Autumn, 1997, Vol. 4, No.1

LATINO ADOLESCENTS:
Meeting the Challenge In Our Schools

By Leticia Villarreal Sosa, SSA Ph.D. student and school social worker

School social work training has yet to address the needs of the Latino population. The traditional social work approach is ineffective in dealing with the issues that lead many Latinos to leave assumes students' problems are entirely the result of individual personal problems, poor home environment, or poverty [1]. Although environmental conditions place students at statistical risk, there are many factors within the school system that perpetuate poor school performance. School social work must include interventions with the school system and community in addition to the student and family. By framing individual issues in a broader context, school social workers can better serve the Latino population.

First, school social workers should have a sense of the historical context and overall population trends. Second, they should understand the magnitude of the crisis in education for Latinos. Only then can they understand the need for interventions that can impact students' academic success more directly. School social workers should be familiar with the unique issues Latino students face in school, and must learn how to explain and interpret these special issues to administrators and teachers.

For the past four years, I have had experience with adolescents in both urban and suburban school systems. Regardless of which type of setting we are involved in, Latino youth are in need of advocacy, intervention, and support. In both settings, youth deal with high rates of poverty, gangs, and racial segregation and tension. However, suburban school systems are at a loss to respond to the growing number of Latino students.

One issue that is a common concern in both suburban and urban settings, and is most striking to me, is the impact that discipline policies have on students. A policy of specific concern is the move toward zero tolerance toward gangs. Although we can all agree that we want safe schools, zero tolerance policies have been used as a way to expel more and more Latinos from school. In the suburbs, Latino youth are disproportionately targeted for expulsion due to gang violations. Gang violations can be as minor as writing a gang sign on a notebook or wearing colors that school administrators determine are gang colors.

In the city, it is more difficult to target Latino youth in the same way because the gang problem is more serious and schools often have a larger population of Latinos. Thus, discipline policies affect students in a different way. For example, Latino males often cannot even make it to school for fear of being victims of gang violence in their neighborhood. The frequent response to this truancy is often simply to drop a student from school without examining why a student is not attending. If a student has some gang involvement, the school's discipline policies will also work to slowly push a student out of school by the use of out-of-school suspensions. Victor is a perfect example. Coming back from a school suspension, he had this experience: "Like this past week, I came in right, cause I barely came out of my suspension and then he [administrator! goes 'Where's your reinstatement?' I go 'I'll go get it.'...I came back and gave it to him, then he marked me tardy....and then I was saying 'Oh can you sign my reinstatement?' He wouldn't listen to me. Kept on telling him, telling him. Then I told trim 'are you gonna sign it?' Like stop making a fool of me. And then he goes 'Stop being rude.' The next day he wrote me up. He said that I threatened him, that I was going to beat him up and that I came tardy....And then that suspension was for like 10 days, too.'" [2]

In this case, the student finally left school feeling like his attempts to make up work or to improve his behavior were futile. Social workers must work in collaboration with administrators in charge of discipline, serve as student advocates in discipline hearings, be involved in informing parents of their rights, and work with the school board in finding alternatives for those students who are expelled.

In spite of Latino youth's high aspirations, simply graduating from high school can seem an impossible goal. Latino students are more likely to be at a disadvantage for several reasons. First, Latinos have a greater likelihood of living in poverty. Secondly, their parents tend to have low levels of education, often attend poor schools and are placed in lower level or vocational tracks. Unfortunately, as high school graduation rates rise, Latinos continue to receive proportionately fewer high school diplomas as well as college degrees, than other Americans.

The struggle for educational equality and attainment has a long history in the Latino community. Contrary to what many people think, the Latino community has not been passive in struggle to improve educational outcomes for their children. For example, Mexican Americans have been battling segregation and discrimination in schools since the early 1 900'S. [3] It is only recently, however, that the educational plight of Latinos has come to the nation's attention.

The increased focus on Latinos is occurring for several reasons. First, the phenomenal growth of the Latino population combined with the concentration of this growth in particular regions, has made Latinos much more visible. The numbers of Latino youth are expected to triple from 6 million in 1982 to 19 million in 2020, thus making Latinos 25% of the nation's youth. [4] The impact of this population growth will be felt significantly in schools.

The growth in suburban areas is even more dramatic. While the Latino population grew by 29.3% in Chicago between 1980 and 1990, the Latino population grew by 83.6% in the suburbs. [5] Thus, the issues of Latino youth are not solely an inner-city concern, but a suburban one as well.

Another factor affecting Latino youth is the high drop-out rate. The drop-out rate is about 31% for all Latinos. In addition, only 9% of all Latinos complete college. [6]

Lastly, the Latino population continues to be the most undereducated major segment of the U.S. population. For the first time, a higher proportion of Latinos than African Americans were defined as poor [7]. The growing Latino population, the high-drop out rates, the poverty rates, and the economy should raise serious concerns for the Latino community and for the nation as a whole.

Given this context, the role of school social workers is critical. School social workers must be aware of the negative impact some school policies have on Latino students. Latino students face a host of difficulties in schools. In the city, poor schools lead to unengaging curriculum. In the suburbs, although the curriculum may be more challenging, Latino students often do not have access to the best classes due to tracking systems or the limited courses available to English as a Second Language students. Students are dealing with predetermined notions about what they are capable of doing. School staff continue to perceive Latino families and students as not valuing education and not being as bright or capable as other students. Further, schools presume that parents will remain uninformed about what their rights are. As a result, schools continue to practice unethical policies such as requiring a driver's license or social security number to enroll in school, which denies enrollment to undocumented children. Such practices have been intensified by recent legislation regarding immigration, and the implementation of policies that threaten families at-risk because of their residency status.

As the population of Latinos increases in the schools, school social workers will continue to be overwhelmed with the needs of this population if we remain in our offices serving individual students or running groups. Social workers need to expand their role to consider by organizing efforts to provide parents with knowledge about how schools operate, and being involved in school restructuring efforts, discipline hearings, and development of school policies. Without systemic intervention with the schools and community, individual or group work will not be enough to keep more Latino students in school.

[1] Johnson, Joy. School Social WorkQA triangle of strength. Unpublished paper.

[2] Student Life in High Schools Project data. Winter 1997 interview. Case #486.

[3] Donato, R. (1997). The Other Struggle for Equal School: Mexican Americans during the civil rights era. New York: SUNY.

[4] Chapa & Valencia (1993) Latino Population Growth, Demographic Characteristics, and Educational Stagnation: An examination of recent trends. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, Vol.15 (2).

[5] The Latino Institute 1995 Report.

[6] WCER Highlights. Hispanic Student Dropout Rate a National Crisis. Summer 1996. Vol.8 (2).

[7] Holmes, S. (1996). For Hispanic Poor, No Silver Lining. Chicago Tribune. October 13.

Leticia Villarreal Sosa is a school social worker and is currently pursuing a doctorate at SSA.

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