Posted on 04/10/2014 9:40:33 AM PDT by kingattax
Several members on the Texas State Board of Education recently pushed to institute a required Mexican-American studies class in all Texas public high schools.
Supporters of the proposal argued that such a course would give students a more well-rounded perspective of Texas culture and people. During a meeting on April 9, however, the board's 10 Republicans and five Democrats ultimately rejected the idea by bypassing the vote. A spokeswoman from the Texas Education Agency told Breitbart Texas that many high schools in the state already offer Mexican-American studies courses.
"Districts already have the ability to offer such a course," the spokeswoman said. "Some have already done so."
Board member Ruben Cortez, D-Brownsville, had initially been a strong proponent of the proposed mandate. He said that although a standardized course was rejected, he is still satisfied because the board also voted to ask publishers to submit textbooks on the subject for the 2016-2017 school year.
"The biggest difficulty for school districts is not developing a course, it’s obtaining the appropriate instructional materials," he told the Associated Press.
Many critics of a required Mexican-American Studies course claim it is an attempt by progressives to indoctrinate students.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
It’s remarkable how many Basques left Spain for the New World and settled in the Southwest. As a kid in New Mexico, I remember my uncle was friends with an old Basque sheep hearder with the ranch next to his. Every year, the man would run his sheep into the high country during the spring and summer to graze them away from the heat.
As a little kid, I remember he wore like a sash over his head instead of the cowboy hats everyone else wore - a real character.
Doesn’t work here-like I said, many families, including mine have been here 200+ years. Most/many of us speak Spanish as a second language-English is our first one. We are Texans and Americans, and we don’t tolerate illegals, either.
Old families haven’t owed any allegiance to Mexico since it was part of Spain-some of us have family there, but that is because they went there with American companies on two-to-three year contracts to make some good money working in a foreign country. Mexico pays American-owned companies who bring qualified, Spanish speaking American workers remarkably well for those workers, which is rather ironic...
My family still ranches goats, sheep and cattle in W-Sw Texas-I’m from one of those ranches.
I became curious years ago as to why so many Basques came here-so many that I’m surprised that side of the Pyrenees wasn’t practically depopulated by the end of the 18th century.
From all I’ve read, Spanish Basques were and still are natural-born rebels who will revolt and fight at the very word “government control”-in any language. Given the political makeup of the 16th-17th centuries, and the tensions between Spain and France that still persisted into the 18th, I can see why people in that area between the two countries would book passage on the first ship to a place where they could make a living ranching in peace. And considering their nature, it made sense for them to fight for independence from Spain, then Mexico. It explains the temperament most of us have, too...
Heck the Alamo showdown was against Santa Anna’s tyranny against Texas homesteaders AND Spanish descended peoples inside of Texas...
A large percentage of Mexicans are at least some part of a race other than white. Indio.
Which doesn’t entirely negate your argument that ‘hispanic’ is not a race. Black descent Cubans and Indio Mexicans from southern Mexico don’t even share a common language. Much less common cultural beliefs.
I always say other and the enter Celtic...
Ah now you Basque are a breed apart that is for sure.
I admit to being a bit snarky over the issue because it just seems it is a way of isolating from actually being part of the melting pot. My family had traditions and food and music from each of my backgrounds. They are fond memories I have passed along because I think it is important to know where you come from. But the biggest joy always came around the things we did that seem to be classic American... hot dogs, baseball, football, marshmallows over camp fires, the Fourth of July, Veterans Day, The Stars and Stripes, etc etc
I just see the terminology as being developed by the left to get their way.
It makes even less sense if you add in the current archaeological findings-Native Americans, Indians whatever term you choose-are racially mixed from far into antiquity-they are saying more than 20,000 years-they are a mixture of Caucasian, Asian, and Black-mostly the first two, with more Black DNA in some parts of S, America.
Most old families in Texas are technically mestizos-we are a mixture of Spanish and Native American-including any and all tribes in the Americas. Some immigrants from Spain after the late 19th century might not have Native American DNA, but it is likely very few-not enough to be as snooty as they are/were...
“So exactly what ethnicity is Hispanic?”
I see “Hispanic” as more an American term that lumps a bunch of cultures together based on superficial resemblences. People from Mexico or Guatamala call themselves Mexican or Guatamalan. I am not aware of any ethnic/cultural group that calls itself Hispanic.
