Latina educators
Latina educators
- June 2, 2015
- Chicano/Latino studies prof pursues research on a topic dear to her heart
When she was a third grader in Santa Ana, Glenda Flores encountered her first of many
experiences that would punctuate life growing up the daughter of Mexican immigrants
in the U.S.
“My mother, an immigrant with less than a middle school education, had taught me long
division the way she learned it in Mexico,” says Flores. “At a parent-teacher conference,
my teacher - a college-educated, white, middle-class, woman - said it was wonderful,
but here in the U.S., I also needed to learn the American way of solving math problems.”
So began her confusion with math and the manner in which some educators seemingly
discard cultural learning differences in the American school system. Now an assistant
professor in Chicano/Latino studies at UC Irvine, Flores’ research focuses on the
role Latina educators play in promoting educational success and cultural identity
for their Latina/o students, often through practices that challenge norms about culture’s
place in the teaching profession. She was recently awarded a one-year fellowship from
the American Association of University Women and the Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship
from the National Academy of Education to finish her book on the topic.
Here, Flores expands on her experiences as a daughter of immigrants, her role as a
Latina educator and her research on California’s fastest growing non-white racial/ethnic
group to enter teaching – college-educated Latinas.
Q: What was it like growing up – and learning – in two different worlds?
Confusing. I had my parents who taught me one-way, and an “American” arithmetic book
my mother purchased at a flea market to supplement my studies. These cultural differences
in teaching styles resurfaced in my multicultural and bilingual education courses
at UCI, and became more pronounced over time as I worked as an instructional aide
for THINK Together, an after-school enrichment program for urban youth. Feeling personally
injured when I encountered teachers making derogatory remarks about working class
Latino immigrant families, I took the teacher certification tests to work as a substitute
teacher to “give back” to my community. Working as a public education teacher I noticed
that Latino cultural resources were not perceived as assets but rather as obstacles
to overcome.
Building upon these work experiences, my pursuit of a Ph.D. in sociology stemmed from
my experiences working alongside white teachers in a school with predominantly working
class Latino youth. My degree, combined with my firsthand knowledge in this community,
allowed me to recognize and explain how Latina teachers serve as “cultural guardians”
to Latino students and their parents.
Q: What do you feel is your role as a Latina educator?
I have made it my mission to discuss gender and work, and culture in education in
a constructive way so that all students can use their ‘sociological imagination’ to
analyze the world around them and not simply regurgitate popular stereotypes.
As a feminist professor, I find it most rewarding to teach and mentor a diverse group
of students. UCI has provided me with a number of opportunities to use gender and
diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students. I have a broad
gamut of teaching experience, ranging from teaching so-called “at-risk” youth to first
generation college students to upper-middle-class men and women. With energy and enthusiasm,
I strive to be a positive role model for my students. Last year I so enjoyed working
with a driven, second-generation Latina who asked me to be her honors thesis advisor.
Given the strength of her thesis on the scarcity of Latinos/as in higher education,
she won the department’s highly prestigious Vicki L. Ruiz Award for her research and
service.
Q: Tell us more about your research project and what your preliminary findings suggest.
Latinas comprise over 18% of California’s teachers, far outnumbering African American
and Asian American women in a profession still widely considered a white, middle-class
woman’s occupation. My research finds that most Latinas did not intend to become elementary
school teachers, but rather class ceilings caused them to “fall into it.” I argue
that it is once in the profession that Latina teachers develop a quotidian passionate-like
zeal as “cultural guardians” to Latino students and parents. My book manuscript in-progress
argues that Latina teachers are cultural guardians and rely upon the “Chicana/Latina
cultural pedagogy” as a teaching tool to subvert normative workplace rules regarding
culture in the teaching profession, but are simultaneously guarded, under surveillance,
and regulated by the institutions and the schools in which they find themselves.
Q: What impact do you hope your research will have?
This project is situated at an important historical moment in California, the ethnic
succession of Latinas in the teaching profession and the growing presence of “majority-minority”
schools. It provides a multifaceted and nuanced understanding of Latino cultural resources
in a feminized occupation, and shows how Latina teachers attempt to create a positive
context of reception for Latino families who are met with acute nativism and suspicion
in the United States. This project is timely as it foreshadows the types of interracial
and intercultural school interactions unfolding in metropolitan regions around the
nation as Latina women enter the teaching profession in droves.
And it’s dear to my heart. When my mother’s face turned beet red when a third grade
teacher unintentionally invalidated her experience, I saw the importance of cultural
guardians in school institutions through their research, teaching, and mentorship.
As the first and eldest woman in my family to attend college, I can identify with
and hopefully inspire first generation college students as they attempt to navigate
the daunting labyrinth of the university.
-Heather Ashbach, Social Sciences Communications
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