Guest Column

By Manuel Hernandez/HispanicVista.com
August 22, 2005

              The numbers speak for themselves. According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, Latinos are now about 14 percent of the Nation’s population. The total Latino population is approximately 41 million, an increase of close to three million from just five years ago. Now that one of America’s most important cities has a Latino mayor, both political parties have realized that the projections are part of the past and a reality of today. The issues are the same: immigration, health, employment, security, home ownership and education. But the education of Latinos is without a doubt the determining factor in America’s future.

            A lot has been said about the Latino high school dropout rate but very little done on how to tackle it. In the United States, there is a twenty-seven percent Latino high-school dropout rate (U.S. Department of Education, February 23, 2005, Press Release). Since 2001, statistics have not improved and have made small progress in the last three decades. As the Latino school population surpasses the expected five million mark by the end of 2005, what can be done to enhance academics in Latinos whose interest in school diminishes once they enter or are placed in American high schools? 

            There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that an education is the key that unlocks the doors to a whole new world of opportunities. But what can be done when all of us are complacent and passive in the way education is not only seen but also perceived and treated by Latino and American leaders as well. According to Census findings, about 31 percent of Latinos are between the ages of 18 and 34. If the dropout rate is 27 percent, at the present moment, America has more than two and maybe three million young Latinos without a high school diploma.

            Forget about working in fast-food restaurants. We are talking about thousands of young men and women living off parents, public assistance programs, welfare or simply spending a lot of time at home watching television, listening to music or roaming around America’s streets. The current media bliss is being placed on entertainment, advertisement and public relations. But what about education? We cannot fall into a comfort zone and wait another ten years before we have another major Latino politician in Office.

            The media moguls will be spending approximately $3.4 billion dollars in Latino advertising this year. They want to catch our attention. All attention right now should be directed towards the Latino dropout rate. When will Latinos wake up, speak out and unite at all fronts to rescue some of those dollars for the education of their children? Fashion and music will not save our children from the street sharks, earthly predators and corner influences. To tell the truth, it is really up to all of us to decide that the issue is education and its role in determining America’s future is beyond any reasonable doubt. The question for all of us is how best to tackle the main issue: education. It is time to set aside all differences and agendas and work intensively to help America determine its future.

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Manuel Hernandez:

Born and raised in Sleepy Hollow, New York in 1963. At eleven years of age, Manuel Hernandez' family moved to Puerto Rico. He finished grade school in Puerto Rico. He received his B.A. in English; secondary education at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus in 1986 and completed his M. A. in English at Herbert H. Lehman College in the Bronx, New York in 1994.

 Hernandez has presented workshops, coordinated symposiums, conducted television interviews and moderated panels on the literature written by United States based Latino writers in Puerto Rico, the United States and Mexico. He also writes commentary essays on education for several websites and newspapers in Puerto Rico and The United States. He recently published a textbook titled, Latino/a Literature in The English Classroom (Editorial Plaza Mayor, 2003). The book was nominated for Latino Book of The Year 2004. He teaches full-time in the public schools in Puerto Rico.

 His vision is to promote Latino Literature to motivate teens to read and write. Having an encounter with Latino Literature will help teens (especially Latino teens) to improve their scores on city, national and statewide exams and will prepare them for further literary analysis. Hernandez lives in Luquillo, Puerto Rico and enjoys spending his free time with his beautiful wife, Maria and his fifteen-year old son, Joey. He is a leader in the G-12 Vision at Abundant Life Church in Fajardo.

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