(Mis)educating the children of Mexican-origin people in the United States: the challenge of internal language borders

Abstract

This article maintains that in spite of their seeming progress, Mexican-origin students in the US continue to face barriers that are typical of the complex challenges endured in public schools by minoritized and racialised peoples in the American context. It begins with a brief overview of the current-day demographics of the Mexican-origin population, with selected historical information for readers not familiar with the American context, and with a description of visions for a better life that motivate Mexican migration to the United States. It then focuses on the effects on this population of ‘language borderization processes,’ that is, of stated-sanctioned mechanisms and procedures used to identify and categorise children as required by school accountability mandates. An argument is made that although these mechanisms are intended to provide tailored support for immigrant-origin children’s perceived English language limitations, they can result instead in directly limiting future educational opportunities.

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