Annotations for Subject-headings: Teachers

The New York City school system is still looking for a replacement for ousted Chancellor Joséph Fernandez. The controversial administrator will vacate his post in June. From New York, Mandalit del Barco reports.

The New York City school system is still looking for a replacement for ousted Chancellor Joséph Fernandez. The controversial administrator will vacate his post in June. From New York, Mandalit del Barco reports.

Joséph Fernandez returned to the city where he was born three years ago, vowing to turn around the nation's largest school system. In the end, it was his controversial reforms that put him at odds with his own board of education. His support for social issues created controversy, especially his programs to distribute condoms to high school students and his curriculum to teach respect for gays and lesbians. Fernandez had these words after a meeting in which board members voted not to renew his contract.

Joséph Fernandez returned to the city where he was born three years ago, vowing to turn around the nation's largest school system. In the end, it was his controversial reforms that put him at odds with his own board of education. His support for social issues created controversy, especially his programs to distribute condoms to high school students and his curriculum to teach respect for gays and lesbians. Fernandez had these words after a meeting in which board members voted not to renew his contract.

Some of my detractors have said, “Well, you didn't have to get into these issues of HIV AIDS…You didn't have to get into these issues of tolerance and bias program.” And that's a part of a… major part of educating our kids. I wouldn't have done it differently.

Some of my detractors have said, “Well, you didn't have to get into these issues of HIV AIDS…You didn't have to get into these issues of tolerance and bias program.” And that's a part of a… major part of educating our kids. I wouldn't have done it differently.

In a recently published autobiography, Fernandez details his years as a heroin addict and a gang member who went on to become a teacher and later Miami School superintendent. He also criticized New York's governor and mayor for not spending enough on education. Unless New York City's Board of Education reverses itself or is restructured, Fernandez's contract ends in June. For Latino USA, Mandalit del Barco in New York.

In a recently published autobiography, Fernandez details his years as a heroin addict and a gang member who went on to become a teacher and later Miami School superintendent. He also criticized New York's governor and mayor for not spending enough on education. Unless New York City's Board of Education reverses itself or is restructured, Fernandez's contract ends in June. For Latino USA, Mandalit del Barco in New York.

The word mentor is derived from the ancient Greek from the name of the man who spent 10 years teaching the son of the poet Homer. In ancient Greece, young people often studied in apprenticeship programs. Today, some Latino students are learning a variety of skills, from chess to chemistry, in a mentorship program taking place in New Mexico. Debra Beagle prepared this report.

Here, I'm thinking of placing my knight on D5. It attacks his queen.

Now, had I scanned a little better, I would've seen that the knight would've come to that square…see, and I would not have put my queen where it is, because now I need to move that queen…

Thirteen-year-old Miguel Atencio of Chama, New Mexico, beats his father in chess almost every game. He began playing when he was nine. Two years later, he joined the high-school chess team. That's when someone from Celebrate Youth, a six-year-old mentorship program in New Mexico, spotted the talented youngster and invited him to work more seriously on his game. This year, Miguel won the state middle-school chess championship.

In math, it's helped me. I can like work out problems in my head and all that. It's helped me like to remember like what the things I read and all that, because you have to remember things. You have to remember positions and all that. So, I've been getting a little bit better at that.

Miguel Atencio is both highly motivated and very talented. These are the characteristics Celebrate Youth director, Paquita Hernández, looks for in students. She also pursues teenagers who are equally talented but living in what Hernández describes as economic and social poverty.

A child who is economically poor but is matched with a mentor who is an artist or is a physicist or is a chemist or is a great writer, offers challenging conversations, exciting questions, um…different opportunities to look…through which to experience the world…I think that they flourish in ways that are magnificent.

The adult mentor meets with the student once a week for six months. Each student develops a project, perhaps a dance, a piece of sculpture, a science or math project, an essay or poem, or a piece of music.

[Person playing the piano]

Okay, now do the last two lines, and make a difference between your…your forte in the top line and your fortissimo in your bottom line.

