Fort Bend Independent School District schools celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month with programs and activities honoring Hispanic Americans and the contributions they have made to the American culture.
Shown at Baines Middle School are ESL students who gave the morning announcements: Maria Ostria, Estevan Torres, Camilo Sierra, Andrue Landaberde and Denise Kotsonis.
To mark the month-long observation, Baines Middle School staff decorated the front lobby with flags and student-produced scrapbooks representing various Latin-American countries, such as Argentina, Honduras, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. In creating the scrapbooks, Spanish classes were asked to include information pertaining to the country’s location, climate, population, flag, and prominent figures. Students at Baines also read morning announcements highlighting various aspects of the Hispanic culture and created paper flowers to distribute to all teachers on campus.
At Marshall High School, the Library Media Center hosted an author visit with writer/editor, Sarah Cortez, during “Hispanic Literature and Education Week” at their school. English and Spanish classes were invited to hear the Houston native discuss the creative writing process and offer advice on pursuing writing and having works published. Cortez also read excerpts from two of her edited works: “Windows into My World,” a collection of memoirs written by young people; and the anthology, “Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery.” In addition to the author visit, Marshall also promoted Hispanic Heritage Month through various cultural displays and games, offered in Spanish and English, that students took part in during their lunch period.
Clearly a double standard.
This is veiled racism. It purpetuates the divisions that exist in our state. I still do not ever hear of White Anglo Heritage month and the special contributions European Americans have made to America. Just like the other associations that exist that are based on a race, hispanics, blacks, and asians can’t let go of their culture and embrace AMERICA. Of course all races and cultures make contributions but it seems that by making a month designated to a particular culture, it is more important in the eyes of educators to hightlight the contributions of minorities over that of the majority population.
Took part in during lunch or forced to take part in during lunch?