Latinos Choosing Family Over College?

Nine in ten young Latinos think that college education is important for success in life. But only half that number say they themselves plan to get a college degree.

That’s according to the 2009 National Survey of Latinos released by the Pew Hispanic Center this year.

The “education gap,” as the study portrays it, portends dire long-term consequences both for Latinos and for the United States.

Seventy-four percent of “Latino youth, ages 16 to 25, with a high school diploma or less, are not enrolled and have no plans to return to school.”

The reason most of them cited for not continuing their education was “the need to support family.”

Putting family first is a plus in any community. But current financial pressures on today’s Latino youth could be forcing them to feel like they have to make difficult choices between their family and their future.

A 2007 survey by The College Board found those with a bachelor’s degree “earn over 60 percent more than those with a high school diploma.”

The estimated difference between the degrees over a lifetime of work is $800,000.

Educators and community leaders gathered recently in Washington, D.C., to discuss the crisis in education at a daylong symposium sponsored by the Education Writers Association, Pew Hispanic Center, and the National Panel on Latino Children and Schooling under the rubric of New Journalism on Latino Children.

Juan Sepulveda, executive director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, posed the question “what is it going to take to create a college-going culture in our communities?”, while fending off criticism that the Obama administration has yet to demonstrate a clear policy vision of how to accomplish that goal.

As The Americano already reported, The Pew study noted a marked difference between foreign-born and U.S.-born Latinos. “Native-born Latinos ages 18 to 24 are more likely to say they are enrolled in school than foreign-born Latinos in the same age group – 40 percent versus 20 percent,” the report said.

The Pew survey showed other barriers contributing to the lag in Latino educational attainment.

Respondents said parents of Hispanic students don’t play an active role; Hispanic students know less English; and too many teachers don’t know how to work with Hispanic students.

Symposium presenters, however, stressed that one must proceed with caution in evaluating the answers because the underlying dynamics with Latino families and cultures are often complex and nuanced.

Parents may not play an active role because of their own inability to provide academic assistance if they are predominantly Spanish speakers. Also, they may be unfamiliar with a school’s institutional culture.

For many Latinos, it is their feeling of duty toward family that could be holding them back.

The Americano / Agencies

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