The level of education people achieve will determine their lifetime earning potential. “Data from the U.S Census Bureau (2002)…Show that high school drop outs earn on average, around $18,900, whereas college graduates may earn $45,400 or more annually” (Mueller, Giacomazzi and Stoddard, 2006). Growing up Mexican I learned that in my community, success was not an option, it is more of a dream that is not achievable and viewed by many as exclusive to whites. Instead of going to school, many Mexican students choose not to go to class and instead they spend their time with gangs and consequently as J.W. Newman explained, “show an increasing amount of extreme resistance to schooling and conventional socialization” (as cited in Hartnett, 2007). Education in the Mexican community where I grew up was not highly valued or at least not as valued as going to work construction (or any other job that did not require a high school diploma) and bringing home money to help the family. Unfortunately most people in Mexican communities do not make an effort to ensure the education of their children by reading and talking with their children. This is the case of generation after generation resulting in “the median income for Hispanic men…[being] less than two-thirds the figure for non-Hispanic men-$14,141 compared with $22,207…” (Rodman, 1992). Consequently this becomes a vicious cycle because “parenting is influenced by poverty….Poverty is linked to poorer child outcomes as well as poorer parenting” (Brooks-Gunn et al., 1997). The following are examples of how the learning of people I know have been influenced by their environment.
First case: A 15 year old girl gets pregnant and she gives birth to a beautiful boy whom I baptized and accepted the moral and religious responsibility of his upbringing (a responsibility on which I have miserably failed). By the time she was 21 she had four children with 3 different fathers and was living in a motel room. By the time she was 23 she had bored 2 more children and added another father to this family. By this time her brother, whom I use to play video games with, was in jail and his girlfriend lived with her parents with a fatherless child. Also on of her cousins was pregnant by the age of 16. Statistically “only 64% of Hispanics graduate with a high school diploma or its equivalent…” (Mueller, Giacomazzi and Stoddar, 2006). The odds are that only 3 of her 5 children will graduate from high school. How did this person turn out to be this way? It was known to those around her family that both parents were cheating on each other. Her mom was the neighborhood whore. Both of her parents never completed middle school and were Mexican immigrants.
Second Case: A family of 4 siblings and their unemployed mother and disabled father. The third oldest was a female pregnant by 15. All 3 of the high school aged siblings dropped out of High School. I hate to make this prediction but I think the youngest will follow the elder's footsteps. They did not idolize Bill Gates for being a college drop out and still managing to be the richest man in the world. Instead they would gather in their front lawn and they would always talk about a certain drug dealer, idolizing him while getting drunk. Their father was disabled and both parents were illiterate. In this case it is obvious that their parent’s poverty and lack of education influenced this family’s choice or lack of to further their education.
Third Case: A friend in high school, more like an acquaintance, we hung around a few times a month. He played video games and studied more than most of us. He only lived only a few blocks from the family in the second case. After high school, his friends began to call him a "bitch" because he no longer hung around with them (out of all his group of friends, he was the only one who attended and finished a college education). Both his parents completed their high school education in Mexico. His younger brother also attended college and his sister opted for a short career. The interesting fact about this case is that this person was chastised for sacrificing time with his friends in order to further his education. While not all of his friends work dead end jobs they will never have the earning potential that he does with his bachelor’s degree.
The fourth case is about me. Why? Because by having knowledge and first hand experience, I have an opinion on this topic. Growing up as an illegal immigrant I wanted to be like the cool Mexicans, the cholos. I dressed like them and tried to imitate everything that they did. In middle school I once yelled the F and the N words all in one sentence. I was loved by certain circles for doing that, I felt good. One day when walking to school I found a knife so I sold it to a friend, who happily paid me a dollar only to later give up my name as the person that sold him the knife, after he pulled it on a teacher. So I was suspended. When my mom came to pick me up form school, she was crying. When my father came home he gave me a beating that I don't care to remember. I remember one of my hands was numb. Is this child abuse? I think not because right after that I told myself, “this shit ain't happening again” (but in Spanish because I did not speak English at that time). Up to this point I had allowed myself to be influenced by my community and my peers. Looking back at how I behave for the better part of my junior high years,I now realize that after that they I allowed my parents to influence me and my educational decisions. They encouraged me and my two siblings to get an education. Both of my parents completed their highs school education in Mexico.
I then went on to high school where I struggled in all my classes and hung around in TJ (Tijuana) with all the “border brothers.” I managed to graduate and went on to a community college. It was there that I was forced to learn to study and do homework because I was willing pay to repeat any of my courses (I had to work two jobs to pay for school) this wasn't free and I wasn't going to take it for granted. I finally and barely was accepted into a four year university where my performance was far from stellar. At about that time I got married and had my first child and naturally I had to drop out of college. Five years later I finally managed to go back to school to finish what I started. My goal is to achieve financial success. Through my parents I witnessed what can be achieved through hard work. My goal is to work hard using my education. It was their support that made me ambitious but not greedy. Lastly, I want to better myself so that I may give my children the resources they need to be successful and break and defy the education statistics of their cultural and ethnic background.
Statistics are mounted against Mexicans who want to pursue a higher education. Out of the 27 people mentioned here, only six have attended a university or college. That means that only18.5% of the 27 people mentioned here have actually attempted to further their education. We were all from the same community no more than 5 miles apart from each other. Most of the 27 people knew each other. This relationships have lead me to believe that not only does a person have to be smart enough to get good grades and get an education, but any person must also have a support system and an environment that will encourage and instill a need for success through education. Making it isn't easy and only our families can support us so that we can further our goals and succeed in today’s world.
References
Brooks-Gunn, J., Duncan, G., & Aber, L, (1997). Neighborhood Poverty: Context and Consquences of Children, Vol. 1. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Hartnett, Sharon. The High School Journal. Does Peer Group Identity Influence Absenteeism in High School Student? Vol. 91, Issue 2, 2008.
Mueller, D., Giacomazzi, A. & Stoddard, C. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk. Dealing with Chronic Absenteeism and its Related Consequences: The process and Short-Term Effects of a Diversionary Juvenile Court Intervention. 11(2), 2006.
Rodman, Griffin. CQ Researcher. Hispanic American, Vol. 2, 2002.
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