Ted Hilton’s Letter:
Albert Ochoa discusses the inequities in education for Latinos but asks us not to focus on the parents and students.
First and foremost, educational success begins with the parent’s influence. Throughout the history of this nation, parents instilled motivation in their children who developed self-discipline and an eagerness to learn, regardless of the classroom circumstances. Some of the founders of the United States legal system were self-educated, with only a few years of formal schooling. This nation progressed with one-room school houses with little or no resources.
Today, Asians constitute 40 percent of the undergraduate students in the University of California system with only 12 percent of the population. Some of these students graduated from the poorest-performing schools in the state. Asians have the highest married rates and the lowest teenage birthrates of any major ethnicity, which benefit child development.
When parents stay involved and play a strong role in their child’s education, that student will excel.
Ted Hilton, San Diego
I am a Hispanic and a teacher; and I can conclude that the education “system” in California is built to provide nearly everything a child from preschool to the 12th grade needs to succeed academically.
Poverty is a state of mind, not a roadblock.
John H. Borja, Nestor
Ocha asks for honesty and candor, which should lead him to drop the phrase “lowest-performing schools” in favor of “lowest-performing students.”
He worries about the inequity of too few Latino teachers and administrators, rather than wondering why so few Latinos qualify to teach or lead. Honestly and candidly, Asian students have suffered a from a dearth of Asian teachers. Many Asian students also attend poor-performing schools, yet somehow are now comprising a significant percentage of university students. Lately they come to dominate academia.
Latino parents are not reading these opinions. Ochoa needs to get down into Latino communities and exhort families to do better; unless he’s not comfortable with non-academics.
Political correctness is usually antithetical to honesty and candor.
Susan Hill, San Diego