Latino Students Surpass Whites In Texas, Becoming Largest Ethnic Group

Published May 06, 2013
Fox News Latino

Latino children in Texas are now the largest ethnic group in the Lone Star state, The Dallas Morning News is reporting.

The newspaper said that Hispanic kids in Texas have passed whites – over half of the students enrolling in the school system are Latinos.

But with this increase have come changes since many of the students come from impoverished communities.

The Dallas Morning News says that teachers find themselves struggling to lecture students since many of them speak little English. Demographers told the publication that if these schools do not adapt to the changes, Hispanic students may end up in low-paying jobs and overtaxed social programs.

This, the expert said, will affect Texas’ economy.

According to the 2010 census, 40 percent of Latino kids 25 or older did not finish high school, in comparison with 8 percent of whites.

So, why are Hispanic kids opting to leave school?

According to the Morning News, experts think a few reasons include teachers who do not know Spanish, poverty in the households (this makes it hard for parents to save and invest in their kids’ future), and a dearth of funds in schools located in Hispanic neighborhoods.

“From the start,” said Kandace Vallejo, who is a coordinator for the Workers Defense Project, a nonprofit with offices in Dallas and Austin, “immigrant and working-class families and people of color don’t have the same opportunities.”

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/new...#ixzz2SZ0NOHBl