In just eight years, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hispanics will surpass blacks as the nation's largest minority group. Already they fill nearly half the desks in many of the nation's urban public schools. But beyond these factors, opinions diverge about why Latino dropout rates have been persistently high for the past 25 years. Hispanics say that the public schools marginalize them, disrespecting their culture, neglecting their language problems, and setting standards so low that kids can't help but reduce expectations. Others insist it is Hispanics themselves who are giving up on education.
Language is one obvious barrier to Hispanic academic success.
Forty-three percent of Hispanic dropouts are foreign born, and many of them don't get special language help. But language difficulty is not the only reason Hispanics leave school. Contrary to popular perception, most Hispanic dropouts were born here and speak English fluently. They rarely attend preschool, and their parents, often ill-educated or illiterate, don't read to them. Schools in rural Mexico are apt to be remote, overcrowded, and limited to the primary grades.