Challenges Unique to New Mexico

New Mexico has a variety of unique factors and challenges to consider. These include those who do not speak English as their first language, limited access to technology, high numbers of children living in poverty, and the challenges that come with minorities and social identity.

L2 Learners 

        Kimberly Scheerer recommends additional support for Spanish translation services, lobbying for fiscal support for minority and low-income students, and integration of Native American contributions in schools (73) in order to drive student success, especially in STEM subjects. A large population of New Mexican students are not native English speakers and may require additional assistance, tutoring, and attention (Williams & Severino). Lack of funding in New Mexico public schools makes this difficult to accomplish. 

Technology Equity

        Monica Brown et.al. argue for technology access equity, especially because “a strong relationship exists between the type of student who is being educated using technology and the type of instruction they are receiving… Students from diverse ethnic background received instruction in which the computer maintained control of the learning… whereas white students received instruction involving technology that encouraged learner initiative (e.g., problem-solving)” (32-33). New Mexico public education should take this into consideration and, instead of pushing for more purely technologically based education, students should have greater critical thinking and problem-solving methods integrated into their education. Brown, Higgins, and Hartley in “Teachers and Technology Equity” address the rising need for low-income students to have access to technology, the barriers that they face, and the teaching approaches necessary for student success. They state that “educators must create culturally responsive and equitable learning environments wherein all learners may be successful” (34) and this includes creating “technology-rich” schools that “design teaching and learning experiences around technologies that are adaptable to respond to the diversity among students” (34) so that they are all able to experience the greatest educational success. Some other solutions Brown et. al. propose include allowing access to school technology during non-school hours (36), furthering the education of teachers to ensure they are prepared to teach all populations effectively (36), and recognizing barriers to learning in order to remove them (36). Access to technology, however, does not necessarily ensure media literacy, and Tessa Jolls, Barbara Walkosz, and Dee Morgenthaler address some goals that media educators should pursue, including “teach about media, not just with media” (12), “incorporate production, but ensure that students are doing critical production” (13), and, in agreement with Brown, they encourage that educators “provide pre-service and professional development for teachers” (14). Jolls also suggests to “teach media literacy as a separate subject, yet recognize that interdisciplinary approaches are ideal” (16), encouraging its implementation through multiple disciplines so that it is fully integrated.

Children Living in Poverty

Child Poverty levels in New Mexico versus the national average.
Source: US Census American Community Survey 1-Year data
from 2005 to 2016 (2016 data released in September, 2017).

High poverty levels across New Mexico negatively affects learning. Because of the additional stress caused by poverty in childhood, it costs an estimated 40% more to educate a student in poverty to the same standards as a more affluent student (Wildau). Shameem Akhtar states, “Identity determines your position in society, wherever you live.” Throughout history, legislation has ensured that certain races or genders do not receive the same educational or career benefits that other races or genders receive, such as the segregated schools in Alaska that did not guarantee education for native children who were not “civilized” (Bosmajian 249). These negative narratives live on in various forms and can set individuals back educationally or economically. The high poverty levels across New Mexico does not privilege the children living there, which negatively affects the entire state. 

Social Identity and Minorities

          It is important to recognize and value the literacies of various people groups and circumstances. “The manner in which a nurse is required to use literacy as he cares for patients in a hospital…differs significantly from the way he uses literacy as a member of an Evangelical Christian Church” (Kucer 207). Literacy is variable, evolving, and circumstantial, and it is important to recognize all kinds of literacy across ethnicities are equitably represented.

Kiwanis Cabin on Sandia Peak ~ Photo by Keith Fulton

S. B. Kucer deals most directly with literacy as it applies to social identity. He argues that “The knowledge, values, and behaviors that an individual comes to reflect… are not simply the products of his or her own unique and independent psychological interactions with the world. They also are the products of interactions and experiences with the various significant social groups of which the individual is a member, as well as the groups' interactions and experiences with other groups in the world” (205). He describes different literacies, saying “‘literacy is not literacy is not literacy’ (Hull & Schultz, 2001, p. 583), but varies in nature depending on the circumstances. The degree to which the individual is able to successfully negotiate the use of various literacies in these various contexts reflects group memberships, or the lack thereof, and the degree to which these multiple literacies have been developed within these groups" (207). Literacies are as diverse as the people who utilize them, and must be taken into account by teachers of diverse student populations.

