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Original URL: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0126HispanicsEd26-ON.html
Hispanics mostly optimistic about schools, education
Associated Press
Jan. 26, 2004 08:00 AM
WASHINGTON - Hispanics have a more positive outlook on public schools than
non-Hispanic Whites and Blacks, despite concerns that their children face
cultural misunderstanding and language barriers, according to a survey released
Monday.
The study by the Pew Hispanic Center and the Kaiser Family Foundation found that
a slight majority of Hispanics believe that schools are too quick to label
Latino children as having learning or behavioral problems. They also worry that
teachers don't push their kids to work hard enough.
Yet, 45 percent said schools have improved in the last five years. Only 25
percent of Whites and 31 percent of Blacks felt that way.
The survey found that Hispanics were also more likely to approve of President
Bush's education program, and more likely to favor the strict accountability
standards he pushed through Congress. This, it said, was despite a finding that
most Hispanics who expressed a party preference said they trusted Democrats more
than Republicans to deal with education.
Overall, Hispanics surveyed didn't consider themselves particularly
disadvantaged in the education system, even though nearly half thought teachers
were not bridging the cultural gap in the classroom and close to half identified
language problems.
Hispanics also said performance problems could be associated with ethnic
stereotypes. Forty-three percent said teachers and principals have lower
expectations for Hispanic students.
Most Hispanic parents said they are actively involved in their child's education
- they attend Parent Teacher Association meetings, participate in fund raising
or volunteer in school.
The survey was conducted by telephone between Aug. 7 and Oct. 15 among a
nationally representative sample of 3,421 adults selected at random. Of those
interviewed, 1,508 were Hispanic or Latino origin or descent. No margin of error
was given.
Sixty-seven percent of Hispanics agree the federal government should require
states to set strict performance standards for public schools, while 75 percent
said standardized testing should be used to determine whether students are
promoted or can graduate.
Forty-one percent of Hispanics said Bush was doing a good or excellent job on
education; only 34 percent of whites and 17 percent of blacks said so.
One in six children in the United States is Hispanic, and by 2020 the number is
expected to be nearly one in four. Hispanics outnumber any other demographic
group in the country's largest school districts, and their enrollment is booming
in American suburbs too.
More than one in three Hispanics - 36 percent - drop out of high school,
although those born in the United States do better. About 16 percent of blacks
and 8 percent of whites don't finish high school.
On test scores, 75 percent of whites score better than Hispanic students in
reading, math and science. Just one in 10 Hispanics graduates from a four-year
college or university.
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