Thousands of young people are getting ready to go back to school this month. Unfortunately, thousands more are not. For whatever reason we can find in the long list of excuses that kids have for choosing to drop out of school, the fact is that each year, 1.2 million high-school students do not graduate. The rate is highest among Latino students.

The high dropout rate, it turns out, is considered the greatest educational problem for the Latino community in the United States. As a matter of fact, education itself is significantly more important to Latinos than other issues that make bigger headlines, like Iraq, terrorism, health care and even immigration.

These are part of the findings from a national survey of 1,026 Latino registered voters in 24 states, conducted by Democratic pollster Sergio Bendixen in mid-July. The poll was commissioned by the National Council of La Raza and “ED in '08,” a political campaign designed to elevate the issue of education in the next presidential election to a more prominent position in the candidates' agenda.

The results of the survey indicate that a candidate's position on educational issues is going to have a significant impact on his or her vote total. Nine out of 10 Latino voters say that improving the quality of public education should be a very important priority for our next president, and many of them have very specific opinions as to what is wrong and how to fix it.

More than half of those polled were U.S.-born Latinos; the rest were naturalized citizens. Those conducting the poll found that there were a few differences in their opinions when it came to rating the quality of the school system. For example, almost half of those interviewed said they considered the quality of the public-school system “poor” or “mediocre.” Native-born Latino voters were more likely to give public education negative ratings than their foreign-born counterparts. Bendixen attributes that difference to foreigners' comparison with the schools in their native countries.

But while they might not like the quality of education, Latino voters don't seem to be blaming the teachers for it. More than 60 percent of those polled gave teachers in public schools high ratings and believe that the most important reason there are some low-quality ones is that they are not being paid enough. Although a great majority also believed that hiring more teachers with expertise in the subjects they will be teaching would help improve the quality of education.

Former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, who heads the “ED in '08” campaign, also believes that teachers should be paid according to their abilities. This, in turn, would draw better-quality instructors to the public-school system. Romer is not just worried about the high-school dropout rate, but about the fact that when young people do graduate from high school, they are not properly prepared for college. It is imperative, he says, that the school systems raise standards for students. Latino voters agree. According to the poll, only one-third feared that holding Latinos to higher academic standards could result in the kids failing and dropping out.

Possibly one of the most important findings in the study is voters' acceptance of the idea that the lack of parental involvement in their children's education is most responsible for the high dropout rate among Latino students. It's a significant admission that shows that while as taxpayers Latino voters want to hold their elected officials accountable for their children's education, they are also willing to take responsibility for their share of the problem.

***

(Maria Elena Salinas is the author of “I AM MY FATHER'S DAUGHTER: LIVING A LIFE WITHOUT SECRETS.” Reach her at www 
.mariaesalinas.com)

© 2007 by Maria Elena Salinas

Distributed by King Features Syndicate