Figures from the 2010 Census indicate that there are 50.5 million Latinos (16% of the total population) living in the United States (US) today. From 2000 to 2010, the Latino population experienced a very rapid growth rate of 43%, which accounted for over half the total population growth. More and more Latino students are entering our public schools and face the reality that 62 years after the Brown V. Board of Education ruling to integrate schools and equalize educational opportunities, schools are more racially and economically segregated and more unequal than they were more than half a century ago. As a group, Latinos continue to struggle academically and there is a large academic achievement gap between Latino students and White students. Using the lens of Latino Critical race theory, this narrative study was an attempt to understand the educational experience of five Latino students in a two-way immersion program within a racialized public education system in which negative stereotypes, such as lack of intellectual abilities, could create a threatening environment hindering their academic success. This narrative inquiry study sought to understand how, if at all, Latino students in a fifth grade two-way immersion program experienced anxiety about the ways they believe to be perceived in the classroom and school settings by their teachers and other classmates. Finding of this study confirmed the relative success of two-way immersion programs educating Latino students and highlighted the urgent need to conduct more research in bilingual settings trying to understand the role stereotype threat might play in the educational experience of Latino students. The fact that Latino students were still lagging behind their native English-speaking counterparts in the TWI program is a reality that must be researched further to understand the lived experiences of Latino students in bilingual programs.

Women today continue to struggle against male-dominated values and norms, and male prejudices, both in society and the Church. This balance of power needs to be altered to free women from the domination of men. The strategies proposed in this dissertation are based on the Christian ethic of justice and equality. Their implementation, I argue, would empower women to resist oppression, independently of men, to achieve liberation and equality so that male-dominated ideologies and structures could no longer oppress. A case study of women ministers in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa revealed discrimination against, and the limitation of the ministries of women clergy. The ethical dilemma of the Church appearing to follow, rather than to lead society on such issues was noted. The attainment of the liberation of women is dependent solely upon themselves and the extent to which they are prepared to take responsibility for their own lives. / M.Th. (Theological Ethics)

Women today continue to struggle against male-dominated values and norms, and male prejudices, both in society and the Church. This balance of power needs to be altered to free women from the domination of men. The strategies proposed in this dissertation are based on the Christian ethic of justice and equality. Their implementation, I argue, would empower women to resist oppression, independently of men, to achieve liberation and equality so that male-dominated ideologies and structures could no longer oppress. A case study of women ministers in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa revealed discrimination against, and the limitation of the ministries of women clergy. The ethical dilemma of the Church appearing to follow, rather than to lead society on such issues was noted. The attainment of the liberation of women is dependent solely upon themselves and the extent to which they are prepared to take responsibility for their own lives. / M.Th. (Theological Ethics)