Hispanic (lack of) education will kill US democracy

[Gob]

Hispanics make up the fastest growing segment of the American population, but are lagging when it comes to education. The consequences are huge not just for individual families, but the entire American economy.

President Obama said last year that Hispanic school children faced "challenges of monumental proportions". He was articulating what many in the United States have been worrying about for years - that Latinos - from kindergarten to university - are falling far behind.

A White House report published in April states that less than 50% of Latino children are enrolled in pre-school; just 50% earn their high school diploma on time and, those who do are only half as likely as their peers to be prepared for college. Just 13% have a degree.

These percentages are troubling enough. What makes them truly alarming is the addition of another set of numbers - the demographics of Hispanic America. For they are the youngest and fastest growing group in the country. They make up 16% of the population now and will account for 29% of the population by 2050.

The issue has essentially reached a tipping point. It's harder to ignore the problems facing a minority group when they affect a third of the population. And there are economic reasons to care. How well Hispanic school children master their ABCs today will help determine the GDP of tomorrow.

At present, America can boast the best educated workforce in the world but in 50 years' time, the majority of those workers will be Hispanic. If they are uneducated, what hope is there for American global competitiveness?

There are also fears about how poor educational outcomes could lead to greater inequality in America. In a 2009 book, The Latino Education Crisis, professors of education Patricia Gandara and Frances Contreras warn that: "Latino students today perform academically at levels that will consign them to live as members of a permanent underclass... their situation is projected to worsen over time."

Later, they write: "If their situation is not reversed, democracy is in peril."


Many of the problems facing Hispanics affect all minority groups - for example the difficulty of accessing high-quality schooling. But there are problems unique to this group. Consider the language barrier - four million Latino children struggle in class because they are still learning English, even though three quarters of them were born in the United States.

Hispanic mothers have far less education than their counterparts in other ethnic groups. According to Professors Gandara and Contreras, formal education is not as much of a priority in Latin America as it is in the US, so the parents may not be pushing their children to succeed or may feel intimidated by the school system.

There is also the issue of immigration status. On average 1 million legal immigrants have been admitted to the US each year since 1990, while roughly 500,000 have come illegally or overstayed their visas. According to the Census bureau, 50% of immigrants are from Latin America.

Undocumented children and the US-born children of undocumented parents can be at a disadvantage because their parents may be reluctant to access the full range of support services available for their children.

President Obama tried and failed in 2010 to pass the Dream Act - a law that would give undocumented Latino students, brought to the US as children, the right to US citizenship so they can attend University.

"This is not just a Latino problem; this is an American problem. We've got to solve it because if we allow these trends to continue, it won't just be one community that falls behind - we will all fall behind together," says President Obama.

The law is opposed by those who think that such an amnesty encourages illegal immigration.

Some states are working towards their own version of the Dream Act. The California state legislature passed a bill offering state-sponsored financial aid to non-resident students who attended state high schools for at least three years. The bill is currently awaiting the signature from the governor.

Texas governor Rick Perry, who allowed children of illegal immigrants to qualify for in-state tuition rates at Texas's state universities, now finds that position under attack as he runs for President.

There is much debate among politicians and policy makers about whether Hispanic children should get special attention or whether they should be treated like any other low income group in terms of educational inequity.

Whichever way that particular debate shakes out one thing is for certain - the political power of Hispanics is rising. Politicians cannot afford to ignore these challenges much longer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15068692

[rubato]

Immigrants from Roman Catholic countries are generally not well educated. The RC church does not promote education as a virtue as well as the Protestant and Jewish communities do.

yrs,
rubato

[dgs49]

Yeah, like France, Italy, Spain, Luxembourg - you know, where ignorance prevails.

The U.S. has, at the instigation of Democrat whales like the late Terrible Ted Kennedy, encouraged ignorant Central Americans (mainly from Mexico) to come here, and remain ignorant so they will always vote Democrat.

Unlike previous generations of immigrants (and current immigrants from elsewhere), these "Hispanics" do not want to assimilate, but rather to remain in Spanish-speaking ghettos, where they can live as they did in their previous countries, and Liberal initiatives to accomodate their lack of English proficiency serves to keep them in cultural as well as geographical ghettos. Fortunately for the Democrats, they are too stupid to realize that by failing to assimilate (and by having illegitimate children, living on welfare) they are not only fucking up their own lives, but the lives of their children for generations.

And when anyone suggests that we stop the inflow of these ignorami or try to induce them to go back home, they are called, perversely, "racists" and bigots.

And of course, they are breeding like rabbits, encouraged by a perverse distortion of the 14th Amendment, which gives them U.S. citizenship due to the accident of geography that their mammasita dropped them on U.S. soil.

Glad I'll be dead or senile before they actually take over.

[dales]

Yeah, like France, Italy, Spain, Luxembourg - you know, where ignorance prevails.