[Person playing the piano]

Ninth grader Alyssa Montoya works with Mary Agnes Anderson of Española as her mentor. Anderson has mentored three students so far.

It gives them courage to be different, a reason not to be like everyone else, to have faith in themself. Watching this happen is my basic reward on it.

Other mentors have seen more impressive changes as a result of the program. Paquita Hernández tells the story of one talented teenager who is likely to follow two older brothers into drugs and depression. After delving into a science research project for two years in the Celebrate Youth program, he entered college and now plans to become a doctor. Success stories like these, Hernández says, are less likely to happen within the current school system.

I think there's a vacuum in the schools, not only in New Mexico but in the whole nation. I think the schools need to change, and I think they need to change radically because they are not reaching the majority of young people. I think those kids who don't drop out of school physically actually drop out often, even though they're sitting in the classroom with the books in front of them.

Those involved in Celebrate Youth say the goal is to promote excellence over mediocrity. Achievement is measured against one's own abilities rather than in competition with others. This is the attitude Miguel Atencio takes.

All right, and here's the last move, and I'm going to checkmate in one move. I'm going to move Queen on E7 to B7. Checkmate.

That's the end of the game.

These days, Miguel is sharpening his chess skills to prepare for the annual Celebrate Youth Festival in June. Nearly 400 students, including 30 chess players like Miguel, will gather for three days at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, which co-sponsors the program. There, they'll perform their dances, hang their paintings, and display their research projects that demonstrate the skills they've worked so hard to develop.

[Person playing the piano]

The Wild Rider. The Wild Rider. Everyone has trouble with the Wild Rider. He's a hard-bucking horse.

For Latino USA, this is Debra Beagle in Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico.

Alfaro says that most of the estimated 200,000 Salvadorians in this country have no plans to return home, as many have established homes and families here. Others, he says, are still afraid to return to El Salvador after 12 years of war. Alfaro and other refugee advocates now plan to lobby to have Congress and the administration consider granting permanent US residency to qualified Salvadoran refugees.

Latino students in Texas are more than twice as likely to drop out as non-Hispanic white students. Vidal Guzman reports.

The Texas Education Agency says Latino students, who make up about a third of the overall student population in Texas, are more than 40% of dropouts. If current trends continue, more than 20% of all Texas students now in the seventh grade will drop out before graduating from high school. The education agency recommends increasing the number of minority teachers and instituting get back to school programs for expelled students. In Austin, I'm Vidal Guzman.

Educators and education reporters at the Washington Conference of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists agreed that the public schools in this country continue to fail Latino children, especially in bilingual education. Laura Varela reports.

Jim Lyons, the executive director of the National Association for Bilingual Education, says the government and the media pay too much attention to test scores. Instead, he says, the education system should be graded in its performance. Still, Lyons says many Latino students are not letting the lack of quality bilingual ed programs get in their way.

I think one of the great success stories in this country is the number of children that have become fully bilingual, many fully bi-literate, when most of their teachers are still hopelessly monolingual.

To solve the problem, Lyons says, more bilingual teachers must be hired, and more government funding for bilingual education programs must be made available. For "Latino USA," I'm Laura Varela.

A revival of traditional Mexican mariachi music is taking place across this country and many Latino youth are participating. Marcos Martinez of Radio Station, KUNM prepared this report on the Mariachi celebration held recently in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Now in its fourth year.

[Mariachi Music]

Albuquerque's Mariachi Spectacular brings together groups from throughout the southwest who bring their instruments and their devotion to the music for four days of workshops and concerts. On a Saturday afternoon, some eight mariachi groups alternate between six different stages along Main street of the New Mexico State fairgrounds. This is called Plaza Garibaldi modeled after the original Plaza Garibaldi in Mexico City where Mariachis gathered to play and find work. This year, about half the groups at Plaza Garibaldi are high school students. 17 year old Nick Watson plays with Mariachi Oro Del Sol from El Paso, Texas. He says Mariachi music is complex and fun to play

Well because it's challenging. It has more than three chords. It's basically what I think rock and roll is. And not that I'm knocking, I like rock and roll, but it's challenging. It's more challenging to play, you know, learn a lot more from it.

