Debunking the Myth that Latino Parents Don't Care about Education!
By Quetzal Mama • April 14, 2014
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Debunking the Myth:
Latino Parents Don't Care
about Education!
Copyright 2014 Roxanne Ocampo
Last month I presented at the 2014
Shmoop Intersect Conference at Mack Sennett Studios in Los Angeles. When the awesome folks at Shmoop asked if I
would be willing to lead a panel discussion on “How to Get Minority Students
into College” . . . my eyebrows raised and
without hesitation I said yes. Heck
yes. I knew the audience would be
administrators, teachers, and techies from Los Angeles County school districts,
as well as other influential folks. Sure
enough – sitting in the front row during my presentation was Ellen Siminoff –
CEO of Shmoop and one of the founding executives (Senior Vice President) of
Yahoo.
You
see, these public discussions are the rare and precious moments I get to share
my authentic and uncensored perspective regarding college admissions for Latino
students. It’s my opportunity to debunk
what I know is out there: Latino parents
don’t care, our kids don’t care, and therefore, we (and our culture at large) are
flawed. I seize these moments because I
know other reputable and respected individuals are using their mediums to share
their theories regarding the lack of minorities in college. Therefore, I take full advantage of any opportunity to present in a high
profile medium to share my message – my truth, about getting our students into
college. It is these types of
opportunities that drive my work, and keep me focused on my agenda. It’s my chance to break down some of the
myths out there – myths that impact how educators, administrators, and policy
makers view our children.
I
enthusiastically began with the stereotype I hear most often, “Latino parents don’t
value education.” Before I even begin
speaking, I display a powerful image of a group of Quetzal Mamas. I point out that the moms in the photo have
on average a 3rd grade education, are mostly non-English speakers,
and no one in their family has attended college. I also point out that all of these moms spent
their Saturdays and Sundays driving their students to my workshops and coaching
sessions, and that every one of their children is now attending a selective
college. I throw in that their kids
graduated top of their respective classes, with impressive SAT and AP exam
scores. Icing on the cake: their
students are now attending and thriving at selective universities like Duke
University and UC Berkeley. And, none of
the students I’ve coached through the years has dropped out of college. Not one.
Next,
I strategically move to the results from a 2010 Nielsen Poll1 that
confirms, “Hispanics value higher education more than Americans as a whole.” The slide illustrates that 87% of US Latinos
said a college education is extremely or very important compared with 78 % of
overall U.S. population. And, 94% of
Hispanic parents expected their kids to go to college. If you quickly glance around the room at this
particular moment, you will see some pleasantly surprised folks.
Then,
I display a sobering contrast: the 2010 Federal Census. This slide illustrates the “College
Graduate by Race & Hispanic Origin.”
This slide starkly presents the harsh reality that only 12.9% of
Hispanic males and 14.9% of Hispanic females. (10.6% for Mexican-Americans)
hold a college degree. The pleasant faces
quickly turn to bewilderment, with a bit of uncomfortable shifting in chairs.
I
strategically present the “before” and “after” comparisons to illustrate my
point. I ask the audience to consider
what factors might explain the huge contrast between the college expectations
of Latino parents and the subsequent statistics? I then begin to break it down, methodically,
to illustrate the complex system of events that directly impact the outcome. I explain how research overwhelmingly
confirms that students attending under-resourced, low Socio-Economic Status
(SES) schools do not receive the types of preparation for college that their
affluent, predominantly white, counterparts receive. So, to start out, the playing field is not
level. However, our American principle
of “meritocracy” blames our students for failing to succeed academically, even
though they are situated in environments that are detrimental to their academic success. My hope is that they understand it would be
naïve and simplistic to expect that any student
could perform competitively on SAT/ACT or AP exams when their schools do not have
an AP program and/or SAT preparation program.
Next, I point to how
research also reveals that high school intervention programs are only modestly impactful as they reach our
students too late in the game.
Furthermore, due to bans on racial preference at the State and Federal
level, these high school intervention resources are no longer targeted or
tailored for Latino students. It’s now a
“one-size-fits-all” model that – in theory – should work. According to
researchers Caroline Hoxby (Stanford University) and Christopher Avery (Harvard
University), many of the intervention programs focus on a “cheerleading” model,
versus supplying the technical and timely information our students need: “. . .
the typical program focuses on motivating students merely to attend college.”
I refer to a compelling study just released by USC: “An analysis of
college enrollment data reveals that Latino high school graduates are more
likely to attend California community colleges than their white, Asian, and
African American counterparts.” This study by Dr. Lindsey Malcom-Piqueux
of George Washington University finds that even in California’s high performing
high schools, our students are not being groomed for four year colleges:
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“. . . an in-depth examination of pathways from California high
schools to the state’s public higher education institutions reveals that even
Latinos who graduate from the state’s top-performing high schools (that is,
those who rank in the top 10 percent of Academic Performance Index, or API,
scores) are significantly more likely to enroll in a community colleges than
their Asian, white, and African American counterparts.”