Now that you mention it.

None of the examples cited have been at the top of their game for at least 200+ years.

The vast majority of patents have come from the USA now days and soon the PRC.

[quaddriver]

So catholic church influence is related to patent filings?

And we thought they wore those funny hats for religious reasons.

[Liberty1]

The US is not number 1 because of education, we are number 1 because of our type of government and our culture. We have a culture of individualism (unlike China) a lot of free thinker entrepreneurial types. Capitalism provides them the incentive.

[Scooter]

And within a few years the Chinese economy will dwarf yours. Somehow when that happens I doubt that you will be extolling the "culture" of China for that achievement.

[Liberty1]

The Chineese are good at copying ideas, but I've seen very little in the way of new ideas. They may surpase us from a GDP perspective, having 10 times more people and no EPA or other regulations and controls to deal with almost guarantee it.

[Scooter]

Mmmm, I'm sure the British were saying the same thing about y'all when you were blessed with an endless stream of immigrants providing cheap labour and almost limitless natural resources. The power on the downward trajectory always has an excuse for why.

[quaddriver]

Mmmm, I'm sure the British were saying the same thing about y'all when you were blessed with an endless stream of immigrants providing cheap labour and almost limitless natural resources. The power on the downward trajectory always has an excuse for why.

we still do have an endless stream of immigrants for cheap labor and we still do have almost limitless natural resources because it is illegal to extract or use them.

but actually no, the british said far more unflattering things about us. we are peasantry remember. and we brush our teeth.

[quaddriver]

And within a few years the Chinese economy will dwarf yours. Somehow when that happens I doubt that you will be extolling the "culture" of China for that achievement.

actually the best projection is within a few (if few can be construed to mean 10) it will edge us. 'dwarf' has an ambiguous meaning. 3x? 4x? 5x? That might take a little longer than a 'few' years. hyperbole aside.

[dales]

So catholic church influence is related to patent filings?

No, the countries that dgs mentioned have lost the "patent race" centuries ago. The fact that they have large RC populations is irrelevent.

[rubato]

If one is generalizing about immigation one should use real numbers, not assinine whinging about Luxembourg:


Immigrants from Mexico and the Philippines are mostly Catholic and mostly very uneducated. Their children are far less educated than children who are Chinese, Jewish, or from most Protestant countries. Only ignorant and stupid people do not understand the connection between birth control and prosperity.

Origin
Rate of immigration to the United States relative to sending countries' population size, 2001-2005

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigratio ... ted_States

Top Ten Foreign Countries - Foreign Born Population Among U.S. Immigrants

Country ... per year ...2010 2010, %
Mexico ... 175,900 ... 9,600,000 23.7%
China ...50,900 ... 1,900,000 4.7%
Philippines ... 47,800 ... 1,700,000 4.2%
India ... 59,300 ...1,610,000 4.0%
Vietnam ... 33,700 ... 1,200,000 3.0%
Cuba ...14,800 ... 1,100,000 2.7%
El Salvador ... 33,500 ... 1,100,000 2.7%
Dominican Republic ... 24,900 ... 941,000 2.3%
Canada ...24,200 ...678,000 2.3%
Korea ...17,900 ...701,000 2.2%
Total Pop. Top 10 ...498,900 ... 21,741,000 53.7%
Total Foreign Born ...940,000 ... 40,500,000 100%


yrs,
rubato

[Long Run]

My guess is that those trend lines will change over time. We will assimilate more and more of the recent immigrants and their children into our better way -- much like the Borg, only without the ugly head gear.

[Gob]

Another interesting, and somewhat frightening, article on the direction of education in the US.

"Christians increasingly have an advantage in the educational enterprise," he says. "This is evident in the success of Christian home-schooled children, as compared to their government-schooled friends who have spent their time constructing their own truths." The students, all evangelical Christians, applaud loudly. Most of them were schooled at home before arriving at Patrick Henry - a college created especially for them.

http://richarddawkins.net/articles/297- ... ldren-well

[Scooter]

That's according to a cheerleader for home schooling. Whether it holds up in practice, considering that a special college has been created for home schooled kids, probably because they could never survive in a regular college environment, is something else again.

[Gob]

Yep, read the article linked, it's an eye opener. (It's a bit old, I found it in a New Scientist magazine in our reception area. )

(Oh, Timster, before you shoot me, it's talking about Christian home schoolers not home schoolers in general. )

[Timster]

Nice save mate, no worries. *insert large wolfish grin*

[loCAtek]

Now wait, first being a Roman Catholic is a disadvantage and now being a Christian is an advantage?

Do you even know what you're arguing about?

[dgs49]

Mormons tend to have large families and are relatively prosperous.

The quality of parenting is much much more important than the size of the family in determining the prosperity of the next generation.

And when stupid government policies encourage having babies that you, personally, cannot afford to have, the results are disastrous.