[Mariachi Music]

With this music, you can express your feelings more.

How?

Um, with the songs, the words and stuff, they're very powerful words.

Jennifer Luna is the leader of Mariachi Oro del Sol and shares Watson's enthusiasm. She says in her part of Texas, young people are very drawn to this style of music.

A lot of young people play in El Paso. That's mostly what there is there. The groups are younger kids. Cause over there it's in the schools they teach it to you, so it's pretty common over there.

The word mariachi comes from the French word for marriage. According to history, French people who came to Mexico in the 1800s became interested in the Mexican string bands of the time and invited them to play at French weddings. Today, mariachis typically include guitar, violin, trumpet, and the vihuela, which is a small guitar, and the guitarrón, which is a very large guitar. While they carry on traditions, youth mariachi groups like Oro Del Sol are also different from the older generation of mariachis in that they tend to be more gender balanced. Nick Watson says his mariachi group is all the better for including young women musicians.

They're good. We just picked who’s good and they're good. So we take them, it doesn't matter. Sex has nothing to do with it. If you're good, you're good, you play.

[Mariachi Music]

There's no doubt that among the young people attending this year's Mariachi Spectacular is some great future talent. Alex De Leon is a vocalist for the Mariachi Azul y Blanco from Adamson High School in Dallas. This 17 year old has already received high praise for his vocal talents.

[Mariachi Music]

People keep giving me comments, I'm good and stuff. So now I want to get better.

Young Mariachis, like De Leon have a chance to learn from more experienced mentors like Al Sandoval, who teaches music in the Albuquerque public schools and is director of Mariachi Romántico. Sandoval says, attendance at the Mariachi Spectacular workshops has tripled since last year. Sandoval says because of its expressiveness, mariachi music is a big part of Southwest Hispanic culture.

It's the most addicting music of all. I mean Southwest, it's the most addicting music. It grows on you and once it's in your blood, you'll never get it out. It's worse than the worst habit you can ever have because I mean, you grow to love it and you can never get away from it.

[Mariachi Music]

Everything about Mariachis hearkens back to Old Mexico from the ornate charro outfits and broad brimmed hats to the instruments and the old songs. But on the final night of the Mariachi Spectacular, as the teenage musicians joined the world's most famous mariachi groups on stage for a grand finale, the tradition seemed certain to continue for a long time to come. For Latino USA, I'm Marcos Martinez in Albuquerque.

Indeed, the numbers have changed in the last eight years. I arrived at Southwestern University in '85 and not unlike what happens in many other institutions, unless you get a critical mass, unless you get someone working actively at encouraging the young people, the young Hispanics to come into the sciences, it happens, but it happens very slowly in some instances as the critical number goes up, the students themselves do the recruiting.

From everything that I've read, you just don't inspire from the lecture hall, but you take a very proactive, dynamic relationship with your students. Someone described you as part teacher, part parent, part pit bull. Is that correct?

[laughter] Well, that is correct to up to a certain point. I do agree with your statement that teaching, if I just restricted to the lecture hall and even the laboratory, the job is incomplete. Teaching means sharing and giving, and the bulk of the teaching actually occurs in my own experience at the level of what I call study with a prof sessions. I love to have a time period at the end of the day, at least once a week if not twice a week, where I ask my students, "Come and visit. If you're going to study on your own, why don't you come and spend that hour or two with me and let's study with together." At those sessions, I really get to know my students. I really get to know and get a good feel for where they're at, how well they're understanding the concepts. I also discover where they're going and I'm in a unique position of encouraging them. If they have a certain goal, I will encourage them to consider other options, especially if I can detect and I can see that they have the talent and they're just not shooting high enough. What a privilege to be in a position like that.

