The purpose of this study was to examine the daily exchanges between Hispanic students of Mexican descent and European American teachers in urban schools and how these exchanges can result in a sense of frustration and powerlessness by Hispanic students affecting their academic success. The day-to-day interactions between teacher and student may be a result of intergroup conflict. As this was an exploratory study to examine the daily exchanges between Hispanic students of Mexican descent and their European American teachers, a qualitative case study methodology was used to collect and report the data for the study. This case study approach was helpful in examining the students? perceptions of intergroup conflict and how these cultural differences affected their exchanges. The data were collected through interviews and through observations made while visiting the urban high schools where the participants of the research study once attended. The study took place in a metropolitan city in South Central Texas. Included in this study were five male and five female Hispanic students of Mexican descent who were in their first or second year of college and who participated in two focus groups to validate their responses.
The intergroup properties that were identified in this study were areas of conflict between the students and their European American teachers that affected their classroom relationships and their academic success. The properties of intergroup conflict were used to identify causes of conflict between the students and their European American teachers. The properties of intergroup conflict areas revealed in the study were (a) incompatible goals, (b) competitions for resources, (c) cultural and power differences, and (d) group boundaries.
The quick increase in the Hispanic population has almost doubled the number of Hispanic students in public schools. The majority of these students are often clustered in urban schools. A disproportionate number of failing schools, across grade levels, serve predominately poor and minority students. Of equal importance is the statistic that 85% of teachers working in public schools in the United States are White. With the increase in students of color in schools, there is research showing that students are treated differently and that the cultural background of the student is often a reason for this differential treatment. As identified in the study and through the properties of intergroup conflict, cultural differences among various demographically diverse groups, such as the students and teachers studied here, lead to misperceptions that eventually lead to conflicts. Potential conflicts, due to teacher and student diversity and to opposing interests, occurred in the day-to-day exchanges in the classrooms.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2012-08-11577 |
| Date | 2012 August 1900 |
| Creators | Narvaez, Rose |
| Contributors | Madsen, Jean |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
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