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The Struggle of Latino/Latina University Students: In Search of a Liberating Education

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Felix Padilla's "The Struggle of Latino/ Latina University Students" is a fair work on the experiences that he encounters with Latino/a students while teaching at a university. The book starts out well with Padilla's reflecting on his own experiences as a Latino student and academic. Combining anecdotes with analysis, Padilla creates the link between education and its power to either oppress or liberate. Through the course of the rest of the book, the reader witnesses three years of Padilla's courses which are designed to force the students to take control of their own educations. Although his accounts provide insight into his class and the politics that play out there, these chapters are not placed into a broader context. The strength of these chapters is the accounts given by the students in their class journals. Drawing from these, the reader peeks into the mindset of the Latino/a university student and learns how education has affected their personalities and self-images. Although dragging at moments, Padilla's "Struggle" ultimately makes a good read and gives the reader a viewpoint often left ignored.