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FROM THE DIRECTOR’S CORNER
The many education experts at the UCLA conference concluded that at every stage of a Latino child’s education there was insufficient information available to navigate the “education pipeline” and a real lack of a college-going culture that encouraged them to finish high school and go on to college. Patricia Gandara, professor of education at UC Davis said that “Nobody’s preparing these kids for what they need to do because of that absence of a [college-going] culture”. KOREH L.A. volunteers have always been trained to expose their students to the world of books and reading as a source of joy. The idea of reading as enriching to a child is the basic building block of real learning. Once this concept is part of a child’s thinking, it can be a smooth transition to that college-going culture. Our volunteers understand that while they help to show their students the joy of reading, they also serve as models of literate, educated people. This kind of mentoring is an invaluable part of creating a culture of achievement and advancement that all our children deserve. |
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At a recent UCLA conference on Latinos in education, participants unanimously agreed that Latino students were falling through the cracks in the “education pipeline”. The 2000 federal census provided data that showed that only 50% of Latino students finish high school, 10% graduate from college and 4 % obtain an advanced degree. By comparison, 84% of white students get their high school diplomas, with 26% graduating from college and 10% earning advanced degrees. Since Latinos make up 72.8% of students in the Los Angeles Unified School District, and 46.8% of students statewide, this is a very large problem for both Los Angeles and California.