Chapter 7: Expanding Our Thinking of Resiliency From K-12 to Higher Education: Resolute Experiences of Academic Latinas

This is a unique time in history in that issues that affect the lives and education of Hispanics¹ are gaining priority in the educational and political agendas of the United States. This new focus on the Hispanic community illustrates not only their accomplishments, but the many struggles they continue to face.

Regarding the larger issues that affect Latinas/os² nationwide, citizenship is perhaps the most important. The citizenship of million of Latinas/ os is currently being debated in Congress, and recent “immigration” demonstrations across this country have provoked a Latina/o focus on civil rights issues (Aizenman, 2006; Zehr, 2006). In the area of prehigher education, issues of language and segregation are the most pressing. Recently in California, in 1998 (Mora, 2003), and Arizona, in 2000 (“Proposition 203,” 2000), voters banned bilingual education in the schools, and this anti-Spanish sentiment is on the rise. While recent studies by the Harvard Civil Rights Project document an increase in Latina/o schooling segregation (Frankenberg & Lee, 2003; Orfield & Yun, 1999), the struggles for Latina/o educational equality continue to be underresearched.