The Hispanic Key to Our National Economic Future
But with the federal government currently borrowing 40 cents out of every dollar it spends, with a whopping $14 trillion in debt, how much more government assistance can Democrats promise to any ethnic or special interest group?
The reality is that low Hispanic educational achievement is a growing national problem that both parties need to address as a high priority.
For within our nation there is a simple economic truth that extends across all ethnic groups: the greater your educational attainment, the higher your income — and the less you need government help.
That economic truth is one Hispanic parents need to fully embrace and teach their children. Developing-world thinking that school is not “work” and therefore not as worthwhile does not compute in America, where more school leads to better work.
As mentioned earlier, new census data reveals that 23% of children under age 17 are Hispanic. If current trends hold, we can expect at least a quarter of those children will be high school drop-outs, with a lifetime spent in minimum wage jobs and an over-dependence on government services.
The negative impact of a 23.8% Hispanic high school dropout rate on our nation’s economy will only increase in severity as the Hispanic population continues to grow — projected to triple to 29% of the population by 2050.
Coupled with the data that 41% of the Hispanic population over 20 does not have a high school diploma, one can easily understand the urgency to find creative solutions to the problem of educational achievement among young Hispanics before their increasing numbers drag down our economy.
That bright 18-year-old housecleaner knew that her father’s thinking was very wrong.
A future as a housecleaner was not her American dream.
She told me she was trying to change his mind so she could further her education.
For her sake and for the sake of our nation’s future, I hope she was successful.
“Developing-world thinking that school is not “work” and therefore not as worthwhile does not compute in America, where more school leads to better work.”
But the Baccalaureate degree is the new “high school diploma”, which the Associate degree long ago went–and a high school diploma long ago became proof only that you are not profoundly retarded emotionally or mentally. I can’t swear that they even mean that in all districts.
There is a government fueled bubble in higher education. There is non-competition problem in lower education.
Vouchers and lower subsidies are the solution to both problems, for the purposes of general education.
Let state-wide (or if they are into subsidiarity, county or smaller jurisdictions) set their own standards, and any school whose students do at least as well as X have students whose children are eligible for the full voucher, with the voucher going to 0 for schools who don’t agree to the program at all.
“have students whose children are” does not equal “have students which children are”. Sorry for the pre-6am editing.
School is not work because children are not paid for their efforts;
They bring no money into the family.
Women should not work outside the home; That is a man’s role.
Women should concern themselves with Church, children and kitchen;
These are the things that a man works to support with his paycheck.
a child’s job is to get educated and do better than their parents. it is the job of both parents to see that this happens.
That child didn’t ask the parents to bring it into the world, then put it out to earn a living to support them.
The 18 year old Hispanic cleaning crew girl Ms Adams focuses on for this article had to be living in Mexico and (illegally) crossing the border to come to work everyday.
This because she did not then and she does not now represent the truth anymore than the rest of the so called “facts and figures” that are called out in this article.
Lets start with an approximate total of federal, state and local government subsidy of 70% of the selling price of single family homes anywhere in the USA which enables illegal Hispanics to purchase and live those dwellings.
What America citizen wouldn’t appreciate having a couple hundred thousand dollars knocked off the purchase price of the home they were buying?
That would mean that they might be able to afford to go out and buy new stainless steel kitchen appliances, designer clothes, cars, trucks, SUVs and home entertainment centers.
They might also be able to go to the local supermarket and fill their shopping carts with the best produce, fruits, meats and other food items and pay for it all with American greenback dollars, instead of using food stamps like the aforementioned illegal Hispanics do.
And after paying for their groceries the average American citizen isn’t going to flip a 65 cent candy bar on the counter and ask the cashier to bust a $100 bill to pay for it.
Speaking of those super markets and other national chain businesses has anybody noticed the distinct absence of legal American citizen employees? That is why I said that the legal American citizens might be able to do some of the things that the illegal Hispanics do: if they have a job.
I could go on and on in this vein forever. Instead I would like to ask Ms Adams a simple, straight forward question.
Assuming that everything in your article is true. Why do you, a privileged person who served on the McCain Ad Council during the 2008 McCain campaign and on the 2004 Bush campaign creative team feel compelled to write a bleeding heart, tear jerker article about the terrible plights of the Hispanics; many or most of them who are here illegally when America’s own citizens, including their children are literally starving to death right under your nose?
