In 1513, the Spanish crown create a document called “the requirement” (el requerimiento), meant to be read to every newly found native settlement. It was intended to avoid the unnecessary cruelties that the first few years of conquest saw, when Spaniards decimated local populations by 90% in some cases. The requirement explained to the inhabitants their need to surrender their lands, wives and children, and to peacefully submit to the authority of the crown and its representatives. In exchange, they were promised to be treated with respect and not to be forced into Christianity, unless done voluntarily. Failure to comply would authorize the conquistadors to take their land and everything else by force. The documents was in Spanish, a language that no local could posible understand.
In the year 2016, as a Boston Public School teacher, I was instructed to administer a high stakes test to my Latin-American students, including the reading of an introduction explaining the importance of taking the test and their lack of option in the matter. The instructions and test were in English; a language that non of my students could possibly understand.
Ricardo A. Vega 