The Culture of Now

In order to understand where my voice is to be going, I have to examine the current climate of the environment she will be entering. According to recent statistics 41.3 million Americans identify themselves as being Latino. Of this large and increasing number, 17 percent of this group is of the traditional "college-age". But of this number only 19 percent of these young people actually choose to pursue a higher education.

What could make this number so low? Is it the government? Is it the culture? Is it a lack of knowledge on both parts? A blame cannot be place in one place. one part is the lack of knowledge about the college environment to a large majority of young Latinos. Laura Rendon, a professor of education at California State University states ("Educating", 2008):

Many Latino students attend poor elementary and secondary schools...In addition they often come from low-income backgrounds and are the first in their families to even consider higher education. They lack knowledge about how and where to apply for college and what it takes to succeed once they're admitted.

Feelings of incompetence and frustration may be more prevalent than their White counterparts.

One other aspect is the lack of support in the higher education system. Being the first in the family, like Maria, to attend college they may not have any solid role models, mentors, or sponsors in that environment. Due to a backlash in affirmative action, college hiring committees have not needed to focus on the hiring of an ethnically diverse staff. The places that Latinos choose to attend choose are places they are likely to go and thus have stretched the resources of certain areas making them almost ineffective.

Contrary to popular belief, Latinos have the largest amount of college students applying for financial aid. Unfortunately, they receive the lowest amount, in terms of ethnic group, to get student aid awards. This aid is a critical part of assistance in many families since they do not have the funds to support their child fully. More than half of all Latinos receive a grant of some kind. This could be even more with increasing government sponsored programs. For example, one suggestion was that due to the lack of ESL teachers in secondary and primary education, that the government could create relief to those who chose to pursue a degree of that kind.

What is the culture once Latinos reach campus? Is it all the same? It would be naive to think that Latinos could be examined under the same microscope. With a large amount of Latinos coming from a variety of different countries, customs are almost so far apart that they could be classified to subcultures more than one complete group. In order to help these students succeed it is important to get a point of view from them. In an article published by Mooney and Drakes, they found that Latinos can fall into three separate categories in their attitudes towards higher education. One group can be called assimilators. These people have adapted to the dominate culture and may be so intertwined with the larger group that they are blind to discrimination and its impact on their environment. The next category is the accommodators. They see that discrimination is happening but believe that they, as individuals, can create the changes need to succeed in what they are pursuing. The last category is resistors. These individuals see a high level of discrimination happening. This is by far the largest of the three groups with 43% believing in this view according to a survey conducted by Mooney and Drakes ( 2008, p. 12-14).

The question remains is how can one begin to work with Latinos in helping them navigate the steps of higher education. Throughout my blog, I will try to better understand the unique needs of the wide variety of subcultures and see what conclusions can be made in becoming an advocate for my voice.

Drakes, D.R., Mooney, M. (2008). Profiles of Latino Adaptation at Elite Colleges and Universities. American Journal of Community Psychology 42 (1), 1-16. from Google Scholar.

(2008). Educating the Largest Minority Group. The Chronicle 50 (14). from The Chronicle Review