What advice would you have for parents or young students about education and then perhaps not just in the sciences but in general?

I was able to get an education because my education started at home and the parents play a key, key role. I come from a family that I was the first one to go into college. My father was born in a ranch, born a cowboy, worked as a cowboy before he got married, never went to school. My mother was born in Monterrey, Mexico, moved over here when she was nine or ten and went as far as the fifth grade. They played a key role in terms of the encouragement that they gave me. So to parents, I would stress that even if they have not obtained an education, they are involved in the process of educating their children and preparing them to get an education. The question may come up, "Well, but how can I?" Encouragement is a bottom line, encouragement. I was prepared for college work along the way and indeed my father always stressed, "Get an education. Get an education."

In his case, the experience that he went through, growing up in a ranch in south Texas, he never learned English. So then World War II comes around, he's drafted, here he's having to go serve and he doesn't know the language. So he went through some very, very trying times and I think that that was a lesson that was so well-placed in his own mind and his own heart that he would not have his children go through that. Now education is a sacrifice and if I were to tell you that getting an education is not a sacrifice, I would be lying to you. It's going to require work, but the beautiful thing about it is that it is a kind of work and a sacrifice that becomes fun as you become successful.

Thank you. Dr. Vicente Domingo Villa of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. Dr. Villa has been named the National Professor of the Year by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is proposing what they call the greatest reform of bilingual education. Congressman Jose Serrano, caucus chair, says their bilingual education program would concentrate funds on poor areas and on those with high numbers of limited English-proficient students. With this bill, Latino representatives hope to improve and expand educational opportunities for Latinos and other language minorities. According to a recent poll, almost half of public school teachers say students should be required to learn English before being taught other subjects. A coalition of Latino organizations is calling for an end to what they called the racist rhetoric surrounding the debate over NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. From Washington, Patricia Guadalupe reports.

In a recent floor debate in Congress, an Ohio representative spoke out against the North American Free Trade Agreement by saying all the United States would get in return were two tons of heroin and baseball players. Others say they are against a treaty because Mexico is in their words "a pigpen." The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, a coalition of over 20 Latino organizations, wants that to stop. They say they are putting people on notice that any racist and stereotypical comment will no longer be tolerated. MaryJo Marion, senior trade analyst at the National Council of La Raza, is a member of the coalition.

We think their statements are much like what's said about Jews in Eastern Europe. What was said about Black Americans here 20 or 40 years ago.

Marion added that the coalition is meeting with labor and political leaders about their concerns. For Latino USA, I'm Patricia Guadalupe in Washington.

A recent study by a Latino think tank shows an underrepresentation of Latino teachers in schools across the country. Patricia Guadalupe in Washington has the story.

The study conducted over a five-year period by the Tomás Rivera Center found three times more Latino students than teachers in some states. It cites research that links the presence of Latino teachers to improved academic performance by Latino students. Rivera Center director Dr. Harry Pachon says the study highlights what he calls the crisis in Hispanic education.

We have a tremendous underrepresentation of Latino teachers in the United States. We're having school districts now that are 50% Latino, but yet less than 5% Latino teachers.

The importance of early childhood education, the importance of quality public schools, the availability of teacher leaders, the role of schools in the community are integral to our work.

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Henry Cisneros, who is a member of the center, says the lack of Latino teachers early in a student's life will have a later impact on the entire community. The center recommends that the US Department of Education target more resources to colleges with Latino students interested in teaching careers. The study's chief researcher, Dr. Reynaldo Macias, wants to see mentoring programs that would identify and support Latino teacher candidates.

The support that takes place as a result of interacting with faculty in the teacher education programs, counselors, practicing teachers in the schools and otherwise being told that yes, you do matter and yes, you can make it and we're here to make sure you make it has made a tremendous difference.

Representatives of the Tomás Rivera Center are meeting with members of Congress in hopes of including their recommendations in the Education Appropriations package now under consideration for Latino USA, I'm Patricia Guadalupe in Washington.