I've been a middle school math teacher in San Diego for almost twenty years. One of the differences I see among Latino families and White families is that generally speaking Latinos value family relationships over education. Many of my Latino students have cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncle that live in Mexico. Latino parents typically have their kids missing many days of school to visit these relatives. The kids miss valuable days of instruction but the familial relationships stay strong.
And many parents do NOT make any effort to learn and use English. Their kids are speaking Spanish-only when they are not on campus. Schools provide all documents in Spanish and English. The marque in front of the school has information posted in Spanish & English. Parent-teacher conferences and other meetings where parents are in attendance will have a translator present. Parents that do NOT demonstrate proficient English speaking/writing/reading skills can not and do not form beneficial partnerships with school staff. And the students underperform. Schools are NOT allowed to place blame on the parents - it is not permissible to blame the parents -- so the teachers & administrators bear the brunt of the blame -- because, well - we have to blame somebody.
4
We must end the lunacy of Birthright Citizenship. Illegal "immigrants" can't legally work in the US. No matter how we might change our immigration system, no matter which party does it, we will never allow illegal "immigrants" to work legally. This means illegal "immigrants" can't legally support their own children. How can it possibly make sense that kids whose own parents can't legally support them are considered US citizens?! Utterly ridiculous.
When we "imported" illegal "immigrants", we "imported" a large and growing underclass that is poor for multiple generations. This article doesn't present the data but wherever present, the Latino school population does about as well as our Black population.
60% of California's non elderly Medicaid enrollees are Hispanic.
3
This is nothing new in San Diego. The kids cannot succeed in an Entrepreneurial Society speaking both grammatically horrendous Spanish and English. The free market will always decide who is hired based on standard communications skills set. This is a cultural assimilation issue that can only be resolved at home not in a new expensive government skill program.
I am the son of legal immigrants from Germany and Holland. Both my parents went to night school to learn proper English. They loved America, were grateful to America and wanted their children to speak the language Of America. We all did well because We all spoke English at home.
4
What a frustrating article. Where is the question of their participation in their education? I teach in a school that is more than 70% Hispanic; the exception are the students who work hard and strive to be high achievers. The majority are disgracefully lazy, and have little to no respect for education. The notion that this is due only to external factors is patronizing and paternalistic. I am Mexican-American of a different generation; my parents were not college educated; we were lower-middle class; Spanish was spoken at home. But perhaps one of the major differences is I went to public schools that were more integrated; so I was around people with different value systems. The other major difference was the absence of coddling: there were actual consequences for failure and bad behavior. Today, there are apologists and psychologists to find external reasons for laziness and anti-social behavior. We Hispanics need to be held accountable for what we have absolute control over: our own efforts, achievements and failures.
5
Regarding Latino Educational Performance:
I have been an educator in urban settings for over twenty years. Schools and the gov. should, and will continue to strive toward closing these achievement gaps, but sadly, the problem occurs largely because they are the only ones trying to close this achievement gap.
"My job is to go to work and bring home money. My wife's job is to take care of the kids and to clean the house. Your job is to teach." While not all Latino's think this way, this was an actual quote from a parent in Lynwood, CA to my mother. This outlook is unfortunately common among Latino families, and puts their children at significant disadvantages when compared to parents that believe that knowledge and learning are of foremost importance.
This is not an issue of ability. This is not an issue of access. This is an issue of cultural priorities, and frankly, while education is said to be a priority, the actions to support this are sorely lacking for much of the Latino community. For my entire career, I have watched thousands upon thousands of Latino students throw away their educational opportunities. In those same impoverished locations, I have also seen the rare minority of Latino students thrive and succeed because they had the family and cultural support to do so.
Schools will keep trying. Teachers will keep trying. Until there is a change of culture, the problem will still grow.
5
Everyone reading this article should click on the "every county in the state" link embedded in the article, look at it, access the data for different ethnic groups, and let it sink in. This is California's future and it explains why Silicon Valley is so insistent on being able to bring in educated immigrants. They know the state is not producing the human resources they need.
4
"One-third of Latino students in the state are considered English Language Learners. And the report points out that 95 percent of the state’s Latinos who are younger than 18 are native-born."
