Subtractive Schooling: U.S.-Mexican Youth and the Politics of Caring

by Angela Valenzuela

2001 AESA Critics' Choice Award

2000 AERA Outstanding Book Award

2000 Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Awards--Honorable Mention

Provides an enhanced sense of what's required to genuinely care for and educate the U.S.–Mexican youth in America.

"Valenzuela's thoughtful and thorough analysis of Latino/a students' experiences in a large urban school powerfully defines the educational challenges facing Latino immigrant and U.S.-born youth and outlines important elements for transforming their academic experiences."— Harvard Educational Review

"Professor Valenzuela's book suggests what has to change fundamentally for real reform to occur. This ethnography highlights teacher practices that need to be emulated and rewarded. There are models for becoming an effective teacher with Latino/a and other minority students. Overall Subtractive Schooling is a valuable text that is certain to become a standard in sociology courses in the areas of education, race and ethnicity, and Latino/a studies." — Contemporary Sociology

"What gives credibility to Valenzuela's powerful account is excellent ethnohistorical documentation and a profound knowledge of youth's thought processes. The selection of eloquent and vivid descriptions of the relationships between students and teachers or counselors permits the reader to internalize, from the students' perspective, the meaning of institutional neglect, hostility, and prejudice on the part of school personnel." — Qualitative Studies in Education

"...every government representative, whether at the local, state, or federal level, including the President of the United States, should read this book. Maybe then subtractive schooling would be seen for what it is really worth by people who have the power to 'subtract' it from American society, and to replace it with policies of bilingualism and biculturalism." — Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

"In focusing her attention on caring ... Valenzuela provides an important vantage point from which to consider and understand the implications of educational policies and practices designed to move youngsters into the so-called American mainstream.” — Anthropology and Education Quarterly

"...a powerful and important addition to the literature on multi-cultural secondary schooling ... Subtractive Schooling greatly increases our understanding of the intricate complexity of ethnicity and schooling practices. At the same time, it provides a model for a more authentically caring approach to ethnography as well as a more authentically caring style of teaching." — Bilingual Research Journal

" ...groundbreaking... — Race and Pedagogy Project

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Teaching, Race, Sociology, Social Justice, History

346 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1999

Reviews

[Ceci · Rating 5 out of 5]

This an excellent piece of ethnographic work, and it well deserves the AERA 2000 Outstanding Book Award. Valenzuela does a fascinating job of merging the literatures of caring and social capital through the experiences of Seguin high school's students. Her argument that the social organization of Seguin High School subtracts cultural resources from Seguin's students is well supported through carefully selected evidentiary support. This book is hard to put down, and although through the cases presented, one wants to leave feeling hopeless, Valenzuela leaves the reader with hope in her epilogue discussion of the concept of additive schooling. This book definitely leaves the reader to ponder over the changes that need to be made to the current shape of our educational institutions.

[Deya L · Rating 5 out of 5]

highly recommend –– gives a lot of insight that addresses a lot of the rhetoric surrounding American schooling (why the education system seems broken / difference in schooling attitudes and trajectory between immigrants and third-generation students / poor performance in minority youth). as others have mentioned, this book is incredible ethnographic work; Valenzuela is able to articulate so clearly the root causes of the complaints we commonly associate with our education system and how they came to be –– providing tangible explanations that go a lot deeper beyond the individualized blame thrown on students. despite solely focused on a singular school in a specific area, its conclusions are applicable much beyond its scope.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my high school experience summarized into 270 pages.

Valenzuela does an excellent job of breaking down the disparity Mexican American youth face throughout public schooling careers. Her research and field notes show how youths feel subjagated by the system into feeling like lower class citizens not worthy of a good public education. Definitely an interesting and insightful read that I would recommend to anyone who wants to understand the youth culture of Mexican Americans, or all minorities for that matter.

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the answer to the adage “why don’t these kids care about their learning?” with a solid “maybe you just haven’t been paying attention.” It draws on Noddings (kind of controversial(?) because of the wording, but hey it was the 80s) “feminine caring” framework and makes it work for the majority-Latinx high school environment. It’s also a straightforward ethnography that exposes the internalized hegemony in majority-Latinx schools that exist in a structure that benefits and rewards whiteness.

[Jeidy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recommend this book to teachers who need adjusting in their perspective on students. Another group that I recommend this book is youth who are struggling or trying to figure out why there are intentional step that don’t allow them to be who they are.

[Suzzett · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read if you are a teacher or planning on becoming a teacher.

[McKayla W. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary/notes:

"Authentic caring within an additive schooling context is arguably most productive." While authentic caring can appear in subtractive schooling situations, it is not as substantial because of the overwhelming negative pressures continually inflicting students (pg. 270).

Authentic caring "emphasizes relations of reciprocity between teachers and students" (pg. 61). Without building a relationship with give-and-take, "no change can occur in the absence of mutual respect and trust" (pg. 68). This involves caring for students individually as well as respecting the communities and groups forged in and outside the school. Ideal authentic caring would build trust and respect between teachers and students, students to students, and teachers with teachers and faculty.

