Culturally Affirming Approaches for School Counselors Working With Latinx Students

Introduction

The benefits associated with embracing cultural differences and the increasing representation of minority learners in U.S. public schools is highly correlated to the prosperous growth of the U.S. economy. Unfortunately, racial disparities regarding exposure to advanced learning and labor opportunities within the school setting are uniformly increasing (Merlin-Knoblich & Chen, 2018). Additionally, reports of discrimination among oppressed students are disproportionately rising, leading to education systems and practices being criticized for inadequacies in educating diverse learners. The inadequacies and inequalities affect the likelihood of successful academic, social-emotional, and career outcomes of minoritized students, particularly Latinx students, who represent the largest racial or ethnic minority group. Latinx students are severely disadvantaged and often lack resources and access to an equitable education, resulting in opportunity gaps (Erford, 2019).

An important note to consider as you delve into this reading is the history and intent behind the use of the term Latinx. This term has evolved through various terms coined by the media and government officials in an attempt to group different Spanish speaking immigrants, particularly Mexicans and Puerto Ricans that lived in the United States (Simon, 2021). During the mid to late 1800’s Latino and Hispano was used among Spanish speakers in California; nevertheless these terms became obsolete by the 1920’s (Simon, 2021). In the 1960’s and 1970’s, under the Nixon administration, Hispanic was selected as a term to reference those who migrated from Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries, but this group excluded Brazilians (Simon, 2021). Additionally, the term Hispanic received criticism for placing emphasis on Spain, a country responsible for colonizing a large portion of Latin countries (Simon, 2021). Chicano emerged as a term to describe Mexicans who were against Latino and Hispano but began to be used as a slur against Mexican Americans and newly migrated Mexicans who were considered less cultured. Latino reappeared and transformed to Latinx by queer Latinx people who wanted to create a gender-neutral term to describe“English-speaking Latinx people for use in English conversation” (Simon, 2021). This term gained attention in the early 2000’s, was adopted in the higher education community, and will be used throughout this chapter to reference Spanish speaking students in U.S. public schools.

Identifying a term to represent the Latinx inhabitants of the U.S. is one of many necessary efforts to support the success of this increasing population, as the educational barriers Latinx students face has long term implications to the U.S. economy and social stability that makes this nation competitive and popular in the labor force (Marrero, 2016). Further concerns, including schools’ failure to understand Latin family culture, lack of training for school staff who work with Latinx learners, and overall lack of culturally competent school personnel hinder the academic achievement of Latinx students (Marrero, 2016).