On the everyday human level I agree that the Hispanics must be having a rough time of things, but I am damn sick and tired of those people; business leaders, writers and politicians who are driven to throw away America’s citizenry and national heritage in order to feel good about themselves by catering to and serving the Hispanics first.
Maybe The father of this 18 year old girl.Had a good understanding of our education system.That it does not educate our children,to be independent,learn a trade,to be responsible,and self-reliant,to honor their mothers,and fathers,as well their religious,and individual beliefs.It instead dumbs these children down.To worship the ideaolgies,of other governments,and dictators,and hatred,and lies toward america.Perverting their minds with the ideaolgies of political pimps,Prostitutes,And legally ordained,pedophiles.(SOCIAL ENGINEERING)against the beliefs,and will of their parents.I Never graduated from high school,but have always been independent,resonsible,and successful,in my life.I allowed my son to drop out of high school as well.because high school gangbangers were running the schools.While teachers were either too intimidated themselves,or the principle,didn’t want to be labeled a racist.Was politically correct compliant!!!Today my son is very successful,independent,responsible,and self-reliant.And followed in,the footsteps,of his father.stays true,to my principals,and work ethics.as well the principals,Independence,ethics,and beliefs of our founding fathers.Which is no longer taught,or allowed in our education system today.Rather just the opposite.Yet i know some who have eight years of college.Who claim,they can’t/won’t find a job.Because they won’t work,for less,or at a job,that doesn’t comply with the pay grade,or job title.Promised to them by our educators/Indoctrinaters(too lazy,irresponsible,or i’m too entitled,or cool for that job,americans won’t do)While they are drawing,government public assistance,paid for by the tax payer.(Involuntary servitude)Because our educators,and political hacks,said they were entitled!!!Maybe this is why this father believed today’s education system is a waste of time.He didn’t want his daughter to become a ward of the state.Like so many others have,in the past fifty years.Wasted lives,brought to you by our education/indoctrination system,and government sponsored,and enforced,human traffickers!!!”The mind is a terrible thing to waste”Has become total hypocrisy,and lies!!!Jimmy Joe.”The Liarfryer”
LOL I cant agree more with your comments. Its true. We are a leading nation in many things but Education and Health are not on that list. Our kids (not mine) are enjoying a diet of twinkies & chicken mcnugegts and are graduating without even being able to read correctly.
According to a study released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, “the United States has fallen to “average” in international education rankings. The first step towards helping the United States climb back up the education rankings to the top of the class would be to convince Americans “to make the choices needed to show that (they) value education more than other areas of national interest,” the report said.”
We can find fault with all the various cultures that make up our country today, quoting stats and culturally incorrect ideas they posses; but it will do no good.
Until America goes back to its founding principals and becomes concerned with the moral, spiritual and health deprivation of its people, it will continue to spiral out of control.
Hispanics arents the problem, nor are whites nor are asians or african Americans. We are the problem. Our spending tabs and credit card bills are the problem. Our superficiality in teaching young men and women to milk the system and have no respect for God or man is the problem. Our need to consume and waste our resources is the problem.
And if we see a person in need (mental, physical, educational), we should help them so that they don’t become an unfavorable statistic. Part of the problem is that we (and I don’t mean government)don’t take a personal approach to problem. We blog about it, talk about it but seldom invest in the cleaning girl or in the single mom who has 3 sick kids and is jobless.
I could go on and on, but I’m done. I’ll step off of my soapbox now.
Blessings
LCO
Life your life as a gift, then give that gift away everyday™
the United States has fallen to “average” in international education rankings
I’ve read up on those statistics and they also point out that the poorest performers are blacks and hispanics. What must be addressed is the attitudes of these groups towards the importance of education. As the hispanic population of children increases, we will continue to be just average.
Thanks for the piece, Myra. However, for clear thinking purposes it must be recalled that “Hispanic” is a term invented by the group-rights librul bureaucrats to pull still more wool over our eyes. Just for an example, they claim Marco Rubio is an Hispanic. He is of course not an Hispanic; he is an American of Cuban descent, a Cuban-American as some would call it. As another example, the Mexican city of Guadalajara used to be called the City of Blonds. Blond Hispanics? Of course, why not? Portugese not Hispanics? Of course they are. Hispanic an artificial term or a librul term? Same same.