They don't speak English at home, they speak Spanish. So how can they do well in school if the lessons are taught in English?
For most immigrants from non-English speaking countries like Taiwan, the moment they stepped onto US. soil, the entire family began learning English, and only speaking English at home and at work. If English is spoken at home, the children are better prepared for school. I hear Spanish spoken almost every where I go. There is no need to learn English if everyone around you speaks Spanish.
16
LAUSD requires that lessons be taught in Spanish for first level English Learners, so there's even less excuse on that front. Some students go their entire 12 years of public education without ever being re-designated from Language Learner because they don't meet the academic requirements. It's disgraceful, and it is not the fault of the teachers, the economics, their ethnicity or any other external factor; it's their individual character.
2
This is no surprise and totally predictable. The large influx of illegal immigrants of hispanic origin over several decades have infiltrated the state and changed the demographics of California forever.
The abysmal rates of assimilation and lack of motivation to learn fluent English among adult hispanic immigrants has had many consequences. It will probably be officially declared a bilingual state within 10 years. Unfortunately, there is no going back. The scary thing is how many Californians think this open borders policy is normal & should be copied nation-wide. Look at the results...no thanks!
13
Actually, the biggest problem isn't that these students speak Spanish. Students that speak an educated level of Spanish, often can learn and process high levels of information in English quite quickly. The biggest issue, is that too many of these students and their families speak such a poor version of both languages that they would likely be considered a learner in both languages. Many English Only students would still qualify as an ELL is they were tested. If children aren't exposed to high levels of language early on, their ability to develop high level language skills are stunted. This problem is pervasive among families that have been here for generations.
1
The problem is not money.
For more than 40 years, California has had statewide equalized funding for K-12 public education-- unlike many other states.
In addition -- also unlike many other states -- California has funded K-12 public education with a statewide income tax, rather than a property tax.
Despite the equalized statewide funding for more than 40 years,
Latino students have lagged.
Furthermore, in 2012, California put into effect additional funding for K-12 education with an additional statewide special income tax
-- and earmarked most of the additional funds to "concentration grants" for school districts (above all the LA USD) with high "concentrations" of English-language learners --
i.e. students from households which speak Spanish.
Despite the 5 years of additional funding -- over and above the 40 years of equalized funding -- Latino students still lag.
Of course, Asian students -- including those from households that speak a language other than English (but of course, not Spanish) do very well --
and do well without the benefit of the additional special funding for "concentration grants" -- because, of course, there is no district with a high enough "concentration" of English language learners who speak an Asian language at home that qualifies for the threshold for the "concentration grants".
As Lincoln Steffens might have said,
"I have seen the future in California and it speaks Spanish".
-- and it does not "work" any better than communism in Soviet Russia.
9
Academia, and the pursuit of a higher education, is not held to a high standard in Mexico by a good majority of the population. The difference in priorities between cultures is significant and is the primary driver for the results seen in California and else where. It’s not a lack of resources, segregation, etc. Family’s need to understand that education will always begin at home, and that the work ethic needed to succeed is not something that can be taught at schools.
9
The actual problems within every population are caused by too much reverence for Wealth and too little respect for Human Rights.
4
Question: What does this have to do with the topic ?
Answer: Nothing
1
"Ya. All of those dedicated teachers that stick it out in impoverished areas despite the lack of respect and effort by either students or parents are just out to keep those kids down." he said in sarcastic derision.
2
This story deserves a deeper analysis. What are California's political and education leaders, especially its Latino leaders, prepared programmatically and in terms of public spending to do to help these children? What do the teachers really think about what is taking place? Are the Hispanic parents taking action? How does immigration contribute to this problem--is the learning gap mostly with the newcomers, or does this extend throughout the Latino community? More analysis and answers from this story are needed.