Like Texan5, my Spanish ancestors came over in the 1500’s and made their way to New Mexico where they inter-married and created a culture that is distinct from Mexico, just like the Tejanos. My mother would hit you with a broom if you called her Mexican - We are Spanish! she would say. We speak a Castillianized Spanish dialect that sounds superficially like Maxican-Spanish, but is different.
The point is that the decendants of Spanish settlers (Hispanics? I’ve see the term Hispanos used too) in what is now the US never really had loyalty towards Mexico. I have cousins and uncles that served in WWI, WWII (my uncle marched at Bataan), Korea, Viet Nam, etc. We are Americans first and it is sometimes frustrating to be lumped in with legal or illegal Mexicans.
Our Southwest culture/history is too rich and unique to mix it up with Mexican history. That’s what the liberals are trying to do - divide us. Thankfully, my Texan brothers are too smart to fall for that.
The folks i know who are Spanish would hit me if I ever suggested otherwise. I guess that’s because we may be either related or we fought like crazy in the not so distant past.
We are I believe in agreement that being proud of one’s history and family traditions is not only a good thing but necessary to keep the stories going. I think we also agree that being American is a stronger part of all of that.
I am glad your family has been so much a part of this country for so long.
“Heck the Alamo showdown was against Santa Anna’s tyranny against Texas homesteaders AND Spanish descended peoples inside of Texas...”
That is so worth repeating. They are all Texans.
Basques have been melted with Native Americans starting in the 16th century-that ethnic mix likely accounts for the love of rebellion and savage temperament of their descendants.
I’m always curious about the Basques who still live in the Spanish Pyrenees, and the separatists who still cause chaos at the drop of a word. Why didn’t they just leave Spain long ago like the rest of the Basques did?
If my mom and siblings were at home in the country, instead of with my dad on an AFB someplace, we would go to “town” about 20 miles away to the fireworks display at the park, and when the traveling carnival was there, we would go to that, because a couple from Miami that owned a traveling carnival were friends with the family, and spent part of their winters in S Texas, and part in Florida. When they were near where we lived in summer carnival season, they would let us on the grounds for free, and I developed a fascination with the carnival and carneys at an early age-I live in the country, but I haven’t seen a traveling carnival in years...
The Southwest culture is indeed very different from anything south of the border, or in the states outside of what was Spanish territory-it is older than many hybrid cultures in the US, and being on the frontier, isolated for quite awhile. There are many similarities of custom and language between Texas and New Mexico, but some differences, too.
My first husband was from New Mexico, and we spent some time with his family each year on holidays. The Spanish spoken in the mountains there is less harsh and slower in cadence, with some different words/terms than the Texmex dialect we speak here-it does not seem so comingled with terms from Native and European languages.
Someday, I will get to Texas so I can hear for myself.
There is a pretty good sized Basque community in the Fresno area. When my mom was still alive, we loved going to the local restaurant for family style dinners. Man that is some good eats. Also loved picking up some talau (sp?) and bringing them home to eat.
And those are some great memories you have. I loved the summer carnivals that came to town.... I never got in free thought ;(
Spanish ancestry is pretty much generic Southwest American culture here-most of us haven’t had a relative who emigrated from Spain in a couple hundred years-or even from Mexico in our lifetimes. The tortilla is the only version of talau we have-many of us prefer the original corn ones, where those of anglo ancestry like the amercanized version made with bleached white flour-those were not served in our house.
My first husband had a friend from New Mexico whose parents were immigrants from the Basque Pyrenees-they owned a restaurant that served Spanish food most people had never tasted. I have a book of Spanish recipes-mostly from the Pyrenees, that the restaurant owners gave to my husband.
NOOOOO flour tortillas are soooo nasty.... Give me corn or fry bread only.
AND my favorite New Mexico product Hatch chiles
I only eat/use white flour when I make sour dough French baguettes in winter, for barter and for my own use-I don’t eat fried food as a rule, either.
I haven’t grown hatch chiles. but I do grow several kinds of hot peppers-chile arbol is a good one, and it is more cold tolerant than some.
You might be interested in spending some time in Houston. It’s working quite well there.
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