Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3 (A), University of Potsdam (Anglistics/ American Studies), course: Seminar: How Race is Lived in America, language: English, abstract: This paper on the Mexican Americans in the south-western states in the United States aims at examining whether bilingual education of this ethnic group could be a means to help the Mexican Americans escape the vicious circle they live in. The introduction will give a short historical overview over the Mexican Americans′ schooling. In the main part, the description of what is referred to as vicious circle will be followed by the depiction of the Mexican Americans′ situation in school in the south-western states of the United States. As this situation cannot be considered as good, the Bilingual Education Act of 1968 which marked a first step towards an improvement will be introduced. Apart from that, two models of bilingual education will mainly find reconsideration and will be compared with each other regarding their usefulness to give the Mexican Americans an equal educational opportunity as the Anglo Americans have. Towards the end of the main part, the attempt will be made to answer the topic question of this paper. Several obstacles on the way to ′good′ bilingual schooling and possible alternatives will be mentioned then. The concluding remarks will sum up the result of this paper and will shortly focus on the contemporary situation of the Mexican Americans in the American school system. [...]

First Published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The scope of this taxonomically structured research bibliography covers 3,244 significant works published from 1896 to 1976 directly related to the legal, demographic, sociocultural, and linguistic determinants of Mexican American education. Books, monographs, journal articles, government documents, federal laws and court rulings, doctoral dissertations, master's theses, and ERIC entries are selected from 170 bibliographies, 190 periodicals, and other educational sources based on availability, relevancy, completeness, length, objectivity, and accuracy. Entries are in chronological order within topics and subtopics. An alphabetical author index and a chronological index are provided. Topics and subtopics are: bibliographies; general--Mexican American demography, education, educational history, equal opportunity, conferences; Mexican American students--physical and cultural traits, health, language, intelligence, achievement, gifted, handicapped, delinquent, dropout; schools--administration, teachers, teacher training, counseling, libraries; curriculum--general, ethnic studies, preschool, elementary, secondary, vocational, compensatory, textbooks; migrant education--general, the migrant child, programs, conferences, administration, teacher training; bilingual education--general, theory, evaluation, effects; higher education; adult education; and community. (AN)

This textbook for bilingual educators presents research-based guidelines and examples for implementing quality bilingual education.