Fewer Latinos attend preschool
CHICAGO — In about two decades, we’ll look at whether today’s dismal Latino high school graduation rates improved after years of efforts to increase this group’s academic success. If they haven’t, we can single out 2005 to 2009—the years that the percentage of Latino children attending preschool dropped after a steady 25-year increase—as a possible culprit.
According to data just released by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, the share of Latino 4-year-olds attending preschool fell nationwide from 53 percent to 48 percent between 2005 and 2009, a period that included the onset and the immediate aftereffects of the Great Recession.
The researchers speculated about the causes. A perennially cited possibility for low preschool attendance is the belief that immigrant parents fear contact with “formal institutions.” Considering the increasingly harsh tone of the immigration debate, it would be unrealistic to deny that such concerns exist. But because 63 percent of the Hispanic population is U.S.-born, I think that’s the least likely reason.
Also always cited is the lack of the Hispanic community’s familiarity with the pervasiveness, availability and importance of the extra schooling. Many Latino families live with three generations under one roof, and though only 37 percent of the entire Hispanic population is foreign-born, it represents a portion of potentially influential family members who never considered it standard operating procedure to send kids to preschool.
That might be why seeing preschool as a common and academically important experience for young children has not reached the critical mass in Latino families as it has for the roughly 70 percent of white and African-American 4-year-olds who routinely attend preschool before entering kindergarten.
The biggest issue, however, is that joblessness rose from 6.3 percent to 10.6 percent between 2005 and 2009 for Latina women 20 and older, and even higher for less-educated Latinas. Coupled with that, the authors say, are budget reductions in state and federal aid for preschool programs serving low-income communities. It makes sense that steady gains in Latino preschool attendance were rocked by job losses and that enrollments fell not only because programs—or the transportation to them—became unaffordable for particular families but also because programs ceased to exist when funding ran out.
Unfortunately, the issue of how few Latino children attend preschool has flown so far under the radar that it hasn’t been recognized by most people as the five-alarm emergency that it really is. It deserves serious consideration now more than ever because kids who represent almost one in every four children in the U.S. population are increasingly starting off on the wrong foot.
That’s why in order to put actual energy behind reversing this decline, the problem must be seen as one that affects all children in all classrooms, rather than as just another Hispanic issue.
Esther Cepeda is a columnist for the Washington Post Writers Group. Her email address is estherjcepeda@washpost.com.
May 4, 2011 at 6:07 p.m.
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fedwr... me either but you sure can tell a lot by how family members interact with each other. :)
May 3, 2011 at 8:31 p.m.
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gmaof3- nice comment, by the way I'm not Latino.
May 3, 2011 at 7:25 p.m.
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But have any of you actually seen how Hispanic families unite together, for everything? When they shop - the WHOLE family goes. When they attend anything, the WHOLE family goes. They, as a culture, could teach many of we "Americans" how to parent! This is a culture which you will see the least amount of discourse in the work force. This is the culture that prides itself through taking care of "its own". This is a culture that understands the value of family. We can't lump ALL Hispanics into the drug culture or leaches on society, any more than we can say that anyone making poverty wages, are losers. Seriously, be careful who you blame for our own inadequacies. WE created this social mess we are in. Other cultures coming into our country (legally, I must add) are entitled to the same rights as those of us who have been here, just 200 years. We are all foreigners... unless you have Indian heritage. And to you, I am sorry for what we have done to YOUR culture.
May 3, 2011 at 2:50 p.m.
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does the article say that we stopped giving it away, so attendance declined?
May 3, 2011 at 1:08 p.m.
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I re-read vatoloco's comment, though I still stand by the fact that the word, "many" doesn't do a good job of quantifying anything, to replace both instances with "a minority of" wouldn't make sense. (in the same way as "many" doesn't make sense in both instances either"
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Slightly more precise language, "the vast majority of families" and "a small minority of immigrants" would be more accurate - though still causing faulty conclusions.
May 3, 2011 at 12:59 p.m.
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Vatoloco – your post is illogical and misleading.
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Inductive Fallacy of logic: Faulty Generalization-If we accept the premise that most gang members are “Latino”, that doesn’t mean that the majority of Latinos are in gangs.
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Formal Fallacy of logic: Affirming the Consequent (If A causes B, then C)-Because gangs hurt opportunity, we must control the border?
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Further your use of the word “many” is misleading. Replace it with the words “a minority of” and I think we’d get closer to fact. Once we start dealing with facts instead of hyperbole perhaps we can begin the process of rational discourse.
Apr 19, 2011 at 12:36 p.m.
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Username_goes_here, clearly you have trouble with complicated statistical relationships, but this is one that holds true regardless of race. Preschool attendance is a good predictor of success rates in higher education, and higher education achievement is a good predictor of adult earnings.
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vatoloco, surely you realize that gang membership has historically been highest among new immigrant communities of any race. A century ago, it was the Irish and Italian mafia. In any case, preschool is clearly an important factor in how we address this.
Apr 19, 2011 at 10:48 a.m.
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In a country trying to rid itself if its racist past and make everyone equal..... why are we still writing articles and singling out people by race?
What difference does it make?
Apr 13, 2011 at 7:34 p.m.
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I agree,nice to see it as a family.
Apr 11, 2011 at 5:07 p.m.
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My husband and I do after school tutoring with 1st thru 6th grade Latino students and I would say the most important influence we see is that the parents encourage and even insist their children participate and do well. That's probably the universal element of any student's success, whether or not they go to preschool. We have many grandma's bring the children and encourage them to do well. It's great to see the inter-generational support and care these kids get.
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