Hispanic students

Hispanic students are at a disadvantage in most of America's public schools for many reasons which are economic, cultural and language related. Latin Americans are currently the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States. As a group, Hispanics are the most undereducated segment of the U.S. population (Lara-Alecio, Irby, & Ebener, 1997, p. 27). The United States does not need to develop a secondary class of Hispanic people who are illiterate, unable to speak English, and unable to function as full members of society. The lack of an appropriate education for Hispanic students will foster the development of such a group of people. The education establishment needs to understand the richness of the Hispanic culture and the way this culture influences the behavior and learning style of Hispanic students. Strategies to encourage and raise the academic achievement of Hispanics in the school system need to be developed and implemented.

Hispanic students are making up an ever larger proportion of the school-aged population throughout the United States. In 1994, the more than 26 million Hispanics represented 10 percent of the population (U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census 1995, 19). The population of Hispanics is expected to increase by 28 percent by the year 2000 (Barry, 1998. p. 630). The demographic projections for Texas indicate that there will be an 87.5 percent growth rate in minority populations between 1990 and 2030. Hispanics will account for

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prized more highly than individual accomplishments. The mainstream American culture with its emphasis on individual achievement does not always reward group endeavors. The Hispanic culture with the emphasis on the group and attention centered away from the individual can cause difficulties for the student in public schools which are controlled by the dominant individual-centered Anglo culture. Hispanic students are often inadvertently overlooked and not given the attention that more aggressive white students receive. The quiet Hispanic students are often labeled apathetic or insolent; they may refrain from raising their hands to volunteer information or answer a teacher's questions (Baldauf, 1997, p. 1). More insidious difficulties arise teaching the rudiments of English. Hispanic culture dictates that you do not show your tongue when speaking. It is a great sign of disrespect. Yet to make the digraph sound "th" properly the tongue is shown. Students just acquiring English are reluctant to correctly pronounce, practice, or teach their parents the correct sound "th" as in "the", "this", "these", or any other words containing the sound. At home Hispanic students may be beaten for being disrespectful when using or pract

Category: Psychology - H