Copyright The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education May 31, 2004Many studies have been published on the education of Latinos, but few on their higher education. This book presents Latinos in higher education, from college students to university presidents. In a very illuminating foreword, Patricia Gándara reminds us that the 1980s brought a decline in college-going rates for underrepresented students and that it was not until the 1990s that Latinos returned to enrollment levels posted in the 1970s. When Latinos were just beginning to recover, the surge of the anti-affirmative action movement brought serious setbacks for them in California, Texas, and other states.
As Gándara notes, since Hispanics constitute a rapidly increasing percentage of the general population, unless their educational achievements increase dramatically, the strength of the country's knowledge-based economy will not be sustained. Thus, it is in everyone's interest to help them achieve higher levels of education. Gándara identifies multiple challenges, including parents' unfamiliarity with the educational system, teachers' low expectations, and lack of ambition on the part of students, who often are not aware of the options available to them or have insufficient self-confidence to pursue them. Gándara believes that this book's insights provide a good starting point for a conversation on these important issues. Indeed they do.
These issues are discussed in 10 articles by 16 experts in the field of education. In the introduction, editor David J. León remarks that it is not enough for Latinos to attend college: to have an impact, they must go to graduate school and increase their numbers on faculties and in administrations. The book reflects this concern.
"Demographics and Demand" shows the economic effect that a well-educated Hispanic work force would have on the economy. Anthony P. Carnevale points out that if Hispanic workers had the same educational level as non-Hispanic White workers and were compensated accordingly, incomes in the country would increase by $118 billion a year, adding $41 billion to annual tax revenues. Also discussed is the considerable gap between the number of Latinos qualified to attend four-year colleges and those who actually enroll in them, a disparity attributed in part to the failure of institutions to meet the needs of Latino students.
"The Crossover to College" examines transition points at which Latino students can get lost -- first-year-student seminars, learning communities, and articulation agreements both between community colleges and high schools and between community colleges and four-year colleges -- and aspects of social identity that can have negative effects on educational performance. Also noted is the importance of high-quality research universities in areas where Latino students live, dramatically highlighted by the successful legal challenge to educational expenditures in Texas, where the Hispanic population is concentrated in the southern part of the state, outside of the region where the best research universities are located. California is perceived as offering Latinos more access to higher education than does Texas, thanks to California's master plan for higher education. Hispanics and other underrepresented students, however, are unevenly represented at the various levels of the California system of higher education, with a heavily disproportionate presence in the community college system and considerable underrepresentation at the research university level.
"Rising in Academia" explores the importance of distance learning to the graduate education of Latinos, the benefits of junior faculty mentoring programs to Latino faculty, and the absence of Latinos at the top of the academic pyramid. Analyzing various academic searches, author Robert Haro found evidence that committees required stronger academic credentials from women and minorities than from White men. In terms of perceived style, White males had an advantage over White females, who, in turn, were preferred over people of color. Latinos, in particular, did not seem to be regarded as looking or sounding presidential and were generally seen as not well suited for administration. Following up on anecdotes about some Hispanic administrators who were criticized for being weak, Haro discovered that they had not received support from their superiors when their subordinates went over their heads. It would be interesting to investigate if these are isolated cases or a manifestation of a pattern.
In the concluding chapter, León expresses the opinion that while people of color see power as a result of success, Whites view it as a prerequisite. Minorities, he adds, need to understand that they must obtain power if they want to advance in the academy, an important insight. Latinos, indeed, should not expect to be academic leaders in significant numbers until they establish a strong power base in the educational system and the community at large. Only then will advancement to the highest levels of the academy become a real possibility.
Article copyright The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Publishing Company, Inc.
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