Shameem Akhtar discusses in her TedWomen talk how her social identity affected her ability to pursue education. The only reason she obtained primary education was because she dressed as a boy. She said, “Throughout centuries, people have been fighting for their identity, their nationality, their ethnicity… people have been hated, denied, because of their nationality, their identity, their race, their gender, their religion. Identity determines your position in society, wherever you live…. I hate this question of identity. Millions of girls in this world are being denied their basic rights because of being female.” While her case is not specific to New Mexico, the same prejudices that she discusses exist across the world and create additional barriers to education.

Sandia Cactus ~ Photo by Elisabeth Fulton

Social identity can be affected negatively by the stereotypes and information spread about them. Bosmajian discusses how prejudices generated dehumanizing legislations throughout the history of America, how definitions and stereotypes made their way into history books, creating linguistic dehumanization, and the resulting negative effects on the self-esteem of children (253). If children are not seeing their social identities being positively represented in the media they consume, it can be detrimental to their feelings of self worth. Aragon agrees, stating that New Mexican students face extra challenges, “the result of historic injustice and current economic and family instability.”

McNamara and Williams and Severino deal specifically with the ways that social identity in language is important. McNamara makes an argument for the “social dimension of language learning” (566), saying that “[teachers of] immigrant students who are experiencing a complex renegotiation of their social identity in the new society… has profound implications for their attitudes to their own language and the learning of the majority’s language” (561). “Individuals, by learning to recognize linguistic or other behavioral cues, allocate others (and themselves) to category membership and learn the valuation applied by the in-group and salient out-groups to this membership” (562). Language is important to this development. Williams and Severino deal with the intricacies of being a teacher or tutor of an “L2” or second-language student that encourages awareness, compassion, and inclusivity for those not native to the English language.

Works Cited:

Akhtar, Shameem. “To Learn Is to Be Free.” TEDWomen, 2017, www.ted.com/talks/shameem_akhtar_to_learn_is_to_be_free?subtitle=en.

Bosmajian, Haig A. “The Language of Indian Derision.” The Language of Oppression, 1983, pp. 238–253.

Brown, Monica R., et al. “Teachers and Technology Equity.” Teaching Exceptional Children, vol. 33, no. 4, Mar. 2001, p. 32. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.libproxy.nau.edu/10.1177/ 004005990103300405.

Grant, Justina, and Cayla Montoya-Manzo. "New Mexico Ranked Worst in the Nation for Child Poverty." New Mexico News Port, 5 Dec. 2017, newmexiconewsport.com/new-mexico-ranked-worst-nation-child-poverty/.

Jolls, Tessa, et al. "Voices of Media Literacy." Media Literacy Education in Action: Theoretical and Pedagogical Perspectives, edited by Belinha S. De Abreu and Paul Mihailidis, Routledge, 2014, pp. 11-19.

Kucer, S.B. “Understanding Literacy as Social Practices.” Dimensions of Literacy: A Conceptual Base for Teaching Reading and Writing in School Settings, 2014, pp. 197–234.

Scheerer, Kimberly Allen. “Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Project-Based Learning Education: A New Mexico Case Study for Equity and Inclusion.” New Mexico Journal of Science, vol. 57, Jan. 2023, pp. 64–79. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=7bbde604-59f6-3aee-8b6c-e09356cbe83e.

McNamara, Tim. "Theorizing Social Identity: What Do We Mean by Social Identity? Competing Frameworks, Competing Discourses." TESOL Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 3, 1997, pp. 561-567

Wildau, Emily. “New Mexico Ranks 50th in Child Well-Being for Third Consecutive Year." New Mexico Voices for Children, 24 June 2021, www.nmvoices.org/archives/15541#_edn1. Accessed 7 Sep. 2024.

Williams, Jessica, and Carol Severino. "The Writing Center and Second Language Writers." Journal of Second Language Writing, vol. 13, 2004, pp. 165- 172.