Chicanx Education

Interviewer: Evelyn Navar

Interviewee: Ruben Pizarro

Q: What ethnicity do you identify with?

A: Chicano

Q: What College/University(ies) did you attend and what did you major in?

A: Santa Barbara City College then UC Santa Barbara (Sociology)

Q: What are your credentials?

A: I have a BA in Sociology, Juris Doctorate in Law, and a Single Subject Credential in Social

Studies

Q: Why did you choose to work in the field of education?

A: I felt I was called to work with young people and because I thought that I could make a real

and lasting impact on my community be doing so.

Q: What made you choose to teach the subject that you are teaching at the moment?

A: Since I used to practice law as an attorney, I had a good understanding of government and the

judicial system in our country and I thought it was a topic where I could motivate students to be

active (civically engaged) in their community which I really wanted to do.

Q: Have you taught at a school with a more diverse population (compared to Alisal High

Schools (AHS) current student body demographics)? If so, what major differences are there in

the students and their performance?

A: I've only taught at AHS.

Q: Do you remember reading books when you were a child that had a protagonist from a

minority community?

A: No

Q: Do you believe that there is a direct correlation between the lack of Chicana/o and Latino/a

protagonists in childrens books and academic performance in Chicana/o Latino/a students?

A: Perhaps. I believe that if there were more Chicanx/Latinx protagonists, that certainly more

students would feel better about themselves (have a sense of greater self-worth) and that in turn

would help them perform at a higher level academically.

Q: What about perspective and mindset?

A: I definitely think that students would have greater perspective and desire to achieve more

things and certainly more varied things if they saw themselves depicted as protagonists in

children's books. I believe that a child's imagination, whether consciously or subconsciously, can

be spark a desire in them to reach for the stars, if you will, at an earlier age and based on what I

know, the sooner a child sets their mind to do something, the greater chance there is that they

will reach their goal.

Q: Do believe Hispanic children benefit from seeing cultural representation in the books they

read?

A: For those lucky enough to have a teacher who makes a concerted effort to obtain culturally

relevant books to read, I do believe that Hispanic children benefit in ways that we can't even
measure or calculate. Have a strong sense of self worth or self confidence and having dreams is

an incredibly power factor in the ultimate success of any child!

Q: Do you think there are enough childrens books with Chicanx and/or Latina/o protagonists?

A: No, I don't think there are nearly enough books with Chicanx protagonists.

Q: In your opinion, What steps could the Alisal Unified School District or English department

take to incorporate more Chicanx books in the classrooms?

A: Honestly, I think it would just take a conscious decision on their part to purchase them. As

long as they are enlightened enough to understand the importance of such books, all it would

take is a decision from the top administrators to make it happen.

Q: Do you think the integration of these books in the classroom be widely accepted?

A: I believe that to a great extent it is accepted in districts like the AUSD because of the

population of students that are taught there but a lot of that integration depends on the classroom

teacher.

Q: Do you think there is something that could be done on a political level to solve this problem?

A: Yes, on a political level I believe it is incumbent upon our government officials to one, come

up with ways to recruit more Latinx and Chicanx teachers because they are great role models and

they are more likely to be culturally sensitive about insisting on and using books these books,

and two they have can put political pressure on school district to hire Latinx/Chicanx

administrators because the site administrators are the ones who control the money and decide
what books and other resources to purchase. If an administrator wants certain books to be

purchased, that is what is going to happen.