Critical Race Counterstories along the Chicana/Chicano Educational Pipeline

by Tara J. Yosso

Chicanas/os are part of the youngest, largest, and fastest growing racial/ethnic 'minority' population in the United States, yet at every schooling level, they suffer the lowest educational outcomes of any racial/ethnic group. Using a 'counterstorytelling' methodology, Tara Yosso debunks racialized myths that blame the victims for these unequal educational outcomes and redirects our focus toward historical patterns of institutional neglect. She artfully interweaves empirical data and theoretical arguments with engaging narratives that expose and analyse racism as it functions to limit access and opportunity for Chicana/o students. By humanising the need to transform our educational system, Yosso offers an accessible tool for teaching and learning about the problems and possibilities present along the Chicano/a educational pipeline.

Genres: Education, Social Justice

224 pages, Hardcover

First published November 10, 2005

About the author

Associate professor in the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her teaching and research examine educational access and equity through a critical race theory framework, emphasizing the community cultural wealth Students of Color bring to schools. In addition to her book, Critical Race Counterstories along the Chicana/Chicano Educational Pipeline, (Routledge, 2006), Yosso’s research is published in journals such as Race Ethnicity and Education, Harvard Educational Review, and Journal of Popular Film and Television.

Reviews

[Karime · Rating 5 out of 5]

It addresses the importance of having counter stories as opposed to majoritarian stories on minorities because well, not 2 people are alike, and so our experiences of going through the educational system as Latinxs, have been historically and systematically different from those of a majority. This said majority is the only one at the negotiation table, deciding who is termed "normal", whose history is important, which Advanced Placement courses should be taken by whom in high school, and who needs most of the economic resources (hint: it's not the disadvantaged and lower classes).

Yes, it impacts you reading that in statistics from 2000 where in the U.S. out of 100 Latino students, 44 will graduate from high school, 26 enroll in college, and only 7 graduate. Hopefully these statistics have improved now 20 years later, but it does explain all of the teachers that gave up on you and were disappointed in you already just by looking at your face or your last name. We need more counterstories to educate more people on race and socio-economic status since white people can also suffer discrimination just based on economic sources. Inequality affects everybody.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It’s amazing that we continue to uncover more effects of racism along the educational pipeline, like how racism leads to self-doubt, survivor’s guilt, imposter syndrome, and causes some Chicanas/os to lash out in subtle and overt ways toward other Chicanas/os.”

“Because the world I create in writing compensates for what the real world does not give me... I write to record what others erase when I speak, to rewrite the stories others have miswritten about me, about you...”


This was a book I read for my Latin@s, Law & Public Policy class. I really enjoyed this read because it wasn’t heavy on academic language like other books, it highlighted the telling of counterstories which I found very interesting. Yosso walks through the Chicana/o experience in elementary, middle, high school, undergrad and grad school. I found myself relating to a lot of the experiences talked about in this book and found it comforting to recognize and reflect on those experiences :-)

[Daniel Hayden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a good read. However, at times I felt the author was repetitive.

[Mills College Library]

371.82968 Y658 2006

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not all that bad, very accessible quick read that breaks down major issues and lays out several useful concepts through which to understand these. Critical Race Theory here is simplified so much that I can't differentiate it from good sense, but I'll let that slide. The author examines 4 stages of education (elementary, high school, university and grad school), opening each section with a brief discussion and overview of issues effecting Chincano/a students and then moves into a fictional composite narrative discussing some of these. The fictional aspect of the piece annoyed me greatly at first, but seeing how much ground Yosso covers in less than 200 pages- Bourdieu's cultural capital, community capital, CRT, the major points of Friere (kinda stupidly tho), micro-aggressions concept, enculturation vs. assimilation models in university and more- I have to give her credit. Several annoyances are the CRT term 'majoritarian stories' emphisizing white-middle class narrative as the 'majority' instead of the better 'dominant narrative'; the section on Friere was just hokey; and worst of all the epilogue featuring an imaginary nation-wide Chicano student walkout (reminicent of the 68 LA blowouts) around education issues- ironically enough while this book was at press a movement along these lines actually happened with the 2006 immigrant rights movement- though laid out in such an unrealistic fashion that it provides equal dose of confusion as much as it attempts to give us hope.

[Lizette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Wonderful topic.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book not only opened my eyes to the flaws in the K12 system but also gave me an idea of what I will deal with as I progress in academia.