The choice is not a failure

Why does Redden describe Hispanics’ reasons for choosing a college as a “failure” to recognize quality? I find that insulting and I’m not Hispanic.

The statistics mentioned at the end of the article are a non-issue. That first-generation college students stay close to home and make college choices based on price, and that second-generation college students are less likely to do so, transcends ethnicity and is no revelation.

The key factor to consider is the level of education among Hispanics. What percentage of the Hispanic population has college degrees? What is the percentage of first-generation Hispanic students within their ethnic group, compared to other ethnic groups?

I’m just searching for what is “news” in this article and I’m not finding much.

Tom McCool, at 7:55 am EDT on August 17, 2007

Best students I’ve ever taught

My first job was at an HSI on the West coast. Besides many Latino/a students, our student body reflected a great deal of racial and religious diversity. While some students didn’t come to college with traditional academic skills, most of my students brought a sense of pragmatism and worldliness to the classroom that made up for the fact that they might have missed reading Catcher In the Rye or Hamlet.

I learned that some of my assumptions were no longer valid with this student demographic; for instance, I was accustomed to working with students who had the freedom to move to the grad program that best suited them regardless of its location. At my HSI, grad-school bound students would almost always look for a local program due to area ties of family & work (this generally applied to all of my students, Latino or not).

My HSI students were the best students I’ve ever had the pleasure to teach, mostly because they wanted to be there and in some cases moved mountains to get themselves into that classroom. I think it’s important that the hows and whys of students’ college choices are being studied, but it’s also important to note that within those HSI’s there are students who are getting exactly what they want and need in an education.

Professor G., Assistant Professor, at 10:00 am EDT on August 17, 2007

Spanish

“Would a push for faculty to learn Spanish, or an extra stipend for faculty to learn at least conversational Spanish be of value?”

Maybe if they want to go to college they should learn how to communicate with their professors in English. If they want to speak Spanish they can go speak with a Spanish professor. Why should professors be forced to accomodate someone elses refusal to learn the language of the country they are living in and benefiting from?

English Speaker, at 10:50 am EDT on August 17, 2007

Whoa there, English Speaker

English Speaker, I think you went off on your own track in your response to the question of professors learning Spanish as one way to make universities more welcome to Hispanic students.

Trust me. Students at HSI’s speak very good English. We are not talking about international students, we’re talking about American students who are bilingual. As a gringa working at an HSI, I’m in the process of learning Spanish because....it’s useful to speak another language. And if the language is valued by the university, yes, students and parents feel more welcome.

There was an article recently, perhaps in the Chronicle, about a college in Illinois that made some changes to make their school more inviting to Hispanic students. As I recall, students and professors were able to improve their skills in *both* languages.

I know it’s hard for many Americans to believe, but learning another language is an asset. Try it sometime—you might like it!

La Guera, at 12:35 pm EDT on August 17, 2007

I work at a California HSI and there is no need to know Spanish and really no benefit to it. Many of my students are bilingual but I rarely hear anyone speaking Spanish. It is more useful to understand Hispanic culture and the lives of the students. If you ask them they will tell you about themselves.

I find myself resenting the implication that an HSI is not a top university, by definition. We are listed among the top 10 polytechnics in the nation, with the #4 engineering department. Are Ivy Leagues the only schools considered top universities? We are the #1 provider of graduates to local employers, not the nearby UC, even though both campuses have the same number of students.

I’ve always hated the old saying “you are who you teach.” I am the same person when teaching different students. Why should the status of a school be dictated by its exclusivity? That reflects an anti-democratic attitude anathema to those of us who prefer to teach in more egalitarian settings.

I was snubbed as a postdoc at Harvard and I am not Hispanic, just too Californian perhaps. I suspect that our students recognize that feeling valued and being treated with respect is more important than whatever dubious benefit might come from being treated badly at an elite institution.

Chuck, at 3:15 pm EDT on August 17, 2007

The article doesn’t really say whether the study found that being Hispanic had anything to do with these choices.

For one thing, the distribution of Hispanic students across the country is not even, so insofar as students don’t travel far to go to college, HSI’s are created. A student’s decision to go to one of these schools then isn’t based on its status as an HSI, but on its being nearby, in exactly the same way as non-Hispanic students choose to go to schools.

Likewise, do they take into account socio-economic status? Do Hispanic students go to community colleges in numbers appropriate for their economic distribution?

Sloppy.

Jack, at 6:10 pm EDT on August 17, 2007