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Are we prepared for a high number of Hispanics going to college?

The first reaction to the question if we (the Latino community) are truly ready for a large number of Hispanic students going to college and successfully completing their careers is, “Of course we are ready.”

But some statistics and a short reflection, many show the answer is not as easy as at first it seems to be,

It is true that, as reported last week by the College Board (an educational, nonprofit organization based in New York), this year there are twice as many Latinos taking the SAT college entrance exam as the number of Latinos taking the same exam ten years ago.

And it is true that currently almost 40 percent of students taking SAT tests are minorities, mainly Hispanics. In fact, more than 206,000 Latinos took the SAT test this year, the highest number ever.

It’s also important to note that this year 25 percent of students who took the SAT test spoke English as a second language, being Hispanic the native tongue of many of those students.

Based on all those statistics, it is clear that an unprecedented number of young Latinos are now going to college and, even more importantly, they have the academic skills needed to be successful in their careers. This is something new, as it is shown by the fact that 61 percent of those students are the first ones in their families in going to college.

However, having a large number of young Latinos going to college may create some unexpected consequences. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, 90 percent of Latinos under 18 now living in the United States were born in this country. They grew up in the context of the American culture and not in the context of the native culture of their parents.

Those cultural differences between Latino parents and children are accentuated by differences in language, habits, and even access to technology. The difference becomes a true gap when the young Latino gets into college and begins to walk the path of college education where nobody in his or her family walked before.

It should not be surprise, then, that according to Barna Group (an organization dedicated to religious statistics) 61 percent of college students who grew up in a religious family (something very common among Latinos) will leave the faith of his or her parents during the first two years at college. In fact, many of those students never contact their families again.

In summary, on the one hand, we have more Latinos going to college than ever before. But on the other hand that means many young Hispanics will leave their families and their traditions.

So, are we truly ready for a generation of Latinos going to college in mass, when we know that almost two out of three of those students will be academically successful, but, at the same time, they will reject their roots and their parents’ teachings?

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