Mounce: “POCHO!” Go Home! 

“Pocho“! Some Mexican Americans (from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, or elsewhere) might have heard that insult hurled at them during a trip to Mexico.

If so, sorry. How callous. How hurtful was that Mexican, unaware of the difficulties that U.S. citizen/tourist/shopper (perhaps in Reynosa or Progreso, visiting his or her family) has had with the Spanish language. 

The term pocho (fortunately not as frequently heard now as in past years) meant “a Mexican who is not very Mexican, who speaks Spanish badly or not at all.” Many learned to ignore. Perhaps (hopefully) others returned to the States, re-dedicated to trying to learn more Spanish. 

Why? How did this happen? Why are many (20-25%?) Mexican Americans not able to carry on an extensive conversation in Spanish? (Myrtle Peña-Calderón, Nov. 5, 2023, “Language Expertise.“) Why haven’t their parents or grandparents taught them? Perhaps due to a degree of acquired “self-hatred”? 

Perhaps due to previous years of suppression of Spanish in schools? (When I arrived at Pan American University in 1974 I heard numerous stories from my students of their parents who were forced to “pay a nickel” for each Spanish word teachers heard them utter.) Perhaps due to the (untrue, but often repeated) belief that “English-only” would help them assimilate into Anglo culture. Some call linguistic assimilation “xenophobic aggression” (Routed Magazine).

Whatever the (multiple) causes, we do know that the frequency of Hispanic parents speaking Spanish to their children decreases with each generation. Many schools include Spanish in their curriculum, but, in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, I wonder (other than the Juárez-Lincoln Schools) how many actually encourage bilingualism? 

They should. We all should. We live right by the U.S. border with Mexico; the area is, at least, 85% Mexican American. New business ventures, such as RioPlex, gathering together economic entrepreneurs from both sides of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo in a creative way are sprouting. There has never been a better time for re-charging the social and educational systems on both sides of the border to encourage bilingualism. 

“One-half of the world speaks more than one language” (Dr. Viorica Marian, American Psychological Association). Bilingualism increases awareness of other cultures. It improves competitiveness in the job market. For the individual, being bilingual strengthens the brain, increases memory capabilities, (some say it slows aging) and helps with multi-tasking. Bi-lingual children excel academically. 

We know all these things; they are proven. We also know what to do. Let us hope each school tries harder. Let us hope each family tries harder–to produce more participants for the global market and for the community.”Pocho” no more!    

Editor’s Note: The above guest column was penned by UT-Rio Grande Valley Professor Emeritus Dr. Gary Joe Mounce. The column appears in The Rio Grande Guardian International News Service with the permission of the author. Dr. Mounce can be reached by email via: gjmounce@gmail.com.  

The post Mounce: “POCHO!” Go Home!  appeared first on Rio Grande Guardian.