AztecMuse Magazine
Vanishing Latino Male
The Vanishing Latino Male in Higher Education
University of Houston Professor of Sociology
Director of the UH Center for Mexican American Studies
Recently there has been a great deal of concern expressed about the status of Latino males in the educational system. Although the trend is for more males and females to successfully navigate the system, Latinas outperform their male counterparts at every level of education from elementary to college.
In the primary and secondary years, Latinas earn better grades, dropout less and graduate from high school in higher numbers. At the higher education level, they enroll and graduate from college and pursue advanced degrees in higher number. Furthermore, the gap between males and females in higher education is growing. Consider the following statistics: In 1977, 55% of the college degrees earned by our community went to males and 45% to females-a difference of 10% in favor of males. In 2006, the figures were 39% for males and 61% for females a 22% difference in favor of females.
Why do our males lag behind females in education? The reasons are complex. It may be due to different learning styles. Females are more focused, patient and disciplined. As they move through the system, they network with their teachers and other students and use academic services more than males.
Males tend to be more rambunctious in behavior. Discipline and paying attention are often issues, as they may feel seeking help is a sign of weakness. As a result, males are more apt to be diagnosed as having learning, behavioral and emotional disorders, and, at an early age, are “turned off” by school. Indeed, by the third grade the learning pattern of both males and females are set, with females possessing the better learning styles.
To hide their fears and insecurities, males engage in the boy or macho code of acting tough, as if they don’t care about school. They may also see academic achievement as “acting white” and a betrayal to their culture. Furthermore the male teachers and principals with whom they may be able to identify are in short supply, especially in the crucial elementary grades.
Males feel more pressure to work, especially those from the working class. Latinos are group-oriented, and the most important group is the family whom males are expected to support, protect and defend. Many, including those who are academically successful, drop out of school or do not continue their education beyond high school in order to work. Note for example that 70% of Latino males between the ages of 16 and 24—high school and college years—are full-time workers in comparison to 58% of the total population.
Males tend to be more rambunctious in behavior. Discipline and paying attention are often issues, as they may feel seeking help is a sign of weakness. As a result, males are more apt to be diagnosed as having learning, behavioral and emotional disorders, and, at an early age, are “turned off” by school. Indeed, by the third grade the learning pattern of both males and females are set, with females possessing the better learning styles.
To hide their fears and insecurities, males engage in the boy or macho code of acting tough, as if they don’t care about school. They may also see academic achievement as “acting white” and a betrayal to their culture. Furthermore the male teachers and principals with whom they may be able to identify are in short supply, especially in the crucial elementary grades.
Males feel more pressure to work, especially those from the working class. Latinos are group-oriented, and the most important group is the family whom males are expected to support, protect and defend. Many, including those who are academically successful, drop out of school or do not continue their education beyond high school in order to work. Note for example that 70% of Latino males between the ages of 16 and 24—high school and college years—are full-time workers in comparison to 58% of the total population.
In order to deal with the educational disparity, many intensive programs that focus on males have been developed. Some advocates push the idea of segregated male and female schools, since some research shows both genders have more academic success when they are separated.
What are some of the implications of females out performing our males at the higher educational level? For starters, there will be more equality. Men will no longer be able to take the dominant role as easily as women become empowered economically. Research shows that women who make a financial contribution to the family have more say in family affairs, and if they are the dominant earner, they may have the dominant authority.
More female leaders will emerge in every sector of society, and given that women place more emphasis on nurturing concerns, agendas will begin to change.
Business may be forced to develop family-friendly policies that include onsite daycare and more liberal hours of work to accommodate families.
In the political arena, more emphasis will given to human resources and less to military ventures, as is the case now with men. There also will be more competition for male college graduates among women who seek partners similar to them in ethnicity and educational achievement. Some will not succeed and will “marry down” to someone who has less of an education. This likewise raises the probability of females becoming the dominant partner. Others will marry white men—the main beneficiaries of intermarriage in our community—and some may not marry at all. Birthrates also will decline. Women who are pursuing college degrees put off marrying and having children until they graduate. They may be put off even longer if they decide to pursue a career, and, when they do decide to have children, they will bear only two.
Again, both males and females in our community are gaining a college education, but females more so than males. This is part of a larger trend of females in every racial group earning more college degrees than males.
Some observers have declared this a male crisis, but the crisis label applied to our community at this point may be an overreaction. Indeed more females earning a college degree may in the long run spur more males to do the same in hopes of adding value to their beings and becoming more desirable. If so, it will not be the first time that females have saved males from themselves.
What are some of the implications of females out performing our males at the higher educational level? For starters, there will be more equality. Men will no longer be able to take the dominant role as easily as women become empowered economically. Research shows that women who make a financial contribution to the family have more say in family affairs, and if they are the dominant earner, they may have the dominant authority.
More female leaders will emerge in every sector of society, and given that women place more emphasis on nurturing concerns, agendas will begin to change.
Business may be forced to develop family-friendly policies that include onsite daycare and more liberal hours of work to accommodate families.
In the political arena, more emphasis will given to human resources and less to military ventures, as is the case now with men. There also will be more competition for male college graduates among women who seek partners similar to them in ethnicity and educational achievement. Some will not succeed and will “marry down” to someone who has less of an education. This likewise raises the probability of females becoming the dominant partner. Others will marry white men—the main beneficiaries of intermarriage in our community—and some may not marry at all. Birthrates also will decline. Women who are pursuing college degrees put off marrying and having children until they graduate. They may be put off even longer if they decide to pursue a career, and, when they do decide to have children, they will bear only two.
Again, both males and females in our community are gaining a college education, but females more so than males. This is part of a larger trend of females in every racial group earning more college degrees than males.
Some observers have declared this a male crisis, but the crisis label applied to our community at this point may be an overreaction. Indeed more females earning a college degree may in the long run spur more males to do the same in hopes of adding value to their beings and becoming more desirable. If so, it will not be the first time that females have saved males from themselves.
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Creating Good Works & Work:
Taxis Fiesta
Yellow Cab
Mamacitas Fine Mexican Food
Did you know that Arizona banned Latino Studies? Become a Librotraficante and defend Freedom of Speech for All Americans.
Creating Good Works & Work:
Taxis Fiesta
Yellow Cab
Mamacitas Fine Mexican Food
Did you know that Arizona banned Latino Studies? Become a Librotraficante and defend Freedom of Speech for All Americans.
Illustration by Andrew Marks
Photo By Arturo Olmos
Photo by Arturo Olmos
Photo by Arturo Olmos
