| Latinos and Educational Reform in the United
States (Part 4)
by Manuel Hernández
Latinos are no longer streaming at barriers, circumstances
and struggles of the past but are looking beyond to establish
goals and objectives, achieve dreams and become successful
as individuals, human beings and communities. Instead of reverberating
that the educational system has been responsible, Latinos
have been able to cast away fears of oppression and hostility
and unite to devise an educational reform that will meet the
expectations and demands of all Latinos and other emerging
communities as well. In Pat Moras poem Elena, a Latina mother
recognizes her defenselessness when confronted by the reality
that her children attend American schools, speak English while
she feels dumb and alone because she could not understand
them:
Sometimes I take my English book and lock myself in the bathroom,
say the thick words softly, for if I try stop trying, I will
be deaf
when my children need my help (Latino Literature, p.116)
Latinos have decided to literally come out of the bathroom
to work together as a unified body for the education of their
children.
Looking beyond means to bury the pain, anguish and frustrations
and stop blaming the system for setbacks and failures. There
has been too much finger pointing and less specific, concrete
and academic initiatives on how to tackle the educational
problems that Latino children face today. Debates, research,
studies and perspectives are needed to examine, expose, extract
and shed insight on the issues, but it is only when we researchers,
academicians, scholars, teachers and administrators sit down
on a roundtable to seek a common thread in our views that
we can reform education.
Setting goals and objectives are the first step in the ladder
of success to reform education. An educational reform needs
to define, denotatively and connotatively, its goals and objectives.
The negative attitudes, conflicts, self-inflicted wounds and
historical truths of yonder must be used as a springboard
in the road ahead. The implementation of the reform will lead
us into a vision of a better today, a brighter tomorrow and
a greater future which will as a result help us attain higher
academic standards for our children.
Looking beyond means to recognize our strengths and build
upon prior experiences. Experiences that are not only reflective
of achievements in music and entertainment, but a mirror of
the academic successes of Latino teens. In more than one instance,
the four year old millenium has taught us all not to take
our adversaries for granted. As we continue to grow in numbers,
our greatest adversary may very well be the education of our
children.
According to his biographers, President Abraham Lincoln never
really had formal schooling. Lincoln's family migrated more
than once, and his family lived in very humble circumstances.
In spite of his limited resources and poverty-stricken up-bringing,
today the world recognizes his legacy. We Latinos have all
the resources available to make a difference and leave a legacy
for others to follow. Let us take advantage of the time to
meet, create and design the ladder of success to envision
our chidren with a dream, reachable, attainable and available
for all.
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