Just to comment further, what is a hispanic? Anybody, and I mean anybody can identify themselves as a hispanic.
If somebody’s great-grandfather (or mother) came from a former Spanish colony, does that make them hispanic?
I suggest that all of our children, if they apply to college, apply as hispanics.
Yes indeed. Exporting our blue collar jobs to China while importing blue collar workers from Mexico makes, sooooo much sense.
Illegals. . . cashing the welfare checks Americans won’t (because there isn’t enough left for them).
not everyone needs a post secondary education. look at the educated people destroying the USA …that girl working in your home would be better at running the government then the educated elitist freaks that presently have turned the white house into a circus.
higher education has for a large part been the problem. with the exceptions of the sciences and engineering (doctors pharmacists and scientists) funding should be cut to nothing. ZERO. if some one want to get a political science degree they should foot the bill themselves.
the education system has been taken over by the progressives/marxsits/socialists ..and you want to give them more innocents!!!
time for more individual responsibility. what you propose seems like the opposite. you cannot mandate common sense. by giving more people access to higher education you will increase the very problem you are talking about. THE EDUCATION SYSTEM HAS BEEN COMPROMISED ..fix it before you make it bigger.
the only way to implement your solution would be increasing the problem of elitists running things.
education is another word that has been hijacked by the left and it has as many different meanings as there are people
the 18 year old housekeeper is learning more by working in the marketplace than in most schools in america (especially universities)
universities are propoganda mills
why would we want someone who is learning from real life experience to be exposed to lethal doses of statism?
why not encourage the 18 year old to develop her own house cleaning empire?
“education” has lost my full support until the entire process is gutted
This isn’t news. Despite being hard workers, the hispanic underclass does not value education very highly. The Asian underclass does.
Unfortunately this is going to create a low-paid underclass comprised mostly of one ethnic group. Does not bode well politically.
“The Bureau of Labor Statistics college enrollment rates for 2009 high school graduates reveal Hispanic enrollment at 59.3%, lower than any other national ethic group — compared to 92.2% for Asians, 69.2% for whites, and 68.7% for African-Americans.”
Um, did anyone notice the enrollment rate for Asians at 92.2%, even beating the pants off of the enrollments of whites and African-Americans, who are almost tied? What does that tell you about their culture, their work ethic, and their desire to make something of themselves?
Americans are just getting lazy and want an ever growing social-welfare state to take care of them, just like the Europeans. The Hispanics are simply learning the worst lessons from the whites and the African-Americans. Are all non-Asian Americans like this? Absolutely not, but too many young people in this country see government not only as the solution to all of their problems, they also think that it is their RIGHT to be supported by that government, as in Europe. They are no longer relying on their own initiative, their own rugged individualism, and their own ambition to make a go of it in our society. They also never seem to stop and think who is going to pay for all of this, either. Take a look at the Asians. Many Americans can learn a lot from them, and we should.
“The Bureau of Labor Statistics college enrollment rates for 2009 high school graduates reveal Hispanic enrollment at 59.3%, lower than any other national ethic group — compared to 92.2% for Asians, 69.2% for whites, and 68.7% for African-Americans.”
I cannot get my head around the black statistic that almost 70% of blacks ae entering college when we also know that the black drop out rate is 50%. Even the hispanic rate is seemingly too high for their drop out rate. Or is this stat of those who graduate?? Which still seems high for both hispanics and blacks.
“The reality is that low Hispanic educational achievement is a growing national problem that both parties need to address as a high priority”
No, what the government needs to do is secure the border so that there are not 3 applicants for every available job.
It doesn’t do anyone any good to have a higher level of education if there are no jobs to be had.
The world will always need people who work with their hands whether a plumber, carpenter, mechanic or machinist. These are the jobs that built America and will continue to be in demand when the fad for specialists in “community organizing” is finished.
yes …no need for more political science majors.
“The reality is that low Hispanic educational achievement is a growing national problem that both parties need to address as a high priority”
How is this the responsibility of the government? Like the father described in the article, it’s the parents fault if they don’t motivate their kids to stay in high school.
