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Posted on Mon, Mar. 13, 2006

Immigrants can earn diploma in free course

By Katherine Corcoran
Mercury News

For many Mexican immigrants in the United States, lack of education is a major obstacle to job and family security, limiting everything from earning power to a parent's ability to help children with their homework.

But two new centers in San Jose are designed to change that, allowing Mexican adults to complete primary education and earn high school diplomas in their native country, while learning English in the United States.

Called Plazas Comunitarias, the centers provide free adult education sponsored and certified by the Mexican government, giving any Spanish speaker regardless of nationality a self-directed program to earn the equivalent of a high school diploma in Mexico. The centers -- offered locally through San Jose Unified School District's parent education office and the Center for Employment Training -- allow participants to advance at a much quicker rate.

``This will be perfect for my husband,'' said Belen Camacho of San Jose. Though the mother of two attended high school and community college in California, her husband left high school in Mexico without a diploma.

``He can go on to learn more English, and by learning more English, he will get a better salary,'' she said.

Most don't finish

According to a recent Pew Hispanic Center study, 67 percent of Mexican immigrants coming to the United States in the past two years never finished high school. The number jumps to 74 percent among immigrants who have been here 15 years or longer.

At Grant, Washington and Olinder elementary schools, where San Jose Unified parent liaison Talia Jara was promoting Plaza Comunitaria last week, 40 percent to 70 percent of parents never finished high school.

For many years, the Mexican government has offered Spanish literacy classes and adult education through its consulates in the United States. But since 2002, Mexico's National Institute of Adult Education and Institute for Mexicans Abroad have pushed to establish online high school completion programs.

The Mexican government provides books and course work on the Internet and certification for plaza instructors. Local sites open their existing computer labs and provide volunteers to help with language, math and science.

``We feel that working jointly between the Mexican government and local educational institutions, we can improve the educational level of young adults and see them prosper,'' said Candido Morales, a former Bay Area resident who serves as director general of the Institute for Mexicans Abroad in Mexico City. ``Many of the people who have gone through this program continue with the GED program in the U.S. Many go to community college or vocational schools. We feel this program motivates a person to continue with education, even if they're adults.''

The Plaza Comunitaria program has 177 centers nationwide with current enrollment of 10,181, Morales said. Northern California centers initially focused for several years on migrant workers in rural areas such as Salinas, Watsonville and Ukiah.

But it's difficult to count the number of people who have used the program in rural places, said Enrique Morales, community liaison for the Mexican Consulate in San Jose. Many people come in for a month or two but never finish.

San Jose candidates say they would have similar problems.

``It would be difficult,'' said Patricia Valencia, a working mother of two young children who left school in Mexico after second grade.

Completion is focus

Which is why the San Jose program will focus on completion.

``We're going to help people graduate,'' Jara said. ``I want numbers.''

Even though English remains the ultimate goal, educators say learning and achieving in Spanish has many advantages and opportunities. More important, parents are more likely to become more involved in their children's education, having the skills to understand homework in math and other subjects they've studied themselves.

``People want to learn,'' said Jara, whose office is stacked with new elementary and middle-school workbooks in Spanish. ``I did an experiment with some people I know. I give them the books, and they almost cried. They open them, and for the first time, they remember the teacher, the smell, the ink. They say, `I remember myself as a 7-year-old in a classroom in Mexico.' They connect with their own experience.''

The success of the program also depends on volunteers and the motivation of the students themselves. San Jose Unified can take up to 75 people to start but will need more computers to expand. CET, with initial capacity for 30 to 40, also plans to access more computers if the demand is there, as well as child care and other support services. But parents need to commit, said Adriana Gonzalez, CET immigration and citizenship program director.

Jara hopes to establish satellite plazas at elementary schools, which are usually within walking distance for parents.

Maricruz Diaz, 24, left school in Mexico in the fifth grade and now has two children, ages 6 and 2. She says learning English and helping her children thrive are her priorities. And if Plaza Comunitaria can help her with those goals, she will enroll.

She doesn't see a problem making time for the classes.

``If you have a lot of desire,'' she said in Spanish, ``then you don't let problems keep you from getting ahead.''


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Contact Katherine Corcoran at kcorcoran@mercurynews.com or (40 920-5330.