HispanicVista Columnists

Latino Education and The New SAT

By Manuel Hernandez
   February 13, 2006
      

(Editor’s note: Manuel Hernandez created a Yahoogroup for the discussion of literature and education. HispanicVista highly recommends this effort and urges its readers to join and participate. Write to Manuel at: mannyh32@yahoo.com or visit and join at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/latinoliterature)

 Latino Education and The New SAT

By Manuel Hernandez

     The key to a higher education is changing dramatically, and the education of Latinos needs to make concise and specific adjustments to enhance the academic opportunities of its teens. According to John Cloud's essay "Inside The New SAT", "an exhaustive revision" of the SAT's is meant to "mold the U.S. secondary school system to its liking"(Time, October 27, 2003). These changes are being implemented for the SAT's this year. The new SAT will have three sections: reading, writing and math. The changes will provoke spontaneous and widespread curriculum changes in the United States that will without a doubt affect the education of Latinos and other American teens as well.

The changes aim to produce better writing skills in students, so the new SAT will require an essay. Of the three new sections, two are interrelated: reading and writing. Recent research (Noyce and Christie, 1989, Burkland and Peterson, 1986 and Uttero, 1989) sustains that there is a strong relationship between the two. But Latino teens that are recent arrivals (one to three years in the U.S.) are at an extreme disadvantage. Because Latino teens have had little or no exposure to the American and British classics, they will surely have difficulties answering the reading section, which will include a fiction passage.

  Latinos make up 3% of the profile of students taking the test and score lower than White and Asian American students. The SAT is the ticket to a college education, and the education of Latinos must undergo curriculum changes in reading and writing to meet the current SAT demands. If we are to improve the academic opportunities of our children, Latino leaders in education must set aside agendas, issues and goals and focus on strategies to help Latino teens prepare for the new SAT.

As the American Latino population continues to grow in unprecedented numbers, the educational development of the largest minority cannot be taken for granted. Latino/a literature written in English by American Latino writers exposes students to issues such as education, family, values, self-esteem, self-acceptance, conflicts in identity, varied approaches to race, language, domestic violence and the preservation of culture and art which provoke students to make their own reactions and responses to literature. Reading Latino/a literature is an alternative to the teaching of literature and a tool that will prepare students for city, state and national testing requirements and will enhance their reading comprehension, literary appreciation and written communication skills in English.

However, for Latino teens whose language, culture and education is generally not portrayed in the writings of William Faulkner or Ernest Hemingway, Latino/a literature provides the context and establishes the bridge between the so-called classics and connects students to ideas and themes portrayed in literature. The Department of Education is undoubtedly working towards the attainment of better academic objectives for all American children. But it is time to include the teaching of Latino/a literature as a "tool" and "bridge" in the curriculum especially in districts where Latino teens are representative of a strong minority of the school population. Just like the new SAT, the integration of the literature as a "tool" will positively affect the educational outcome of Latinos and other American teens as well.
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Visit, join and participate in Manuel Hernandez’s Latino Literature Yahoo Group at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/latinoliterature/