Can Sotomayor Help Reverse the High School Drop Out Rate for Latinas?

by Criss L. Cox

categories: Education, Politics, Women of Color

Published August 25, 2009 @ 01:49PM PT

August is upon us, and if you haven't been bombarded by back-to-school ads then you either live under a rock or the health care debate has caused you to chuck your TV out the window. While for most of us, back-to-school means new notebooks and shiny pencils, for others the story is quite different. Especially if you happen to be a Latina, since "41 percent of them do not graduate from high school on time with a standard diploma."

Not only do Latinas have a harder time making it to graduation, but Latinos in general are less likely to go on to pursue higher education degrees, according to the National Education Association. As the NEA article points out, "the consequences of a lesser-educated Latino population could be disastrous, especially in states where Latinos increasingly support tax revenues."

"This is not a boutique issue. This is everybody's issue. This is everybody's crisis," said Patricia Gándara, University of California Los Angeles professor and co-director of the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA.

While it may be more of an immediate issue for those of us in Texas or California, this is an issue that affects all of us. We need to make sure young women of all colors and backgrounds graduate high school and know that college is a viable, affordable option for them. We all know the old adage, "Knowledge is power." And how do we gain knowledge? Through education, therefore "Education is power," right? In Spanish, this translates to "Educación es poder." The interesting thing to me is that "poder" means "power" but also "to be able to"; therefore, in Spanish, this cliché reveals another layer of meaning: it's not about the power to do extra, it's about the basic ability to do things. If you do not have education, you do not have the ability to accomplish your goals. Luckily, some good people are doing something to give Latina women this ability.

The National Women's Law Center along with the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund will soon release a report offering "a close look at the dropout crisis for Latinas" and what educators and policy makers can do about it. (You can pre-order your copy of Listening to Latinas: Barriers to High School Graduation now, if you like.)  As a former teacher, the driving force in public school policy is parents. We teachers, although we are professionals and experts in our field, don't have the pull that the parents and the tax-paying community do.  Even if you are not an educator, please take a look at this report, and use your influence to create positive changes in your school. And the timing couldn't be better.

Something happened this summer that should translate into huge good news for Latinas: we put one on the Supreme Court. Justice Sotomayor, like President Obama, is proof that ¡sí se puede!, that staying in school can be done, and that it pays off, even if you come from a non-traditional household (where your parents didn't grow up speaking English or your father is absent). That you don't have to be white to succeed in politics or an academic career; that there's somewhere for people of color to go besides the NBA, NFL or reggaetón scene.

Unfortunately the Supreme Court is not the same bully pulpit as the Presidency. We see President Obama in the media daily; now that Justice Sotomayor's confirmation is done, we won't see as much of her in the news - but this doesn't mean we need to hide her away. Teachers and parents need to use this woman to inspire those young Latinas.

Now, please don't accuse me of racism. All of us women need to celebrate Sotomayor's victory, as well as Justice Ginsburg's, and their hard work. But the fact that Sotomayor is a woman and a Latina from an underpriviledged background adds a layer to her story that we have not seen before, and we need to play up that angle. This will speak directly to Latinas, the demographic that is suffering from the highest drop-out rates at the moment, but it will also speak to girls of any skin color who come from underpriviledged backgrounds.

In our world of 24-hour news overload it's easy to go from one thing to the next and let our attention be captivated by the controversy du jour, but let's not forget this milestone. Barack Obama's campaign and victory took place during the school year, where smart social studies teachers could take the opportunity to watch history unfold in their classrooms and give the event the significance it deserved.

Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation took place during the summer, while teachers and kids were home, but that doesn't mean we need to shrug and forget it, moving on to the next item on the standardized-test agenda: let's relive the moment in the classrooms, let's bring back the debates, let's read her speeches, let's talk about the issues surrounding her confirmation, and let's celebrate her victory, especially with those girls who need to hear it the most.

Let's educate and inspire an army of Wise Latinas (of every race and nationality).