No child left behind, Unless your Latino

Education is a major problem across America as a whole, and that statement is proven by the International Business Times when they released an article stating that the United States has the seventeenth highest ranked education systems out of fifty in the world for 2012.

Beyond those rankings is the percentage of graduation rate for high school for whites, blacks, and other minorities. The census of 2000 gave the following information: White Graduation Rate 85.5%, Latino Graduation Rate-52.4%. The lower percentage of high school graduation could be influenced by the low reading levels among Latinos. According to the NEA, which is the National Education Association, reading is a major issue for Latinos from grade school all the way through high school. Some of the statistics from the NEA include Latinos being in the lowest quartile of performance for reading for kindergarten, 4^th grade, and 8^th grade.

Beyond high school of course is college, where the statics show a lot of the same information with Latinos being the lowest percentage of graduation. For 2005, the statistics show that the graduation rates for whites, black, and Latinos are 34.1, 17.5, and 11.2 respectively. The graduation percentage for Latinos is very low compared to other ethnic groups. With Latinos being the largest growing population in the United States, this may cause a lower rate of total college graduates.

The NEA states that immigration is not the only problem when it comes to Latinos and education. The main problem is that there is little generational progress. The children are not out performing with their parents, which could be directly accredited to their education level and understanding of reading.

This problem is going to continue to become bigger and bigger because Latinos are the highest growing minority in the United States. In California and Texas close to 50 percent of students in public school are Latino. Also, 1 of 5 students that are enrolled in public schools are Latino and the NEA projected by 2050 the statistic will grow to 1 in 3. This is a major increase and it cannot be ignored. All these kids are becoming adults and will be part of the work force in a very short period of time. This will cause a surplus of unskilled labor in the United States because a larger percentage of the population will be lacking basic skills including reading.

This epidemic of undereducated citizens will become a cycle that will continue if America doesn’t do something to change it. I know there are many factors that contribute to these alarming statistics, but the fact of the matter is that the system that is employed now is not working for everyone. The schools are underfunded to begin with, thus creating a shortage of teachers for a growing population. Overcrowding is becoming more of problem everyday with school closings and teachers being laid off. It seems to be that the government needs to step back and reevaluate the situation at home before trying to fix problems in other countries, but that is just a personal opinion of mine.