Research Blog 13- The Interview

I decided to choose Professor Ebelia Hernandez, a professor at Rutgers University. She is very knowledgeable about Latinos in Higher Education and is currently doing some research on it. I am actually involved in one of the research programs she is conducting called “RU Latina”, where she interviews the same group of Latina girls at Rutgers over four years getting their experiences and tracking their progress. She is also currently doing two other research projects, one that is like RU Latina, but instead she talks to guys of all ages in college, not necessarily starting her interviews from the beginning of their college experience. The last one she is currently in involves, getting the surveys that Rutgers sets to all the students and figures out the statistics of Latinos and how they are answering these questions and if the statistics have the same meaning that they would for different cultures. Much like the SAT, there is some controversy that that exam might not be helpful to Latinos or really a good predictor of Latino success in high school. I learned that one thing that she didn’t expect to see as an influence in Latino College students was the impact that religion had on their decision. She gave great information about the Latino society at universities and her take on everything. One thing that she brought up that I thought was very important was the importance of building a network with faculty. She thinks that many of the statistics would change is Latino students made ties with faculty because they have someone to look up to, someone to give them advice about school, and it also helps in understanding the material better, lastly it is a great asset for someone to know a professor for recommendations.

Research Blog 14

Toppo, Greg. "Hispanic Students Aspire To Higher Education But Face Barriers." USA Today. Gannett, 9 Oct. 2009. Web. 07 Apr. 2012. <http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-10-07-hispanic-college_N.htm>.

 

The reading that I found on USA Today is about the barriers that Hispanic students face when it comes to education. It gives a few statistics, and the major reason why students don’t continue to pursue an education is because of the need to support family.

Greg Toppo is the author of the article and he graduated from St. John’s College. He is hired as the national K-12 education reporter for USA Today. So because he has done a lot of research about school and the system I feel like he’s a very knowledgeable person to write about this article.

                                                         

This article really does not have any key terms or concepts that it talks about. Its very straightforward with the statistics about why Latinos don’t pursue a degree, and of those that do pursue it how much actually complete it.

“Many Hispanic students settle for pursuing a two-year degree at a community college, but only about one in 10 eventually earn one.” (http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-10-07-hispanic-college_N.htm)

This really helps me with my paper and interests me because I know that many families encourage community college for practical reasons but the chances of success are clearly very slim. 

“…[M]any Hispanic families "tend to be more debt-averse," students are reluctant to take on heavy loan debt — instead, she says, many take on part-time jobs, which makes it harder to succeed in class.” (http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-10-07-hispanic-college_N.htm). This is something that can also be looked at. This is very true I know personally I have to maintain a job in order to help pay for school and I have totally noticed a decrease in my grades.

“Nearly nine in 10 Hispanics say it's "necessary" to get a college education to get ahead in life — more than any other ethnic or racial group in the USA.” (http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-10-07-hispanic-college_N.htm) This is a very astonishing statistic because the actual reality of it is that Hispanics have such a low rate of success. This statement is a great point for me to start discussing the barriers that Latinos face.

All of these statistics are very important to my paper. Statistics really can form a picture to the reader and I think that this is so important.  I really do believe this paper will be of great help to me.

Book Review - Research Blog 12

DuBois, Brenda, and Karla Krogsrud Miley. Social Work: An Empowering Profession. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 2011. Print.

This book although it’s about the profession of Social Workers it brings up many facts about many minorities, especially the Latino community. It also provides great statistics and useful information about the trends of Latinos within the United States and it also brings light about what issues they may face. Although my paper is related to school and Latinos this book really helps me understand the Latino community better.

The author Karla Miley is a professor in Black Hawk College in Illinois and she teaches Psychology, Sociology and Social Work. Brenda DuBois has a master’s degree in Social Work and she is also a Professor at St. Ambrose University in Iowa teaching Social Work classes.

A term that is defined in this book is race. Race is defined as “…a classification that emphasizes biological or physiological differences”(DuBois & Miley, 153). It also defines minority as “those groups, including women, older adults, people with disabilities, and gays and lesbians that have less access to power than the dominant groups” (DuBois & Miley, 154).

The three quotes that I think would be very helpful to me are “The particular culture of minorities defines family support systems, confers self-identity and self-esteem and imparts an ethnic philosophy and outlook on life. All of these factors are potential resources in times of crisis and stress”(DuBois & Miley, 154). This really helps my topic because it discusses the things that make up a culture and the factors that go into defining what a culture or minority is. “Hispanics are the fastest going minority group in the United States” (DuBois & Miley, 165). This is good to know because this minority group will be a majority in number soon but we still won’t get the same opportunities as the upper class and those that run the government. Last quote, “Demographic data indicate that Hispanic American are less educated, have higher rates of poverty, and are more likely to live in inner city neighborhoods” (DuBois & Miley, 165). This is a great piece of information because it proves that Spanish people are not as well off economically as other people as well as educationally and my paper will try to explain the reasons for these statistics.