Education Dept Report Puts Latino Problem In Context

If we’re ever going to change the direction of Latino education in the US we’ve got to begin by talking from within the same frame. The biggest obstacle is the perception that the Latino education issue is only about Latinos – it’s like standing around a broken car on the side of the road, kicking the tires and saying “someone needs to fix this.”

I’m not saying that Latino education is a broken car on the side of the road, but the general attitude about it is like the tire-kickers. All I’m saying is we should agree that everyone benefits from getting the car rolling again and let’s pin-point what needs fixing. I think that’s what a recent Department of Education report has done.

Juan Sepulveda, who heads the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, said:

“Strengthening and improving educational excellence in this community isn’t just a Hispanic problem. It’s a challenge to the entire country.”

That’s a good place to start.

Here are some stats, taken from the Education Department’s news release, to keep the idea in context:

• Latinos have the lowest education attainment level overall of any group in the U.S.
• Latinos are by far the largest minority group in today’s American public education system.
• There are 12.4 million Latinos in the country’s elementary, middle and high schools.
• Nearly 22 percent, or slightly more than 1 in 5, of all pre‐K-12 students enrolled in America’s public schools is Latino.
• Less than half of Latino children are enrolled in any early learning program.
• Only half earn their high school diploma on time.
• Of those who do complete high school, only half are as likely as their peers to be prepared for college.
• Only 4 percent of Latinos have completed graduate or professional degree programs.

Now take all those numbers and percentages and align them with this:

…hispanics will drive the growth of the labor force over the next several decades, accounting for 60 percent of the nation’s growth between 2005 and 2050.

That’s the context where we begin the work.

Follow Victor Landa on Twitter: @vlanda