why are Latinos the highest ethnic group in dropout rates?

Answer 1

My son goes to a high school with a 95% latino student population.I am the vice president of our parent advisory group and we find that a lot of parents just dont put much importance in finishing school.If a girl gets pregnant she will continue with school until she no longer can.After she has the baby she will probably not come back even if there are programs to keep her in school.With the boys we find that a majority of them will get summer jobs that pay more than their parents are making.There will be pressure on them to continue working and contribute to the family.It makes them feel good to take care of their families but,then they(the students)realize they need a diploma to get a better paying job.We offer esl and ged classes and night school at the high school and we have a lot of former students taking the adult computer and ged classes.We offer so many programs/incentives to keep them in school but, we start losing them around the 10th and 11th year.One of the problems is we have hardly any parent involvement.They dont come to meeting or any of the school functions.One of the many challenges we face in getting a parent(female) to attend a meeting/function is that dinner needs to be on the table and the husband will not let them go.We have a lot of weekend functions also but parents have told us that they have worked all week and that was their time to unwind.They don't understand the importance of supporting their child education whether their child is in school or out of school.

Answer 2

That's a hard question to answer while being as neutral and un-racist as possible.

It's probably because the percentage of Lations who go to the school is high, meaning that the drop-out rate will consist of mostly Latino drop-outs.

The same with a school with Caucasian people. If you go to an 85% Caucasian school, then naturally the majority of drop-outs will come from the highest percentage of people from a certain ethnic group.

Answer 3

Sharon, i think the Q means... why is the percentage of Latinos who drop out high, not the percentage of total dropouts who are Latinos.

"Highest" might be better replaced by "high" because (without numbers), the percentage of Blacks who drop out may be higher. I cannot say for sure.

much has to do with socio-economic challenges that are within and from without the Latino community.
A few things to think about, but not a complete list:
- Lower class families, whose parents must work hard, and are not necessarily the greatest proponents of formal education - they many not understand the education system or advantages to it. Many parents do believe that the way for their children to get ahead is to finish school, go to college, etc.
- less help/support from home for doing well in school
- children need to help support family by working
- language barrier
- language barrier which sometimes gets students schedule in lower math/science classes that they could otherwise handle. ... not motivated/inspired to succeed.