Hispanics Struggle To Graduate: An Issue of School Choice? (Week 1)

Hispanics are facing the difficult dilemma between working within financial constraints and going for education that may help in the long term.

Ramos, Jairo. "Hispanics Struggle To Graduate: An Issue of School Choice?." Code Switch : NPR. National Public Radio, 3 Mar 2014. Web. 4 Mar 2014. <http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/03/03/283089708/hispanics-struggle-to-graduate-an-issue-of-school-choice>.


This article describes the ongoing struggle for Hispanics with respect to higher education. While community college has developed into a viable option for even underprivileged students, Ramos indicates the trend of students throughout America's broad socioeconomic spectrum increasingly wishing to attend four-year colleges rather than two-year schools. In order to thoughtfully examine this concern, Ramos makes use of solid data from a variety of reputable sources, including the Pew Research Center and the U.S. Department of Education. While the data supports the idea that students who work towards Bachelor's degrees rather than Associate's degrees are more likely to graduate and find long-term careers, trends also indicate that Latinos are more likely to build up debt, and typically receive less financial aid than other comparable students. Ramos logically connects this with the typical Latino drive to work early instead of focusing on higher education. While Ramos touches upon a variety of standpoints with regards to 21st century higher education for Hispanics, the article primarily serves to introduce a topic to a reader base instead of comprehensively analyzing the issue.