9
After teaching English to adult migrants from Latin America and Asia for years near L.A., I reached some conclusions based on observations and what students shared with me. As nice as many students were, it became apparent that, for a majority (there were exceptions) of those adults from Mexico and Central America, life priorities weren't conducive to academic success. Family issues (childcare, teacher meetings, visiting relatives), religious holidays, and work affected attendance significantly. Frequent absences resulted in knowledge gaps were all too evident during testing. This wasn't true for most Asian students who showed up or studied at home. Sorry, family/faith are important but so is school. Many Hispanic students had left school in the 5th-7th grade and couldn't help their kids with homework. While Asian parents I knew pretty much bullied their kids to complete homework and tried to practice English with their kids, that wasn't true for my Hispanic students. They were too busy working and attending to family matters (they told me so). If parents don't/can't help their kids with homework and practicing English at home, and pull them out of class for every U.S., Mexican, and religious holiday and for family celebrations, it's no surprise their kids' performance in math and language arts is suffering. Until parents prioritize their kids' learning, performance will suffer, in my humble opinion.
42
My sister used to teach math at a Central Valley junior high where the overwhelming number of students were Hispanic. One student was truly exceptional. My sister would say that she had the brains to be anything she wanted. Sadly, she received zero support at home. Her mother would continually berate her for doing homework, telling her it wasn't worth the time since she wasn't going to need when she was married and had kids.
5
I'm at ground zero. I taught 14 years in the lowest income sector in Ventura County, California.
I saw children with little or no preparation in pre-school, attain grade level proficiency in fourth and fifth grade. Both in reading and math.
The key was a parent or parents who place the value of education as the key for their children.
You can provide the tools, the learning centers, the after school help, if there is no genuine regard by the parent placing the value of education on their children, then you have nothing!
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@ The Chief from Call - Thank you chief, when studies tell us they compared all Latinos with all Whites they tell us nothing useful. I hope somebody has taken a population of so-called Latinos and then used better SES variables including level of education of parents - more easily determined than parental intention.
Larry L.
3
Word. From one teacher to another, keep the faith.
1
Matt Stevens, Jennifer Medina, and every other Times columnist, bar none are the subjects of this comment.
You all need to take a quick course on a) The American Concept of Race, b) The Archaic USCB System for classifying us. Or, better yet, you need to begin with Kenneth Prewitt's 2013 OpEd, which is about that archaic system, then read his book "What Is Your Race...", and end by watching Prof. Dorothy Roberts' TED talk.
You distinguish Latino from White but Latino can also = White. This is no place to bother explaining, instead consider my homework assignment above.
I have tried to persuade Race/Related to take up this subject but nobody there seems to have read Prewitt or Roberts either.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
8
Are Swedish Laplanders considered white? How do their children compare with ethnic Swedish students? I have been very concerned about the many Latino students who are lagging behind Asian and white students. I made a special effort to encourage our sons to graduate SCL and MCL respectively.
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@ Myself LL - Kenneth Prewitt whom I name was Director of the US Census Bureau. He recommends in Ch. 11 of his book that the Census Bureau should consider gradually using SES data, much as Sweden does (he does not give Sweden as example, I am doing that).
Thus as concerns the matter of Latino and/or Hispanic there is a different approach followed in Sweden. Each of us is registered by country of birth, a practice Prewitt recommends including country of birth of parent.
If this were done the group called Latino might instead be presented as 1) Born in Mexico, Spain, Chile and others and 2) At least one parent born in those countries.
LL 17:39 CET vintertid 08/11
1
@ Alejandro Nivon- Thanks for a useful question. Sweden does not classify people by what the USCB calls "race". There is an historic background for not classifying by "race".
In 1922 Herman Lundborg, a physician, founded The Swedish Institute of Race Biology intended to assign residents of Sweden to different "races" defined in part by measuring skull and facial dimensions. In his view people who shall we say matched his measurements were the superior race and he wanted to use eugenics to create a purer Swedish "race".
Note that comparing Asian, Latino, and White groups is not very scientific. Kenneth Prewitt and I think we could learn more if we compared groups using SES variables. One key is the kind of encouragement you practice.
Larry L.
If it's true that demographics is destiny, then the majority of working age people in California are not going to have the English or math needed for skilled employment. And that's going to be soon.
37
Talbot,
Are you suggesting that California will soon arrive at the same academic, economic, and technological achievement level as all of the other Spanish speaking countries in our hemisphere?
9
People will come from all over the US and even all over the world to take skilled jobs in California, so long as the pay offered is enough to cover living expenses.
And, although the article offers a grim picture, millions of young California Hispanics do graduate high school and college with skills and high academic achievement.