Latino Male Symposium Spotlights Education Crisis in Rapidly Growing Demographic - July 29, 2011

“In states like Texas, demographics is destiny,” said Dr. Victor Saenz, in his opening remarks at the first Latino Male Symposium to be held at The University of Texas at Austin.

The symposium was convened to address the dearth of Latino males who are completing high school and pursuing university degrees (while Hispanics make up 38 percent of the Texas population, according to the U.S. Census), and it was hosted by Project MALES and organized by Saenz.

The event drew attendees from around the nation and included educators, community leaders and Latino youth who shared the view that Texas and the nation are facing an escalating crisis when it comes to educating Latino males. The goal of the symposium was to define and discuss the problem as well as propose workable, effective actions that can be taken to alleviate it.

“I have some very sobering statistics,” said Dr. Luis Ponjuan, an assistant professor in education at the University of Florida. “Right now around one out of every four kindergartners is Latino. About 20 percent of Latino boys drop out of high school – that’s one in five of our boys becoming a dropout. Only 73 percent of Latino boys are getting high school degrees.

“We’re looking at major failings in the education pipeline, especially at those transition points such as between high school and community college or a four-year university or between middle school and high school. The problem is exacerbated in grades K-12 because Latino children often attend schools that are underfunded, have underprepared teachers, suffer high teacher turnover and have inexperienced administrators as leaders in the schools.”

According to Ponjuan, the crisis is not only social but also has a huge economic impact, creating a permanent, large underclass of Latino males – many are born into poverty and die in poverty. Ponjuan stated that for all too many Latino men, life options are limited to extreme poverty, prison, social welfare programs and death.

Although only one day, the symposium was packed with opportunities for education stakeholders to share ideas, hear from those most intimately touched by the crisis and discuss possible solutions.

The event included a mix of interactive panels that featured students, researchers, practitioners, educators and community members from around Texas and, in a few instances, beyond. A panel of Latino male youth shared their school experiences; researchers revealed what they have learned about the social and academic challenges facing Latino males in the education system; and community organizations who work directly with Latino parents and their children spoke about the unique roadblocks facing this demographic.

A lunchtime keynote address was delivered by Dr. Shaun Harper, a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania and author of several books and research papers on race and gender disparities in higher education.

Saenz, who created and heads Project MALES, also had an opportunity to provide a progress report on the organization’s work since its inception. Initially conceived as a joint effort between The University of Texas at Austin and South Texas College, Project MALES fosters research focused on males in education and is designing and will implement a new pilot mentoring project. The mentoring project is scheduled to launch this fall, and it will train Latino male college students to be mentors to middle school and high school Latino youth in the Austin area. The pilot also will involve Latino male university alumni and other successful Latino community members.

Saenz, Ponjuan and Dr. Mary Ann Clark from the University of Florida also were able to deliver an update on “Boys in Peril,” a collaborative endeavor between The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Florida. The research project has allowed scholars to examine the experiences of Central Texas and Gainesville (FL) Latino males as they navigate the education system. Researchers spoke to key figures in university student affairs, academic affairs and other high-level administrative offices as well as faculty and focus groups made up of college students. The project was launched because of growing concern about the increasing gender gap in educational attainment between Latino males and females.

Only weeks before the symposium, Saenz was invited to Washington, D.C., to participate as an expert panelist in a Capitol Hill College Board discussion of the recent report “The Educational Experience of Young Men of Color.” At the gathering, panelists called for actions to raise degree attainment rates among African American, Latino and American Indian males.

Saenz is a Faculty Fellow with The University of Texas at Austin’s Division of Diversity and Community Engagement (DDCE) and a faculty affiliate with the Center for Mexican American Studies. Diverse Issues in Higher Education named Saenz was named “One of 25 to Watch” among national diversity leaders in education and has been honored as one of seven “ING Professors of Excellence.”

The Latino Male Symposium was sponsored by TG, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, the Center for Mexican American Students, DDCE and Project MALES.

—Kay Randall, University Communications, 512-232-3910