Hispanic Americans: Comparative Considerations and the Educational Problems of Children*
| Published date | 01 June 1987 |
| Author | M.M. Suarez‐Orozco |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2435.1987.tb00577.x |
| Date | 01 June 1987 |
Hispanic Americans
:
Comparative Considerat ions
and the Educational Problems
of
Children.
M.M.
SUAREZ-OROZCO**
INTRODUCTION
The official 1980 United States census reported about 14.6 million persons of ‘Spanish
origin’ residing in the country (Davis, Haub and Willette 1983: 3). According to census
analyses, Hispanic-Americans are the nation’s second largest minority group, making up
about
6,4
percent of the total population. A fertility rate
60
percent higher than the
non-Hispanic average, and continuing immigration from Mexico, Central and South
America make Hispanics the fastest growing minority group in the United States (Davis,
Haub and Willette 1983: 3).
In fact, the number of Hispanics in the United States grew by about
250
percent from
1950 to 1980, compared to a growth of less than
50
percent for the total population (Davis,
Haub and Willette 1983:3). Hispanic immigration to the United States has been on the
rise since the 1950’s. During the 1950’s, 956,000 Hispanics immigrated to the United
States; during 1960’s, 1.3 million. And in the 1970’s, 1.4 million of Hispanics legally
immigrated to the United States (Davis, Haub, and Willette 1983
:
20).
These figures fail to
include the large number, in the millions, of Hispanics who have crossed the US-Mexican
border without required documentation. [For a considertion of the various estimates of
how many ‘illegal aliens’ there are in the United States, see Lewis 1980: 31-40; Davis,
Haub and Willette 1983:
27.1
The aim of this paper is to present an overview of the diversity in character among the
various Hispanic-American subgroups. After outlining certain factors on the nature of the
Hispanic-American experience,
I
shall turn to consider key issues facing the descendants
of Hispanic immigrants. More specifically,
I
shall consider the patterned differences in the
educational adaptation of the various Hispanic-American subgroups. By comparing their
distinct responses to a common predominantly Anglo-Saxon encompassing environment,
I hope to contribute some understanding to the complex question of minority status and
educational adaptation in plural societies. The paper presented here is informed by
an
extensive review of the scholarly literature and by the author’s
own
research experience
*
Original Version
of
a paper published in translation (Dutch) in ‘Cultuur en Migratie’,l986,
2.
**
Visiting Assistant
Professor of
Anthropology, University
of
California, (USA).
141
among Mexican immigrants and their children (three years) (Suarez-Orozco 1987a,
1987b) and among recent immigrants from Central America and their children (two years)
(Suarez- Orozco 1986).
BACKGROUND
Hispanics of Mexican descent, or ‘Mexican-Americans,’ continue to be by far the largest
subgroup. The 1980 census counted 8,740.439 Mexican Americans (59.8
O/o
of all Hispa-
nics); 2,013,945 Mainland Puerto Ricans (1 3.8
%);
803,226 Cuban-Americans
(53
Yo)
and
3,05 1,063 ‘Other Hispanics’ (20.9
Yo).
The latter subgroup include Hispanics of Central
and South American descent.
Although Hispanic-Americans reside in every state of the Union, over two-thirds of
them live in four states: California, with about 4.5 million Hispanics; Texas, with about 3
million; New York, with about 1.7 million; and Florida, with about 860.000. Contrary to
a common stereotype, Hispanic-Americans today are not rural. In fact, 88 percent of all
Hispanic-Americans live in metropolitan areas compared to about 75 percent of the total
American population (Davis, Haub and Willette 1983
:
13).
Demographically Hispanic-Americans are younger than the general US population. For
example, in 1980 the median age for the Hispanic-American population was 22.1, com-
pared to 30.1 for the total US population (Hispanic Policy Development Project [HPDP]
vol. I1 1984: 29). The 1980 census shows that 32 percent of all Hispanics were younger
than 15 years of age. Demographers interpret these figures in relation to a relatively high
fertility ratio among Hispanic-Americans of 2.5 children per woman, as opposed to the 1.8
children per woman in the US population as a whole, and to the fact that more than
one-third of all Hispanic immigrants entering the US in the 1970’s were aged 20-34, ‘the
prime childbearing ages’ (Davis, Haub and Willette 1983:
10).
I should note that Cuban-
Americans violate both of the above generalizations for they tend to be older and have
lower fertility rates than the other Hispanic sub-groups (see HPDP vol. I1 1984: 43-
44).
Hispanic-Americans tend to be poorer than the majority population. The median
family income for Hispanics in 1979 was US$ 14,711 (for whites the median family
income was US$ 20,840). From the census it is estimated that a full 23.8 percent of
Hispanic-Americans live below the poverty level. Yet Hispanic-Americans fared better
than American blacks in income statistics. For example, 1980 census data shows that 30.2
percent of blacks live below the poverty level (see HPDP vol. I1 1984: 24). The income
level of Hispanic-Americans in the 1980’s census was about 70 percent of the income level
for the
US
population as a whole. There is a consistent gap between Hispanics and the
population at large of about 30 percent difference in income levels which has persisted for
three decades (HPDP vol. I1 1984:
15).
The Hispanic-American jobless rate is ‘typically 40 to
50
percent higher than the overall
unemployment rate’ (Davis, Haub and Willette 1983: 35). In 1982, about 15,Z percent of
Hispanic workers remained out of work. Hispanic-Americans are more concentrated in
lower paid and lesser skilled occupations. For example, more than 75 percent of the
employed women of Mexican-American, Puerto Rican-American and Cuban-American
descent were employed in the three of the lowest paid occupational categories: clerical
workers, machine operators and service workers (Davis, Haub and Willette 1983: 35).
Nation-wide figures show Hispanics to be over-represented in ‘blue collar’ occupations.
Of all Hispanics, 45.4 percent are ‘blue collar’ workers, compared to 3 1.9 percent of the
total population. Conversely, only 34.5 percent of the Hispanics are ‘white-collar’ wor-
kers, compared to 51.9 percent of the total US population (HPDP vol. I1 1984: 26).
142
To continue reading
Request your trial