Education
It is a widely held idea among Americans that a college degree is essential to obtaining a stable occupation. Most Americans as a whole attain a high school diploma, while between 25 and 75 percent continue to postsecondary institutions. According to the U.S Census Bureau, Hispanics are among the least educated ethnic group. In 2000, about 530,000 Hispanics and Latinos 16–19 years of age were high school dropouts, yielding a dropout rate of 21.1 percent for all Hispanics and Latinos. 11 percent of Hispanics/Latinos have earned a bachelor's degree or higher, compared with 17 percent of non-Hispanic blacks, 30 percent of non-Hispanic whites, and 49 percent of Asian Americans. Often, Hispanic and Latino youth begin schooling without the necessary economic and social resources that other children have. One frequent cause is their being the children of immigrant parents with low socioeconomic status and language barriers that result in a lack of knowledge about the U.S. education system. These unfavorable conditions frequently spawn others, such as weak parent-teacher relationships.
The overall average years of schooling for Hispanics and Latinos (10.5) does not include high school graduation (12 years). There is a notable education gap between foreign-born Hispanics, who have more difficulties with language barriers, and U.S.-born Hispanics. The latter only lag non-Hispanic Whites by 1.3 years of schooling, and nearly tie African Americans, as seen in the table below.
Table 1
Average Years of Schooling, by Gender, Ethnicity, and Nativity Men, by Nativity Women, by Nativity
Ethnicity All Foreign-Born US Born All Foreign-Born US Born Whites 13.6 13.6 Black 12.4 12.8 All Hispanics 10.5 9.5 12.2 10.8 9.8 12.4 Mexicans 9.8 8.5 12.1 10.1 8.6 12.2 Puerto Ricans 11.7 11.2 12.4 12.0 11.4 12.7 Cubans 12.7 12.4 13.6 12.9 12.5 14.2
(NOTE: The samples include individuals ages 25 to 59.)
Read more about this topic: Demographics Of Hispanic And Latino Americans
Famous quotes containing the word education:
“If you complain of neglect of education in sons, what shall I say with regard to daughters, who every day experience the want of it? With regard to the education of my own children, I find myself soon out of my depth, destitute and deficient in every part of education. I most sincerely wish ... that our new Constitution may be distinguished for encouraging learning and virtue. If we mean to have heroes, statesmen, and philosophers, we should have learned women.”
—Abigail Adams (1744–1818)
“Whatever may be our just grievances in the southern states, it is fitting that we acknowledge that, considering their poverty and past relationship to the Negro race, they have done remarkably well for the cause of education among us. That the whole South should commit itself to the principle that the colored people have a right to be educated is an immense acquisition to the cause of popular education.”
—Fannie Barrier Williams (1855–1944)
“He was the product of an English public school and university. He was, moreover, a modern product of those seats of athletic exercise. He had little education and highly developed muscles—that is to say, he was no scholar, but essentially a gentleman.”
—H. Seton Merriman (1862–1903)