Vida Newspaper, Volume 4, Issue 5 - April 1977

VIDA MOVIMIENTO ESTUDIANTIL CHICANO DE AZTLAN Volume IV, Number V LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY APRIL, 1977 IIIINllINlllNIIHONIIIblllNIIINIHNIIINIIINIIINlllNlliailBJIiaillHIlINlUailP^IIINIIINIIINmNIIINIllMIIHIIINIIINIIINIIiaillNIIINIIiailiaillNIliailiaillHIliailiailiai La Causa Tutorial Y La Comunidad VIDA is dedicating a great deal of its space in this issue to educa¬ tion in general and La Causa Tuto¬ rial of Loyola in particular. This is done because we as Chicanos at this university must stop and realize that our situation is unique among our people. The majority of Raza in which Spanish is spo¬ ken at home drop out of high school. This is the reality of the situation as reported in a recently released government study. The study “The Condition of Educa¬ tion” released by HEW’s National Center for Education relates this and much more in its report. This is in 1977, believe it or not. With this being the reality La Causa Tutorial which is a work- study program administered by Luis Ramirez, the Assistant Direc¬ tor of the Chicano Studies Prog¬ ram at Loyola, is attempting to give young students the oppor¬ tunity to decide whether he or she wishes to pursue continuing edu¬ cation rather than have forces beyond their control decide for them. La Causa Tutorial administers approximately 100 students as they work in Venice, at Venice High School or Venice Boys’ Club, as well as Culver City, Lennox, Marina del Rey, Westchester, In¬ glewood, and so on and so on. Students have also been employed through La Causa with the N.Y.A. in Venice which ad¬ ministers Barrios Unidos, a prog¬ ram aimed at easing the gang ten¬ sion among youths on the Westside. This year La Causa has taken 100 students from Lennox to Frazier Park on the Ventura/Los Angeles County border to the snow where as strange and unbe¬ lievable it seems to many of us, young kids got their first experi¬ ence seeing and playing in the snow. This first time experience was also shared by many kids re¬ cently when a like number went ice skating for the first time. Ar¬ mando Ruiz, who is M.E.Ch.A.’s Community Relations Chairper- son, organized this for the stu¬ dents and he is presently a coach of the baseball team that La Causa is sponsoring in the community. This is so, because La Causa sees its responsibilities as providing the student with educational aid as well as emotional and physical outlets. Considering the manner in which the program has progres¬ sed and grown in the last several years it is imperative that funds be La Causa Tutorial maintained to at least maintain the program at its present level. It would be our hope that the prog¬ ram could be expanded because it has demonstrated its value by the number of teachers that are receiv¬ ing practical, valuable experience in the classroom situation. There are students that are involved in curriculum development, initiat¬ ing and practicing their own ideas, as well as learning those of the teachers in the classroom that they work with. We also promote an expansion of the program be¬ cause of the value to the indi¬ vidual kid. This refers not only to the Chicano kid, but to the Anglo kid as well. This is so because the program emphasizes cultural as well as linguistic stimuli to the students. This means that the child is being exposed to a wealth of different cultures as well as a second language. This cannot help but promote communication among races as well as providing a more all around education for everyone, administrators, teachers, parents, and children. QUE VIVA LA CAUSA! — NOSOTROS Chicanos in A New Light Education is Power. por Richard Rodriguez Among the many things we as Chicanos must do in preparing for the future is to consider both local and international factors in plan¬ ning for collective advancement. Our emerging self-concept should derive from both. Locally we need to consolidate and to keep a sense of community because there is strength in num¬ bers and in our roots, and because directly or indirectly we will in¬ fluence younger Chicanos poar- ticularly and all communities generally, be they Boyle Heights, Pico-Union, Pomona, Wil¬ mington, Los Angeles, Stockton,. Fresno, San Diego, Redlands, Calexico, Berkeley, San Francis¬ co, Sacramento, or San Jose. But we should also begin con¬ sidering international factors conducive to our growth, to our progress, since we have neglected these more than we should have. I think we tend to do this because we don’t fully realize our strength or our impact on things; we tend to minimize ourselves. We tend to underestimate our presence in the world and in so doing plan shortsightedly. But we have to expand our thoughts and our plans. We al¬ ready have a foundation for these plans, a potential base of support — countries around the world that know who we are and see us in a very good light. Mexico, for example, sees us as a continuation of growth and development of the 1/3 of herself that was separated long ago. South American coun¬ tries see us as a potential bridge between the Spanish-speaking and the English-speaking worlds. Cuba (as Chicanos who have been her guests tell us) see us as victims of the same systems of govern¬ ment from which she, too, suf¬ fered unemployment, corruption, inadequate health and education, and irrational discrimination based on differences in racial or cultural heritage- And what about Europe? A friend who was studying in Paris several years ago wrote to inform me that French television had presented an informational prog¬ ram on the Chicanos. But one of the most important considerations of Chicanos/ Mexicanos to come from world leaders came from former Chinese Premier Chou En-Lai, second in stature only to Mao. The gentle¬ man with a country of 800 million said that he admired Mexico and Chicanos for four main reasons: 1) because Mexico is a country more ancient than his (7,000 years old compared to China’s estimated 5,000 years); 2) because here, un¬ like any other place known, the Europeans intermarried with the indigenous people; 3) because Mexico has defended its national independence against foreign powers; and 4) because of “the struggle of the Chicanos who work for the equality of their rights...” Bearing this last compliment in mind, we have to stop underesti¬ mating ourselves. “The principal goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done — men who are crea¬ tive, inventive and discoverers. The second goal of education is to form minds which can be critical, can verify, and not accept every¬ thing they are offered. ” Jean Piaget, psychologist