Some Thoughts on Low High School Graduation Rates in the Valley
Those who grew up in the Valley have always known that it has been a special place for developing Hispanic professionals. There have always been doctors, lawyers, engineers, and educators who grew up here from established long time families or were the children of Hispanic immigrant professionals. There continues to be appropriate concern, however, that overall the Hispanic graduation and college readiness rate has not really improved. Half of Hispanics entering high school never finish and only about 9% who complete high school are college ready according to reports by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.
I believe there is a problem of expectations that exist in different classes. Whether we like to admit it or not, there has always been a distinct class stratification in our society. Watch any novela and this immediately becomes clear. Embeded in our culture is the concept that we have low expectations for those that are low born. It is not merely however a case of the upper class holding down the lower class, but also that the lower class itself has not adjusted it’s aspirations with the increased opportunities present today.
Danah Boyd, a PhD candidate at the School of Information (iSchool) at the University of California - Berkeley and a Fellow at the University of Southern California Annenberg Center for Communications has been studying the differences between young people who are in different online social networks. She has found some interesting findings into how young people view themselves and how it reflects with whom they socialize. MySpace more frequently has Hispanics who do not go to college and come from families who never went to college while Facebook usually has young people who come from families with a college attending tradition.
This is an issue that goes beyond teachers and school systems although they are key part in improving the situation. The pobrecito syndrome or the “slacker” syndrome that some have attributed to lower class Hispanics who drop out really needs to be seen to be more complex than a problem of individual motivation. Hispanics of all classes have to get over the Patron and the Compesino past and move into a better future.