BY LYAM
Extra credit
Being a Latin American/Caribbean
Studies major has changed my perspective on a lot of things. The way I view
politics, economy, and world development, among other important things have
changed for me. But there is one area, which
I’ve paid special attention to, and that is education. At first, I sought things from a logical
prospective. I thought that because we, the Latino community, were constantly
increasing our population rate, so will the rate of successful and educated
people. But becoming an ALCS major taught me that this isn’t always the case. Growing
up in a predominantly Latino neighborhood and school, I see that somehow,
although we were the majority minority, we were the group of people that always
tend to fail at things. I, however, thought
that it had to do with the bad neighborhood and that this only happened at my
school. As I began my studies in college, I realized I was wrong. Coming to
Albany University, I felt happy and proud because I would see faces that looked
like mine. I got to hang out and share my college experience with my Latino
peers, who had the same traditions and cultures as mine. But then I realized,
that not only do most of them don’t make it, but that those that do, don’t
always have the same success rate as majority groups.
Now, I do realize that my last blog concentrated on education and professionalism among Latinos. But this one is different. Because now I don’t want to talk about what happens after they graduate, I want to talk about those who don’t graduate, why, and how they got there. Now I realize that today, in this country, some colleges look at diversification as an investment. When it comes to their enrollment process, they set out a certain amount of acceptance strictly for minority groups. At first, I was happy about this, and made sure that I was to put Hispanic/Latina when I was applying for college. But after our class discussion, I began to wonder, (and I raise this question among you all) is this necessarily a good thing? Does this mean that we are looked upon as an investment and a bragging tool? Or are we actually working for and deserving these spaces we get at these big shot universities? I tried to look at it as a good thing, because many of the Latino youth who are lucky enough to finish high school don’t always make it to these universities, and so the fact that they are guaranteeing a spot means that they want our successful rates to increase. But then again, why are the numbers of enrollment increasing, but not the number of graduates? In Mike Davis ‘Magical Urbanism’ we see that between 1980 and 1990, the Latino enrollment increased about 8.7%, and it is still on the rise today. And as we mentioned before, Latinos are now the largest minority group in the nation’s colleges.
Now, given this information, let’s look past the numbers of enrollment and focus on the after effect, which is graduation. Why does the graduation and successful rate remain the same, but the enrollment goes up? According to the National Deparment of Labor, the unemployment rate among Latinos with an Associate’s degree or higher is above 5%. Does the fact that schools tend to open up special seats for Latinos and other minorities have something to do with the graduation rate? Maybe Latinos don’t work hard enough because they never had the tendencies of being good and dedicated hard working students since before beginning college, and it was therefore more difficult to keep up with the amount of work given in college. So does this mean that colleges reserving special seats, specifically for those of Latino decent, is a bad thing?
I, personally, think that maybe it is just because we face already too many challenges entering, making it through to graduation, and sucking after. Thus, causing a lot of these college enrolled Latinos to drop out. I don’t think that the special reserved seats have much to do with it, but due to our strong class discussion, I wanted to know more on your opinion. For I am forever open minded and fond of other peoples’ opinion. So what is yours?
Now, I do realize that my last blog concentrated on education and professionalism among Latinos. But this one is different. Because now I don’t want to talk about what happens after they graduate, I want to talk about those who don’t graduate, why, and how they got there. Now I realize that today, in this country, some colleges look at diversification as an investment. When it comes to their enrollment process, they set out a certain amount of acceptance strictly for minority groups. At first, I was happy about this, and made sure that I was to put Hispanic/Latina when I was applying for college. But after our class discussion, I began to wonder, (and I raise this question among you all) is this necessarily a good thing? Does this mean that we are looked upon as an investment and a bragging tool? Or are we actually working for and deserving these spaces we get at these big shot universities? I tried to look at it as a good thing, because many of the Latino youth who are lucky enough to finish high school don’t always make it to these universities, and so the fact that they are guaranteeing a spot means that they want our successful rates to increase. But then again, why are the numbers of enrollment increasing, but not the number of graduates? In Mike Davis ‘Magical Urbanism’ we see that between 1980 and 1990, the Latino enrollment increased about 8.7%, and it is still on the rise today. And as we mentioned before, Latinos are now the largest minority group in the nation’s colleges.
Now, given this information, let’s look past the numbers of enrollment and focus on the after effect, which is graduation. Why does the graduation and successful rate remain the same, but the enrollment goes up? According to the National Deparment of Labor, the unemployment rate among Latinos with an Associate’s degree or higher is above 5%. Does the fact that schools tend to open up special seats for Latinos and other minorities have something to do with the graduation rate? Maybe Latinos don’t work hard enough because they never had the tendencies of being good and dedicated hard working students since before beginning college, and it was therefore more difficult to keep up with the amount of work given in college. So does this mean that colleges reserving special seats, specifically for those of Latino decent, is a bad thing?
I, personally, think that maybe it is just because we face already too many challenges entering, making it through to graduation, and sucking after. Thus, causing a lot of these college enrolled Latinos to drop out. I don’t think that the special reserved seats have much to do with it, but due to our strong class discussion, I wanted to know more on your opinion. For I am forever open minded and fond of other peoples’ opinion. So what is yours?
I felt that the blog was similar to what we have talked about in class and therefore I am well opinionated in this subject. I think that it is difficult to say which causes which. But personally, I think that Latinos still have a low graduation rate even though the Latinos admitted is rising because they were not schooled well enough to be able to handle university work. Then, I agree with you wondering if saying your Latino on a college application is good or not. In this case I don't think it is. Colleges are looking for diversity, not the students who are actually able to do well in the classes. This is sad because the Latinos who are getting accepted just because they are Latino are taking up spaces in the college that other people, who are willing and prepared for school cannot have.
ReplyDeleteYeah I agree with Anna to an extent. Being that we talked a bit about this in class, I have to say that its nothing to celebrate just yet until we can get past higher education. Getting to college to then flunk out can possibly be even worse than not making it into college at all. After incurring debts and dropping out with no degree can put you in a big whole. College is a privilege and only the ones who deserve it should be admitted in.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with both Brandon and Anna. But there are many other things that play a role in the fact that many Latinos don't graduate beside them not being "schooled well enough to be able to handle the university work". Sometimes due to be minorities their family are not financially stable. Making the student feel like they have to help their family provide. It is difficult to work and attend school. Out of necessity some students drop out. Therefore, it's difficult to determine as to why Latino students are dropping out. I feel like even though colleges care about diversity it is not the only reason they give these Latinos seats. At the end of the day colleges also care about retention rates and graduation rates. If they accept Latinos who they don't believe will do will just for "diversity" it will make their school look bad in other aspects.
ReplyDeleteBY EDWARD
ReplyDeleteI believe that Latinos have been progressing in graduation rates but that is something that isn't going to change overnight. A lot of males for example can come from the inner city and can be easily influenced by outside sources to not attend school and their lives completely change. Though Latinos have been making a push in becoming more educated and having celebrities broadcast the message of Hispanics staying in school. I really enjoy this post and its something that affects us everyday.