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Current statistics show that twenty-five percent of school-going children are Latinos and is projected that by 2050 these figures will rise to thirty percent. Nevertheless, 5.4 million Latino students can’t access basic education. As the Latino population increases it is crucial to have educated Latinos with quality education who can serve in decision-making platforms for overall population empowerment. Education is a key component of economic and political development. This can be seen by the wide gap in lifelong outcomes due to different educational outcomes. This gap has been a long-standing source of concern as differences in test scores—particularly in math, reading, and graduation rates—are found at state and national levels.
This paper discusses the educational status of Latinos, the challenges faced by Latinos in education, and what can be done to improve general education among Latinos. Also, early education, school tracking, standardized tests, bilingual education, family/parenting, and college preparedness among other concerns are discussed.
As stated, twenty-five percent of U.S. students are Latinos. Eight percent of U.S instructors are Latinos, four percent occupy leadership positions in educational boards, and only a mere two percent in executive teams in education organizations. Latino students are poorly represented in bachelor’s degree programs, putting their college preparedness in question. Despite the increased college completion rate, foreign-born Latinos are less likely to get an associate degree compared to those born in the United States. The American education system faces an imminent crisis in the education of Latinos and at the same time, they are the largest and most rapidly growing ethnic minority group. Of those who manage to go to kindergartens, almost forty-two percent perform poorly (mostly in the lowest quartile). According to research by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), sixteen percent of Latinos in fourth grade are proficient in reading compared to forty-one percent of their white counterparts. Similar trends are witnessed in eighth grade. Concerning college admissions and completion, only eleven percent of Latinos between twenty-five and thirty years of age had a bachelor’s degree or higher compared to thirty-four percent of Whites. Possibly the most worrying fact is that no progress has been made in the percentage of Latinos gaining college degrees for the last twenty years. On the other hand, other groups have made momentous increases in degree admissions and completion. I have interacted with very few Latinos in my schooling life.
The term opportunity gap is used when focusing on disparities in experiences and access to education among different populations. Several assessments exist that can be utilized to measure student performance and identify the factors that lead to these disparities. For the past few decades, education was used to ensure that students of Mexican origin remained a subordinate group by giving them access to inferior and non-academic instruction only. This type of subtractive education does not acknowledge traditional knowledge, language, skills families’ values, and culture. It is widely agreed that subtractive education, which divests students of important social and cultural resources, leaves them progressively vulnerable to academic failure.
In addition to disparities based on race, there are funding disparities between urban and suburban schools that tell a story about the worth placed on the education of different groups of students. Latino children who come from low-income backgrounds in most cases will end up in either the most poorly equipped urban schools or the most disadvantaged school districts. These schools do not have sufficient resources to educate their increasingly diverse populations. For instance, underfunded urban schools in most cases are understaffed or have unqualified tutors; leading to a negative impact on the educational outcomes of students. Another factor that puts Latino students on a lower academic performance is the failure to attend pre-school studies. Research has shown that education in the early years promotes school readiness and educational success in elementary school and even promotes college preparedness.
Several factors shape Latino education and the Latino education crisis is not to blame on immigration alone. Research shows that successive generations of Latinos most likely will perform better than their very undereducated parents. It has been very difficult in the twenty-first century for American students in each generation to move from sixth-grade to eighth-grade education. Hence, educational progress for Latinos has, for the most part, stagnated at high school, with almost no progress at all made beyond that point. Nationally Latinos tend to have lower grades, lower scores on standardized tests, and even higher dropout rates as compared to students from other ethnic groups. Some scholars have noted that Americanization is not good for immigrants, on the contrary immigrants are good for Americans. The low educational attainment of Latino students is not just limited to the large numbers of undereducated immigrants entering the public school system, but it is the result of circumstances encountered by Latino students who were born in a specific country.
More specifically the economic conditions of Latino children. More than seven million Latino children are living in poverty. For the first time, the single largest group of poor children is not white. Statistics show that approximately thirty-eight percent of poor children are Latino, thirty-two percent are white and twenty-four percent are black. Economic constraints hinder Latino children’s academic success, with children of low-income Latino immigrant parents faring even worse than children of low-income Latino parents who were born in the United States. Although the children of U.S.-born Latino parents still lag behind other ethnic groups academically, they benefit somewhat because their parents are more likely than immigrant parents to speak English and understand American school systems.
Another factor that accounts for Latino education disparity is language barriers. Minority children, including Latino children, speak little o English at all. This will in most cases interfere with their ability to adapt to schooling requirements. Social interactions are also highly limited and future academic success is almost impossible. Limited English skills provide the individual with limited opportunities to learn as compared to Latinos who are fully bilingual. Those who speak perfect English have a high chance of learning more and widening their scope of education as they wish. Limited English proficiency is commonly misdiagnosed in schools as a language disorder, and Latino immigrant students are overrepresented in special education classes as a result. Hence, the language barrier highly limits Latino students from accessing post-secondary education, and those who do successfully access it may not be well prepared to perform because of knowledge gaps and lower language skills.
Acculturation or cultural assimilation is another environmental factor that can either upgrade or undermine a child’s ability to learn. Cultural assimilation involves embracing the social characteristics or social discipline of a new group. For Latino immigrant children, the procedure of cultural assimilation incorporates confronting the new encounters and challenging occasions that require prompt consideration, for example, how to explore the educational system, speak with educators, get information (retain what they’re instructed), and take an interest in sports and other extra-curricular exercises.
Immigrant children frequently learn a new dialect, change following another culture, and encounter the regular difficulties of growing up. This can be exhausting and challenging. Latino cultural values of importance are familism and marinismo. Familism is a cultural concept that strengthens family closeness and loyalty with conflicting values in the United States. Familism inspires individual family members to prioritize family needs to the extent of making personal sacrifices. This can create stress, particularly for those children who have family obligations such as language translation or taking care of siblings or the elderly.
