Whenever some data point or statistic about Latinos in America gets published, it is most likely grim. Whether you’re talking about household income, unemployment rate, educational status, media representation, or some other indicator of societal pull, it probably is bad news for Hispanics.
Well, there is some good news for once. In a sign of hope, the nation had its lowest high school dropout numbers last year, and in large part this was because of a steep decline in the dropout rate among Latino students.
The Latino dropout rate reached a record low of 14% in 2013. As recently as 2000, it was 32%. For you non-mathematically inclined, this means that just over a decade ago, about one out of every three Hispanic kids didn’t graduate. That is beyond abysmal. It is pandemic.
So while the dropout rate for Latinos is still double the overall rate of 7%, this is a positive development. And the surge is even more significant since the number of Hispanic students has increased steadily over the years. Yes, in terms of pure numbers, more Latinos than ever are graduating from high school and enrolling in college.
So don’t tell me I never have something positive to tell you.
December 27th, 2015 on 4:13 pm
Attending college has been sontehimg that nobody in my family has ever been able to experience. It seems as though it is so easy to access but what is the most difficult is accessing the funds to attend. I am a full time student and have a part time job and dont have a single person that can help me pay for my apartment and my college bill and yet I still to not qualify to recieve even one cent to go to school. It saddens me that hispanics are looked down app-on but when you work so hard and there is not a single person willing to help because you are hispanic it can be very discouraging. Then they wonder why hispanics dont bother attending college