To be honest, I do not wanted to see my country, United States of America, to go completely Hispanic or dominate by a Hispanic majority in the future. The Hispanic has a very different mindset and identity concerning the shape, the structure, and the form of the country politically, legally, culturally, and socially. Our country have deeply-entrenched Anglo-European ways and cultures that have made the country great and wonderful for over 2 centuries, despite warts and all. I’m wondering if the Hispanic have seriously adopt the Anglo-European ways of doing things in the country as necessarily for the good of the country, then I have no reason to worry that the US would turn into another Mexico or a third world banana republic by the virtues of a racial-cultural majority. If the Hispanic do not, then we will have serious problems with the Hispanic concerning the future of the USA, with its 400+ years worth of political, cultural, legal, social, and economic history in danger. A nation is defined by its borders, cultures, and languages.
Bob, check out Fred Beloit’s comment and don’t despair. Perhaps parents are wise to the criminal indoctrination conducted in our schools and universities by our Marxist teachers and professors? Vouchers and parochial schools can go a long way towards fixing this problem.
Hispanics work because they need to, and it’s a pitty that they have to drop-out school for this. This situation has reached a critical level.
I agree that there are too many ilegals, we have to secure the border, and give the opportunity to the people who really deserve it.
The Korean and Chinese underclass also needs to work but you’ll notice they make sure their kids are educated to the utmost capacity.
a sneaky problem, though, is that the asian culture puts a huge emphasis on respecting authority to frightening heights
tons of well educated asian kids going to unchallenging schools being turned into nice little obedient statists
the major problem is that america’s core values—–> the ones that attract immigrants from all over the world in the first place are never TAUGHT in school
individualism gets twisted into entitlements and racial balkanizations
freedom and liberty turn into sharing and spreading the wealth
my wife is korean and all of our relatives living in the u.s. voted for obama by default yet the way we live our daily lives (running small independent businesses with a strong family vibe is totally in sync with conservatism); all of the kids that graduated college all went to statist powerhouses: berkeley, nyu, northwestern(because these were “the great institutions”) and are totally brainwashed
(the tendency and urge to please the professor, the authority figure, who is 99% of the time a total lib results in little growth but much statist parroting)
not saying that asians dont do well in school but what are they learning?
Orientals in this country also have to work hard, and at least they teach their kids respect for this country.
They don’t spit on the country that gives them every opportunity imaginable, as Hispanics/latinos do.
“Myra Adams is a media producer, writer and political observer, who served on the McCain Ad Council during the 2008 McCain campaign…” Same old crap from the same old source. No amnesty; no DREAM Act. Rule of Law. The whole argument is, in a perverse way, racist. Look up the meaning of “NO,” Myra.
Lydia,
What is your problem? Myra’s essay is very thoughtful and balanced. If you are going to criticize, at least be articulate in your criticism. Your comments are inane.
When (it’s not an if, but a when) southwestern USA becomes Hispanic again, it will already be a third-world country, thanks to Obama and Co. and the self-complacency of American Anglos. Many towns in Arizona and Texas today and practically every poverty-class neighborhood in the major cities are not very different from towns in the border states of Chihuahua, Sonora or Tamaulipas. And thanks to the love-affair Americans have with drugs, the drug cartels have managed to create an homogeneous, lawless country-within-a-country that spans the border states in the two nations.
But then again, in a sort of poetic-justice-way, southwestern USA will return to Mexico, to which it rightly belongs. Minus a few all-Anglo enclaves and a few golf courses, the land will once again become a native Spanish-speaking, corruption-filled province of the United States of Mexico (surprise! this is actually the official name of the Republic located south of the border).
yeah, then can kill each other off as they do in mexico today. They can sell their drugs to each other, trample the land as they have in Mexico today. They won’t have whitie to hand out free medical,food, housing, jobs.. They can live under the stars and eat bean.
They flee from mexico to turn it into the same trash can they are leaving, Mexico today. trash
Americans are too complacent and until it slaps them in the face, they don’t five a crap.
What do you want them to do? Their law enforcement are being killed. States are being sued by the government. Every victocrat is down there protesting the fact that they are trying to defend themselves. Judges throw out their laws to protect themselves.
Seriously – how are they complacent? They are dying down there and it’s the rest of the country that doesn’t give a hoot and goes about their business.
