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Proyecto Visión 21

“I thought that only ‘Americans’ could teach college classes”

Francisco Miraval

At the end of each week, I ask my college students to tell me what caught their attention during that week of classes. Usually, students focus on some of the issues debated in class. But recently, a female student, daughter of Latino immigrants, told me that she was surprised to see a Hispanic professor teaching college classes.

I asked her why she was surprised to see a Latino professor teaching at a local university and she immediately replied, “I thought that only ‘Americans’ were allowed to teach these classes.”

In other words, during her almost 15 years of being educated in the United States, this young woman internalized the belief, which she thought to be unquestionably true, that only a selected group of people, that is, those of white skin, possess the academic credentials to teach at higher education institutions.

In fact, she was so surprised, that during her first class with me she could not decide I really was her professor or if it was just a joke. Later, as it was expected, she questioned the quality of the classes a Hispanic professor can teach.

I must say, and this should be clear, that I do not blame this young woman for having such a false belief. Unfortunately, she is not the only one with that kind of belief.

Several years ago, for example, during my first day of classes at the university where the young student made her remark to me, I arrived to my classroom only to find it locked.

Following the proper procedure, I called the security guard and I asked him to open the classroom for me. He refused. His argument was clear: We do not have any Latino professors at this university. Only after he spoke with the president of the university to verity I was one of the professors he came back and opened the classroom.

Again, I do not blame him. After all, he was just doing his job of protecting the facilities of the university. At the same time, I doubt he would ever question a similar request to open a classroom if a non-Latino professor made the request.

I also remember the occasion, several years ago, when I went to the office of the students’ affairs director to speak with him. He was not at his office, so I decided to wait outside. A staff member saw me and asked me what I was doing there. I told him I had a meeting with the director. 

The staff member said the meeting was at a different office. So, I followed him and he guided me to the Human Resources office, where he gave me a job application and asked me to complete it. It was useless to tell him I was not applying for a job and I was a professor at that university. He simply did not believe me.

I would like to see the day where the origin or background of the educator is no longer an issue.

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