By Emilio Renero

Latinos have the lowest graduation rates and the highest school absenteeism. Although it was an open secret, it is consistent with studies done by the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans. Basically, and according to the research, Hispanic students rate 5 on a scale from 1 to 10, in what the American educational system has set as an indicator of student achievement. A 5 according to the American score system is equivalent to a failing grade. Clearly, Latinos are the least likely to graduate, having the highest school absenteeism [that is] well ahead of other ethnic or racial groups.

When seeking reasons, we hear what's been already stated repeatedly about the Hispanic population, including: misinformation, poverty, school environment, ineffective teachers, school systems and family disintegration. According to the analyses, there are up to 16 key factors, apart from those already mentioned, which are considered to be the most important and decisive to help us understand this pitiful situation.

According to Juan Sepúlveda, Director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, in order to explain the Hispanic failure it is important to consider the need for an educational reform in a system where teachers are not effective. However, the school system defenders, even admitting that everything can be improved, consider this argument invalid because if the teachers are ineffective, they are so for all students not just for Hispanic students. In the end, it is the same problem: “Hispanics continue to be in the caboose of education and don’t take advantage of the benefits offered by this country, as opposed to other ethnic and immigrant groups, who always score better in this type of research. The problems are the same for everyone, but in this classification, some are at the top and others always remain at the bottom.”

But, continuing with the causes—or excuses depending on your point of view—to justify Hispanics’ educational failure in this country, Sepúlveda mentions the fact that the parents of such students [who are] usually also poorly educated themselves are neither interested nor involved in their children's schoolwork, [and are] focused more on resolving their economic problems as a traditionally disadvantaged social class.

In any case, the situation is very alarming for school officials nationwide, [especially] if we keep in mind that we are discussing an ethnic group that has grown the fastest in recent years and whose importance in the future of this country is and will become evident in the future. But here again, according to the usual detractors, the problem with  Latinos is not in terms of quantity, which is high, but rather quality, which is low, at every level. Hence, this study and the concern for improving education and the need to quell protests by anti-immigrant groups. The same census data according to recent studies indicate that in the past 10 years the Hispanic population has grown 5 times more than all other ethnic groups. It is estimated that 60 percent of the Hispanic student population lives in Texas and California. That worries many critics of immigration who advocate stopping immigration in this country once and for all, and who consider this growth as a genuine invasion.

The concern is therefore evident to educational representatives at the national level, as is the case of Yvette Sanchez Fuentes, who in her capacity as the national Director of the Office of Head Start (OHS) recently joined Juan Sepúlveda in Los Angeles to meet with supervisors and directors of various schools to address a joint plan to change the achievement and dropout rates of Latino students as soon as possible.

Yvette Sanchez acknowledged the low educational level and high dropout rates among the community in question. In her opinion, a key factor in this situation is due mainly to the fact that "Latino families lack information about available programs and resources to ensure their children’s academic success."

There are those who believe that behind this failure there is nothing but congenital apathy and indifference among Latinos, according to their own detractors. “If they don’t care to find out about the health and economic benefits and resources that are available to them, and which they demand from the government as soon as they arrive, bleeding the system as much as they can, why don't they also bother to be better informed about and get training in education so they can better serve their host country that offers them assistance instead of remaining as a blot for the future?” This is what the usual detractors have to say against immigrants, especially from Latin America, and who exploit any opportunity to make their voices heard.

Inevitable controversies aside, in which each side gives its opinion to either soften or harden the discussion about immigration in any of its variants, Yvette Sanchez explained that in the current school year OHS will allocate $2 billion to help preschool students. According to the Director of OHS, this financial support will not only aid preschool children, but it will also extend to pregnant women and infants to raise awareness among parents about being involved in their children's education and encourage children to like studying and education in early childhood.

With English in Tow

When it rains it pours, and another key point for social integration and participation by Latino students is knowledge of English, in which barely half of California students from Kindergarten to 12th grade speak and communicate. However, there is a certain optimism within these concerns if we pay attention to recent statements by State Public Education Superintendent, Jack O’Connell. “Despite the existing academic gap, progress is being made because seven years ago only 35 percent of students spoke English well, and now that figure has risen to 46 percent." According to O'Connell, the figures should be higher, but with $18 billion [budget] cuts in public schools in the last couple of years, we couldn’t do any more. If we add to this another budget cut of $2.4 billion, it will not bode well for English [language] learning in schools.

In this respect, David Sanchez, President of the California Teachers Association (CTA), believes that with such cuts Latino students will continue to lag in learning the official [English] language. In addition, many parent associations have voiced their protests based on the fact that as a result of this decline in investment in education, their children will belong to a generation that lacks assistance and training. From this vantage point, they foresee that there will be problems and a future in which their children will have fewer chances of entering the work force in the next twenty years, and of having a role in society. This is obvious given that they are the largest ethnic group in the country. Therefore, according to the previously mentioned studies, their optimal prospects for a promising future are, unfortunately, highly dubious if current circumstances persist.