While Latinas gain, Latino boys languish

Commentary By Marisa Trevio

For several years, reports on the progress of Hispanics have been loaded with statistics outlining the pathetic educational future of Hispanic students, especially Latinas. Last month, the National Women's Law Center released its latest offering, which recycles the sad news: 41% of Latina students don't graduate from high school in four years, and many still internalize negative stereotypes that harm their career paths.

To be fair, these reports have not fallen on deaf ears. Latinas have created organizations to change those outcomes, and their efforts are beginning to pay off. But, as with other education-centric debates, the follow-up question is: What about the boys?

A new Pew Hispanic Center study found that while young Latinas still lag behind their female peers and fare worse than young black males when it comes to school or workforce issues, they still do better than young Latinos. The study found that 44% of Latinas with a high school degree enrolled in college vs. 34% of Hispanic boys, and that of those Latinas between the ages of 16-25 who were not mothers, almost 60% were enrolled in college or school. These modest milestones can be attributed to a number of programs created to help Latinas boost their self-esteem, resist early sex and stay in school. A couple of examples:

• In California, the group Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE) created a program in 2004 that annually helps 300 low-income, high school Latinas with college preparation, financial guidance and civil participation. Ninety-eight percent of a companion program's 28 annual participants have graduated from high school, with 80% enrolling in college.

• In Washington, D.C., the National Hispana Leadership Institute has operated the Latinas Learning to Lead program. Each year, the institute helps 22 college-age women develop leadership skills. Since 2001, the program has graduated 198 young Latinas. As of 2007, 73% of them had received bachelor's degrees.

And then there are the young Latinos. Luis Ponjuan, co-author of a recent study on the "Vanishing Latino Male in Higher Education," essentially found societal neglect of these boys. As for today's emphasis on girls, Ponjuan points out that this stems from "the historical perspective that Latinas have been neglected."

We can celebrate the good news about Latinas. Yet unless we tend to the boys, too, the disparities between the two groups will only grow wider, and many in the Latino community will continue to languish.

Marisa Trevio, who lives in Dallas, writes a blog, Latina Lista

Posted at 12:16 AM/ET, October 23, 2009 in Education - Forum, Forum commentary, Trevino

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