What is Hispanic Student Day?
As of right now, it’s a plan, although it is not manifesting itself as quickly as I would have originally hoped.
I work in the department of foreign languages and among the many things we do, we work as advocates for the Hispanic population, as you well know if you have read this column before.
One thing that we find to be very common, especially in this area, is that high school students of Hispanic heritage are not often encouraged to go to college. They are more likely directed in the path of vocational or technical training.
Why is that? Part of the reason is because it is a fact that Hispanic students have a higher dropout rate and are less likely, in general, to pursue higher education.
I believe that this reasoning, although true, is actually part of the problem. In all likelihood, they do not pursue higher education because they are not typically encouraged to do so; it is for this reason that someone needs to break that cycle. That is the purpose of Hispanic Student Day.
We are in the process of trying to bring the Hispanic High School students from the area to the university on Friday from 10:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. to provide them with some general information about the university, the advantages of furthering one’s education, and above all the advantages of being bilingual.
We would like to provide an emphasis on Hispanic culture and will even have entertainment with music and dancing.
The problem that we have run into is that the school systems, for the most part, are not as eager to make this happen as are we.
So, I have two things to ask of you, the readers of the East Tennessean.
First of all, please remember what you’ve learned about our Hispanic population and don’t be so quick to judge as many people we’ve encountered have been. This is something that is very important and we need to use the resources available to us to better our community.
The second thing is, if you know of any student to whom this article applies, maybe a friend or neighbor, please let them know.
You are even welcome to become involved in this day with us. Feel free to contact me. My phone number is 439-6897 and I would be happy to contact any high school or middle school student to personally invite him or her. Please know, however, that I do not intend to dog all of the school systems in this area.
From several schools, we have received an overwhelming response. I would only like to draw attention to the fact that we have encountered the stereotypical attitude that we expected, the one that initiated this project.
Lastly, I plead you to be careful when making assumptions – think twice.

Author