On the other hand, marianismo emphasizes the self-sacrifice of females and highlights their traditional role as a family caregiver. Combined, familism and marianismo are challenging for the Latino immigrant female gender, who feel pressure to fulfill family obligations that may keep them from devoting time to studying and succeeding in school. Latino teenage girls are restrained by marianismo and familism concepts from joining in public activities without their parents or family member’s consent. This keeps them from participating in after-school activities and field trips, and from socializing with age mates.
Finally, preconceptions and discernment against Latino immigrants are widespread in the United States. Negative judgments and discriminatory practices upset the welfare of Latino children, and being judged or experiencing unfair treatment because of language, culture, or physical features has led to poor mental health.
Studies show that when Latinos go to schools with not many Latino companions, they can feel separated from the school and are probably going to report segregation before they finish tenth grade. They feel represented, less inspired, less motivated to take an interest in student exercises, and subsequently make them more disconnected from the school.
What’s more, specialists at times compare the school performance of students in terms of color; comparing Latino students with white students and taking little consideration of the reasons for disparities and contrasts talked about here. White students can be implicitly seen as mentally and scholastically better than Latino students, which can paint a bad image of the results since they are seen from a biased perspective.
This stagnation isn’t great at all for the general public all in all. Later on, these uneducated people will be part of the monetary and political workforce. If this pattern of instructive stagnation proceeds, at that point financial emergency will be inescapable in the future. According to the Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, by the year 2020, there will be an eleven percent drop in per capita income due to low education among the populace. Latino education stagnation or crisis is attributed to a myriad of factors, ranging from social, economic, and educational conditions, lack of social amenities, low human and social capital, polarizing economy, and poor scholars. In most cases, Language differences have been seen as a primary educational barrier among Latino students. While the language is an issue for some Latino students, it’s not a critical issue. A recent study found that English Learners (primarily Latinos) received an inferior education along seven different dimensions, even when compared to other poor and low-income students. Chief among the educational inequities suffered are teachers unprepared to address their needs.
Studies show that when Latino understudies go to schools with not many Latino companions, they can feel separated from the school and are probably going to report seeing segregation before the finish of tenth grade. They feel less spoken to as far as numbers, less inspired to take an interest in understudy exercises, and subsequently increasingly separated from the school.
What’s more, specialists at times look at the school execution of understudies of shading, including Latino understudies, with white understudies without calculating the reasons for incongruities and contrasts talked about here. White understudies can be implicitly seen as mentally and scholastically better than understudies of shading, which can taint examination results since things are directed from a deficiency point of view that doesn’t recognize the supremacist structures, frameworks, settings, strategies, and practices that impact the world wherein understudies of shading create and develop.
This stagnation isn’t great at all for the general public all in all. Later on, these uneducated people will be a piece of the monetary and political workforce. If this pattern of instructive stagnation proceeds, at that point financial emergency will be inescapable later on. As per the Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, continuously in 2020, there will be an eleven percent drop in per capita pay because of low training among the people. Latino training stagnation or emergency is credited to a horde of elements, running from social, monetary, and instructive conditions, absence of social luxuries, low human and social capital, polarizing economy, and poor researchers. Much of the time Language contrast has been viewed as an essential instructive boundary among Latino understudies. While the language is an issue for some Latino understudies, it’s not the basic issue. An ongoing report found that English Learners (principally Latinos) got second-rate instruction along with seven distinct measurements, in any event, when contrasted with other poor and low-pay understudies. Boss among the instructive imbalances endured are instructors ill-equipped to address their needs.
Fourthly, specifically, qualified teachers should be employed. Teachers must be given the specialized tools they need to be successful with Latino populations, and, contrary to the oft-heard mantra that good schools are good schools for all children, some additional and different things must be present in schools that serve this population. Teachers must have skills and the means for communicating with Latino parents and enlisting them as allies. They must be able to communicate with and motivate their Latino students. They must understand the circumstances of the students’ lives and histories. Critically, teachers must know how to provide deep, rich, and intellectually challenging instruction that pushes students to excel and, simultaneously, builds on the fund of knowledge that resides in students’ communities. In the words of Michael Martinez, they must be able to cultivate intelligence, not just the acquisition of knowledge. They must be able to help children learn to think deeply and creatively about problems, and they must be able to build on the foundations of learning that students bring with them to school. This also implies that teachers must be given the autonomy to exercise their professional judgment and expertise in the classroom. Although most Latino students speak English, many come from families and communities that primarily speak Spanish, and most teachers have difficulty communicating with students’ families and thus enlisting their support.
Finally, there is a need to exploit the comparative advantage of many Latino students. All parties in the U.S. need to work and interact across cultural and linguistic borders. The notion of speaking a language other than English as an educational liability must be turned on its head. Languages must be seen as resources, as invaluable human capital, and as doorways to enhanced cognitive skills. This is the one area in which many Latino students arrive at school with an advantage over their non-Hispanic peers. It can be exploited for their educational benefit and that of their peers with whom they can share this asset.
In conclusion, Latinos have been attending and graduating from college for the past few decades though at a slower pace compared to other racial and ethnic groups. The whited boosted their college rates in a rapid trend. Though several factors lead to educational disparities, the single major factor that leads to educational gaps between whites and Latinos is economic factors. Furthermore, research shows a reluctance among Latinos to improve their educational status from generation to generation. Training, and bilingual education to help ensure that they attain English proficiency, develop high levels of academic attainment in English, and meet the same academic content and academic achievement standards that all students are expected to meet. Participation in these types of programs can improve students’ English language proficiency, which, in turn, can improve their educational outcomes.
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