Additive schooling "builds on students' bicultural experience" (pg. 269). This involves culturally relevant curriculum, including but certainly not limited to language. Fluency in additional languages should not be "construed as a 'barrier' that needs to be overcome," but rather "a strength to build on" (pg. 262).

I believe Angela Valenzuela does provide ideas that can encourage the various engagement levels of teachers. Whether "helping [students] meet their nutritional needs" (pg. 258) or "validating ...students' anger and frustration and enlist[ing] them into the process of redefining the goals" (pg. 259) of their course or schooling/education experience in general, taking the time and attention to acknowledge and show authentic caring will lead to better success in schools.

[DM Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's an interesting look at the idea of subtractive schooling. Chapter 1 is skimmable. Chapters 2-4 are a riveting case study. I skimmed the rest of the chapters and read the conclusion and epilogue. While I agree that Mexican-Americans (and other ethnic groups) need positive schooling experiences, I think there's other systemic change that would help them as well, and those outside factors were ignored. Taken with the Shriver Report, which is much more recent, I'd like to see an update on this study.

Critique: There is only so much a teacher can do before they have sacrificed their entire lives to raising other people's children. Spending hours and hours after school and on the weekends meeting the needs of youth who are underserved by their community and by society is impossible without contributing to a high instance of teacher burnout. Spending 12 hours helping students, and then going home to cook for 2 hours to bring food to school to feed them--that's unsustainable. As a parent myself, I put my family first. Teaching is a job. I want to do it well, but when I'm at home, I'm focused on my family and friends.

What I take from this is that celebrating culture and building relationships is important, but I already knew that.

[Sydney Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to read this for class and I probably would have enjoyed it more had the book been written for the level of course I was taking. As a graduate student I think I expected the text to be written more to an academic audience than it was. While I agree with Valenzuela’s general premises and appreciated her writing in the appendix, I was disappointed in how Valenzuela tried to support her claims. Also, the book was published in 1999, and now in the literature is VERY outdated. If I hadn’t read this for school it would probably be one of those books I just didn’t finish. I might recommend it to someone with no background knowledge in school discrimination but still think the arguments as constructed are flimsy and not for lack of support in academic work.

[Ellen]

Very good book! Takes an ethnographic journey through the lives of Latinx high schoolers. Educational and engaging.

[Diana Valdivia-Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives an aspect of education on Mexican American students in the United States based on policies at the school, national issues, etc.

[Claire]

i read this for school but it’s long so i demand to count it towards my goodreads goal

[diana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful fucking book.

Valenzuela's research is thorough and interesting. The problem is that Valenzuela does not actually interpret her data. The book is written without even the semblance of objectivity; rather, Valenzuela substitutes an unconditional privileging of Mexican culture for logical interpretation or clear argumentation. At no point in the book does she actually lay out an argument. Despite the fact that it is the title of her book, she never explains how schools subtract resources from Mexican students or which resources these are. She races things needlessly; being hurt and angered by teachers' blatant abuse is not unique to Mexican or Mexican-American youths. She also ambiguously mentions lots of things she believes schools should be doing but never elaborates on these to make them even marginally concrete or feasible. She does not specify whether these measures should be state wide or nation wide and does not put her work at a single school in the context of the public school system of which this school is a part. She does not even begin to address how her cries for a Spanish-English curriculum would translate to schools without a significant Spanish-speaking population, especially those dominated by non-Spanish-speaking immigrants. This is not a text clarifying an educational problem and offering a model through which the inequalities presented therein can be rectified. This is 300 pages bemoaning the Americanization of Mexican immigrant youth. And if that's what you're looking for, you can still probably find a book that does it better.

[Julianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Valenzuela has a good style of weaving a picture of systemic mistreatment of kids. Her style is compelling and very readable, but at the same time rich with enough data to make a strong case for the what she argues is happening to Latino students. I, personally, would like to see more offering about what could be done about the problem, but I understand that is not her project, but my interest.

[Lisa Keating · Rating 2 out of 5]

School book. I am considering doing a minor in Ethnic Studies at California State Sacramento. This is a Hispanic PhD. writer who writes about the problems Hispanics face in schooling. It was very critical thinking type reading. I just wish it read a little less like work...with that being said the semester is over..onto Fall 2015!

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent ethnographic look at the subtractive nature of schooling. The book highlights the way in which a Houston school systemically devalues the cultural assets and background of its mostly Latin@ and Hispanic students. Written in 1995 with data collection from three years prior, the book is still, very unfortunately, relevant today.

[Marilee C-R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful ethnography about the lives of Latin@ secondary students. The stories about the difference teachers and administrators can make in children's lives stayed with me.

[Christoph · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for school. An insightful case study of Latino youth in a Houston high school. Much of it seems dated now, while other parts endure. That's not the fault of the author.

[rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

an important book if you like reading educational theory mixed with case studies.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should be required reading for any educator of Latino youth.