Latino men are “vanishing” from the higher-education pipeline, a trend that could spell serious trouble given current demographic trends.
That was the message delivered to more than 250 educators, counselors, students, and community leaders here on Friday at the Latino Male Symposium.
The speakers offered several explanations for the decline, including a sense of “machismo” that prevents male students from seeking help and a gender-equity movement that has focused attention on educational opportunities for women over the past three decades.
“We’ve done right by our females in our educational systems, but the data is showing us a very different kind of inequality today,” said Victor B. Sáenz, an assistant professor of educational administration at the University of Texas at Austin, who helped organize the conference.
“This shouldn’t be a zero-sum game.”
Three out of five bachelor’s and associate’s degrees awarded to Latinos nationally last year were earned by women, said Mr. Sáenz. And in 2009, women represented 58 percent of all Latino undergraduates. The gender disparity is slightly greater than that for white students: Fifty-six percent of white undergraduates are women, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
Friday’s conference was put on by Project MALES, a University of Texas project, directed by Mr. Sáenz, that stands for Mentoring to Achieve Latino Educational Success. It has two goals: conducting research and offering an intergenerational mentoring program that can be replicated at campuses nationwide.
Several Latino male students who spoke at the conference thanked the mentors, some of whom were in the audience, for helping them stay in school.
Francisco Rivera, 17, moved from Veracruz, Mexico, to the United States with his family when he was 5. As an undocumented student, he faced even greater challenges than did his peers to stay motivated. “I was working construction jobs to help support my family, and by my junior year, I wanted to just quit school,” he said during a break in the conference. “I figured, What’s the point of going to college if, because I’m illegal, I’ll just end up doing the same work I’m doing now?”
Instead, lured by free pizza, he decided to drop in on a session at his Austin high school with a program called XY-Zone, part of a nationwide dropout-prevention effort called Communities in Schools. Wilton Harris, the program coordinator at Mr. Rivera’s high school, became his mentor and coach, working with him on his speaking skills, helping him with college applications, and even buying him a suit and taking him along on speaking gigs.
Mr. Rivera will start classes at Austin Community College in the fall and hopes to transfer to the University of Texas at Austin. “I see a bright future for myself now,” he told the audience.
But success stories like his are too few and far between, the conference organizers said.
Underrepresented on Campuses
Latinos represent 16 percent of the U.S. population but earn only 8 percent of undergraduate degrees conferred, according to 2010 federal education statistics cited by the conference organizers.
Mr. Sáenz has been working closely with Luis Ponjuan, an assistant professor of educational administration at the University of Florida, where a similar symposium was held this month.
Mr. Ponjuan was born in Havana, Cuba, and came to the United States when he was 3. He said he feels an obligation to help other young minority men succeed.
He described a variety of factors that could help account for the 20-percent high-school dropout rate among Latino boys. Those students are more likely to go to poor schools, be singled out as discipline problems, and be referred to special education, he said. Their sense of “machismo” prevents many from opening up to teachers and counselors and asking for advice.
Students who are unprepared for or unable to afford a four-year degree should be encouraged to pursue two-year options, he said.
“Everyone talks about how important a four-year degree is, but a degree may be culinary arts; it may be HVAC technician,” Mr. Ponjuan said.
Gender Gap Starts Early
Mary Ann Clark, an associate professor of counselor education at the University of Florida, focuses much of her research on male underachievement in public education. Girls of all races, as early as fifth grade, are better able to articulate their career goals, and by high school, they are more likely to study harder and take advanced-placement courses and college-entrance tests, she said.
To help bridge the achievement gap, particularly for Latino boys, schools should provide more mentoring and previews of what college is like, she said.
“Males are less likely to ask for help. They tend to live in the moment, be less compliant, and less able to identify with female teachers and counselors,” Ms. Clark said.
Francisco Sanchez Jr., assistant vice president for enrollment management at Texas A&M University’s campus in San Antonio, said that not surprisingly, financial barriers are some of the biggest problems in recruiting Latino students. The first question, he said, is “Is the family’s financial situation stable enough to go to college? Does the family have enough to cover rent, groceries, and other basic necessities?”
Male students in many low-income families, “feel pressured by family members to enter the work force right away,” Mr. Sanchez added. “It’s kind of a mark of manhood.” Making matters worse, several speakers noted, peers often ridicule Latino boys for considering college and accuse them of “acting white” or “selling out” if they study hard.
Mr. Rivera, the 17-year-old high-school graduate, said if he hadn’t found a mentor, he’d probably share that cynicism. “A few years ago, you wouldn’t have seen me talking to people or wearing a suit,” he said. “I hated that.”