“But our nation’s Hispanic growth is not only a “Republican problem”; it’s also a Democrat problem.”
This is the silliest statement I have read on PJM since I first started visiting oh so long ago. Who are you Myra and what site did you come from?
IF….the democrats thought that this or anything else was a problem economically they would have been acting like it for the past 50 years which they have not.
They WILL find the money, in their greasy little minds and hands, to subsidize the disenfranchised at everyone else’s expense.
You must understand Myra, in their mind IF it is right and righteous, the cost does not matter and IF they can get the vote to gain power that is all that their is to be cocerned about.
Cost be damned they’ve got lives to save and power to gain and if you don’t agree you are a racist or a biggot but most likely both and knuckle dragging neanderthal taboot.
Note: My dear friend, both a progressive, non-racist, artist and college graduate, so I believe he is sincere, who now lives in Las Cruces, NM tells me that when a Hispanic child graduates from 8th grade the families break out the tuxes, the limo’s, and the whole family gathers around as this will most likely be the last graduation for this child.
This is the America we are becoming. Wake up Myra. Hello!!! Myra! are you there????
since sending them back to their own country is, for some indefineable reason, impossible, obviously sending them to college on the taxpayer’s dime is the ONLY possible alternitive.
/sarc -off
gee whiz, I guess the ONLY answer is to send them all to college on the taxpayer dime.
/sarc -off
Do not confuse education with ability. The US does a better job of maximizing people’s abilities regardless of credentials and ethnicity than any other economy in the world.
Innovation is the fundamental driver of economic growth. The real question is: Will (primarily) Mexican immigrants and their children contribute or detract from the innovation required keep the US economy growing faster than its population?
EDUCATION AND FANTASY: Why US Schools Cannot Succeed-Ever
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I disagree with the premises of most modern educational goals, to wit, that everyone should get an education and that academic success is largely a coefficient of what goes on in the classroom. Here’s why:
1. In fact, academic success is nearly 100% dependent on what goes on at home, not in the class. If you come from a home that is largely dysfunctional, if neither of your parents ever reads a book (assuming they’re the original parents or that there’s actually 2 of them), if they never purchase a book and there is no substantial reading material with a permanent place in your home (I’m not talking about cereal box logos), your chances of academic success in school are practically nil and you may as well face it and make appropriate future plans.
2. The idea that everyone has to “go to college” is so hare-brained as to not be worthy of discussion. The fact that this “slogan” has nearly taken on the the force of an amendment to the US Constitution is the cause of untold pain and waste. The vast majority of the population simply has no business “going to college”. They either lack the “gray matter” to make a go of it, or are in college for spurious, fantasy-like reasons. In addition, the vast majority of women – and they will admit it to you in private – are there for reasons that have nothing to do with academic excellence or achievement. They’re there to catch a mate. In principle, I have nothing against such a practice – all I’m saying is that they’re not there for academic reasons.
3. It is for these and similar reasons that “education” and educational institutions have lost their academic base and have turned into “socializing” and “welfare” institutions and why “popular” courses and even “majors”, resemble programs designed for the mentally deranged or incompetent. Teachers are no longer there to educate but to “entertain”. Or to “train”. They’ve become pathetic clowns.
Real education is hard, it is boring (at least at the beginning stages) and results only show up in the distant future. There facts are not only incompatible with current thinking (I almost laughed when I wrote that word), they are actually inimical to the current American scene.
So go ahead, fill up your classroom with “computers” and the latest technologies and so on. The results will be the same. A largely ignorant, anti-intellectual population that the whole world is slowly beginning to laugh at.
What Adams (and the other maudlin immigration fans)doesn’t get, is that Hispanics are being allowed to invade the US PRECISELY because they constitute a source of cheap, exploitable labor;NOT because of their potential for social mobility through education.Their role is to cut grass,wash cars,clean houses, lower wages, and ultimately, tap into the welfare system,and become reliable democrat voters.Assuming Hispanics could become educated,what jobs could they do in a nation busily outsourcing even professional jobs overseas? Adams hasn’t got a clue about the plutocracy’s insane scheme to destroy the native middle class and turn the country into another Mexico. Her little anecdotal sob story fails to deal with the sinister intentions of the bipartisan globalizing elite.