Thursday, May 26, 2005
By EDWARD BARRIOS ACEVEDO
HISPANIC LINK NEWS SERVICE
There is an education crisis among Latinos in the United States. But don't tell that to Samuel Perez, Sr.
Samuel and his wife, Maria Elena, both Mexican immigrants who never got past the sixth grade themselves, just saw their youngest of 11 children graduate from college this past year.
That's an accomplishment that would make any parent's heart swell with pride.
But what makes Samuel and Maria Elena's story so compelling is that their 10 other children have already gone on to graduate from a four-year university as well. That's 11 kids with 11 bachelors. Five of their children have gone on to graduate school for a master's degree, while another has just begun her doctorate program.
This comes at a time, when a new Harvard University study recently reported that nearly half of Latino and African-American students who should have graduated from high school in 2002, did not. In my hometown of Los Angeles, the situation is far worse, with a measly 39 percent of Hispanics graduating from the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Even white and Asian students, who usual fare much better with student achievement, aren't doing well themselves, with only 67 percent to 77 percent picking up their diplomas, respectively.
'Dropout factories'
These anemic numbers in Los Angeles are so dismal that the folks over at Harvard called many of these high schools in Los Angeles "dropout factories" that seemingly produce more and more unskilled labor every year.
So how did a low-income family in one of Los Angeles' poorest and gang-infested neighborhoods achieve such an incredible level of success? To find out the secret, I recently spoke to Mr. Perez, as he sat at the kitchen table preparing cactus plants to eat.
"The secret?" asks Perez, who spent most of his life working three jobs as a machinist and gardener in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley. "Well, as parents, we just did our job. We just tried our best," he replied.
As a journalist, teacher, and now counselor, I knew there had to be a deeper answer. So, I decided to dig a little deeper. "But, what kind of parents were you?" I asked.
Perez, who had come to this country a half century ago as laborer through the bracero program, let out a soft and introspective sigh. "We were the kind of parents that were always there for them," he said. "Whenever they needed us, we were always there."
Despite the modern day pressures of working and raising kids, the Perez's would make time to participate in every aspect of their children's lives -- running from parent-teacher conferences, meetings and various parent-student associations, to volunteering in their children's classrooms, as well as attending a dizzying number of music and sporting events.
"I know that we were not always the smartest among the parents, but we always showed up, and that means something," Perez said.
High expectations in this tight-knit family were reinforced by daily support, encouragement and acceptance. "We were parents that led by example. When your kids see you do your job by going to work everyday, they will do theirs," he said.
The Perez's made every attempt to encourage their children's natural curiosity through music, culture and sports. Every one of their children knows how to play an instrument and several were vital members of the San Fernando High School band. "If they play an instrument, then they will do better in everything. We always pushed them to do something positive and music was one of those things," Perez said.
Parent panels
The volunteering didn't stop once the children moved on to their universities. Volunteering on several parent panels at the University of Southern California, Perez and his wife have spent a lot of time on several university campuses. "It makes me sad to see so few Latinos at the university level," Perez said.
The Perez family confirms what I have seen in my time teaching -- the more involved parents are with their children's education, the more successful they are in the classroom. "Education begins at home," said Maria Elena, who has volunteered in classrooms for more than 21 years. "Parents are the very first teachers," she added.
Any advice for struggling parents out there? I asked.
"Being a parent is like planting flowers. You just don't throw seeds everywhere, you have to water them, nurture them, and weed out the bad things around them," he added.
X Edward Barrios Acevedo is a counselor, teacher, and freelance writer in Los Angeles. He is the author of "Dancing Under The Sun" and "The Ultimate Teen Relationship Guide!" Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.