Univision hosts education town hall with President Obama to address issues affecting Latino students
President Barack Obama recently teamed up with Univision to take part in a town hall meeting to discuss education issues pertinent to the Latino community. The Moment is Now: The President, Hispanics and Education town hall meeting (or Noticias Univision Presenta: Es El Momento – El Presidente, Los Hispanos y la Educación) took place at Bell Multicultural High School in Washington, D.C. with teachers, parents and students in attendance. One of the first topics of discussion brought up by the president was that of the high school dropout rate among the nation’s Latino students, which hovers around 18 percent — over three times that of their Caucasian counterparts.
“This is an issue that’s not just important for the Latino community here in the United States; this is an issue that is critical for the success of America generally, because we already have a situation where one out of five students are Latino in our schools, and when you look at those who are 10 years old or younger, it’s actually one in four,” said President Obama during the town hall discussion. “So what this means is, is that our workforce is going to be more diverse; it is going to be, to a large percentage, Latino. And if our young people are not getting the kind of education they need, we won’t succeed as a nation.”
The President went on to point out that there are some proven ways to decrease dropout rates, including getting children enrolled in early education classes as soon as possible, increased parental involvement, Race to the Top turnaround programs, and partnerships with the private sector. Obama also stated that the majority of dropouts occur at 2,000 schools in the nation. Because these struggling schools are identifiable, the Department of Education can funnel extra resources to those specific institutions in order to start bringing down their dropout rates, explained President Obama.
When it comes to early education programs, the President touted his commitment to ensuring that preschool programs are funded. In addition to providing financial support, Obama mentioned the need to make sure that the programs are effective in preparing early learners for kindergarten and beyond.
“We have to reform many of these programs, because, frankly, sometimes a childcare program may look nice on the outside, but when you get inside it turns out that the instructors there, they’re not professionally trained, they don't know anything about early childhood development,” said President Obama. “They’re basically just babysitters — which is fine if you're going out for an evening with your spouse, but if these folks are going to be with your child each and every day for five hours, six hours, eight hours, you want somebody who knows — who’s been professionally trained and understands how to make sure that you're giving a good foundation of learning to children.”
On the issue of bilingual education, the president pledged to continue to fund “strong programs, both bilingual education programs but also immersion programs that ensure that young people are learning English but they’re not falling behind in their subjects even as they are learning English.” The president also stressed the importance of parental involvement in helping students build their English skills and ensuring that schools are providing the resources necessary for success for students who are less skilled in the English language.
The president also discussed ways the administration is addressing bullying, standardized testing, and increasing the number of Latino and African American educators in the nation’s school system. President Obama announced his plans to stress the need for role models and educational leaders from Latino and African American communities in his 2011 commencement speech at Miami Dade College. The Obama administration also recently announced new members of the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. Univision’s president, Cesar Conde, who has helped steward the Es El Momento project, has been named to the advisory commission.
