as a way of expressing my appreciation to Paulo, Henry, and Jim for everything I gained from them all; it is the product of my commitment to critical and liberating education.

But perhaps more importantly, I want to recognize the intellectual and emotional support given to me during the preparation of the book by Rebecca, my friend, colleague, and companera. Rebecca was a reliable source of commentaries which helped enormously with the critical development of the books analysis. I will always be indebted to her.

Chapter One

Thats Why I Teach

Its My Duty To Be Critical

Willie Coln is a famous, world renowned Puerto Rican Salsa singer from New York City who has maintained a never compromising, radical, oppositional voice for thirty years. In Ricardo Vizuetes Por Eso Canto (Thats Why I Sing), a 1993 recording, Willie Coln powerfully describes what he has come to accept as his political responsibilities as a singer. In a general way, Por Eso Canto can be seen as a critique of those who do not, cannot, or refuse to recognize the transformative, emancipatory possibilities of their work and of their cultural practices. Ever since he started playing Salsa music in the late 1960s, Willie Coln has been an ardent critic of musicians who define and perform Salsa music as just another form of individual or social entertainment rather than as a political, cultural project. When you listen to his music, when you read interviews with him in magazines and newspapers, you are most likely to find Willie Coln naming the hypocrisy embedded in music when it is detached from the most important political issues and conditions facing Puerto Ricans and other Latino/a people in the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean

Por Eso Canto