When asked about the factors that have led to this interesting fact,
Dr. Malcom-Piqueux
says: "We know that tracking is real. We know
that differential expectations for academic performance based on things like
race and class are real."
Finally,
I point to the antisocial messaging our children are exposed to on a daily
basis – whether in the classroom or in the media. The message is that our Latino students are
just not that bright, and therefore we should focus our attention on Career
Technical Education. Likewise, when our
Latino students fail to pursue or obtain a college degree, it is their own
fault (or their parents). To emphasize
my point about antisocial messaging, I show a slide with the quote:
"I
feel that they don't have the drive.”
I explain that the quote was from a secondary counselor, hired as an
intervention expert specifically to help Latino high school students. I add that the quote was not from the 1960’s, nor from a rural town in a non-progressive
state. The quote was from a January 6,
2014 interview on Southern California Public Radio1. What high school? South Pasadena High School in South Pasadena
Unified School District. If these types of opinions,
assumptions, and attitudes inform secondary counselor’s perspective concerning
Latino students, our students are already at a deficit.
So
let’s digest this for a moment. Many of
our Latino students are situated at under-resourced schools. For students who are fortunate enough to
attend a high school with an intervention program, their odds are not
significantly improved. The intervention
programs aimed at helping them navigate the college admissions process take
place too late in the game, are not culturally-relevant, and tend to be a
“one-size-fits-all,” cheerleading approach.
Because of these deficiencies, our students will then turn to family
members and peers (not typically qualified sources) for their college
guidance. Even for the students who
attend highly resourced high schools, they are still being pushed to the trades
or community college. The final factor near the tail-end of the college pathway
is financial aid. Unfortunately,
research shows our students are not receiving adequate (or relevant)
information in a timely or effective manner.
Add to this the antisocial messaging our children are frequently exposed. It is not a surprise then, that the community
college (or no college) is the unfortunate outcome. It is also not surprising that many of our students
get lost in the process and fail to realize their academic potential.
Knowing
the obstacles our kids are up against –the prevailing negative attitudes,
institutionalized practices, and lack of resources, what should we do? I don’t pretend to have all the answers, and
I don’t presume to tell parents or educators what to do. However, I work from a strengths-based
perspective, looking for solutions and ways to mitigate this complex situation. I refuse to accept our current, limited
options. I’m of the mindset that we can
do more.
Do
we ignore the glaring facts and hope and optimistically pray for a better
tomorrow? Do we remove our children from
the K-12 system altogether and home school?
Do we concede defeat as victims and deny our children’s rightful place
in higher education? I don’t believe these
options are reasonable or viable solutions.
For
starters, let’s not ignore reality. We
should acknowledge the facts, forces, and institutions that may be barriers to
our children’s pathway to college. We
should acknowledge them to the extent we know what we’re up against, so we may
respond and adapt. Second, let’s not
concede defeat. We are not victims, and
our children will not be victims. We are
still learning how to navigate this system, and we need to give ourselves some
credit.
Fortunately,
my perspective is positively skewed because of the parents I am honored to know
and work with. I have the great honor to work with statistical
outliers in our communities. These are the parents who have adapted
successful strategies so that their children can and do go to college. These outliers figured out how to work the
system. We can learn from them! Let me share what some of them are
doing.
First, they are not relying exclusively on teachers, the school
district, secondary counselors or intervention programs. They have taken advantage of these resources,
but realized this would not resolve 100% of their academic or college
admissions issues. Second, they sought alternate
resources anywhere they could find them.
They got free books on the college admissions process from the public
library. In fact, the Stockton Public
Library has copies of my book, for free!
In addition, there are free or low-cost SAT and ACT preparation
resources online. For example, www.shmoop.com
has free and reasonably priced tools (we are talking in the $20 range!) for the
AP exams and SAT/ACT exams. Third, they
networked with other parents, attended workshops, and got their kids to do much
of the work. Finally, they asked people
for help. I know it’s not easy, but you
will be surprised there are many individuals in your K-12, local community
college, non-profit organizations, etc., who truly wish to help students and
parents.
Will we solve our educational
inequities any time soon? I don’t
believe so. However, I wrote this
article so that we could examine some of the complex forces that rarely surface
in discussions regarding “meritocracy.”
It is my belief that as parents mobilize, as we utilize social media,
and as we become more informed of our rights as stakeholders in the K-20
system, we will be closer to developing long-term solutions to help our
students reach their academic potential.
Si se puede. –Quetzal Mama
1The Associated
Press-Univision Poll (Conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago). Interview dates: March 11 – June 3, 2010; Interviews:
1,521 Hispanic adults; Margin of error: +/- 3.5 percentage points at the 95%
confidence level
2Southern
California Public Radio interview: http://www.scpr.org/blogs/education/2014/01/06/15489/even-from-state-s-best-high-schools-latinos-mostly/
3Addressing Latino Outcomes at California’s
Hispanic-Serving Institutions – Latina and Latino High School Graduates are Disproportionately
Enrolled in Community Colleges: USC http://trpi.uscmediacurator.com/cc-enrollment/