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Posts Tagged ‘Education’

Racist teacher canned in Chicago

5:34 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · chicago|Controversia|Education · 1 Comment

11 May 2006

An art teacher who allegedly erupted in racial slurs towards her students — among them “all Mexicans are criminals” — has been fired by the Chicago charter school where she works. U.S. press has been reporting on this in bits and pieces, but Spanish daily 20 Minutos sums it up quite well:

According to witnesses, the teacher became angry last Friday during an art class when someone stained her jacket with paint.

It was then that she said, according to the same sources, “all Mexicans are criminals” and “you were born to scrub floors”.

The article points out the school was advised by its attorneys that the best thing to do was to fire the teacher. When this was announced last night at a PTA meeting the attendees burst into applause.

According to CBS2 Chicago, all teachers at the school will now have to undergo “sensitivity training”.

Watch a report on this case on CBS2 Chicago’s website

Via / 20 Minutos and CBS 2

Latino segregation in Denver?

12:47 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · children|Education|race · Comments Off

20 Jan 2006

It appears that in 2006, school segregation is back in style in Denver. Or that desegregation of schools effectively ended when the government stopped forcing the busing issue:

The study says white students re-segregated rapidly after the desegregation order was lifted, reports the Denver Post.

The study done for Denver’s Piton Foundation says individual schools no longer represent the city’s demographics. Denver’s student population is 57 percent Latino, 20 percent white and 19 percent black, reports the Denver Post.

“You have white students who are concentrated in schools with other white students,” said the study’s researcher Chungmei Lee. “Latino students are especially isolated.”

I guess we have to be forced to live among each other, robbing our children the gift of being surrounded by people of different backgrounds, enriching their learning process. Incredible that we still can’t do it on our own.

Via / UPI

Met Offers Art in Spanish

11:54 am By Maegan La Mala · Arts|children|Events|Family|New York City · Comments Off

9 Jan 2006

The world famous Metropolitan Museum of Art, located in New York City, to make sure that children and their families have access to the world of fine arts regardless of what language is spoken. The Education Department of the Met is sponsoring a Spanish language program named El primer contacto con el arte. The lectures and activities are being held every Saturday from 11:30 a.m. a 1:00 p.m. in the Uris Education Center and are open to children between 6 and 12 years of age accompanied by one adult. Each month a new artistic theme or time period is studies. In January the theme is The Renaissance in Europe. The program is scheduled to run through May and is free with paid admission to the museum. For more information regarding these and other programs call (212) 650-2833 or visit www.metmuseum.org.

Via / El Diario NY

Send Us Your Students

11:00 am By Maegan La Mala · Education · Comments Off

2 Jan 2006

Educators from public and private colleges and universities from across he U.S. and Puerto Rico are meeting to figure out how to attract more foreign students. The meeting to be held at the end of this week and sponsored by the U.S. Department of State will determine strategies to boost sagging international enrollment numbers. Some notable Latino leaders have taken advantage of educational opportunities here in the U.S. including Chilean president Ricardo Lagos, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and Dominican president Leonel Fernandez.

Via / Univision.com

Colombians the Most Educated Immigrants

9:12 am By Maegan La Mala · Colombia|Education|Immigration · 1 Comment

14 Dec 2005

According to a study conducted by the Center for Immigration Studies released on Monday, Colombians represent the largest number of immigrants entering the United States with the highest levels of education. 32.1% of Colombians over the age of 25 entering the U.S. have a college degree. Overall across various age categories that come into the U.S. have an average of 13. 3 years of education under their belt. 16.4% of the Colombians surveyed had not completed their high school education.

The study looked at immigration into the United States over the last five years, which has recorded the highest numbers of new people entering in history. The study also includes information on health care access and rates of entrepreneurship.

You can access the entire study at the Center for Immigration Studies website.

Via / Telemundo 47

High Demand for Latino Technology Professionals

5:34 pm By Maegan La Mala · Education · 1 Comment

13 Dec 2005

In order to remain competitive in the world economy the U.S. Department of Labor states that 1.5 million technology professionals will be needed here in the U.S. Furthermore, IBM states that in this decade “…one out of four jobs will be in information technology.” Strangely enough there has been a decline in technology related course enrollment. Of all students graduating from computer science programs in the U.S., Latinos represent 3.9 percent.

Friday, IBM, Florida International University and the University of Miami are to launch a program to encourage young people, especially Hispanics, to consider careers in engineering and information technology.
Called “LA Grid,” the initiative is to work to increase number of Hispanic students entering the technology industry by pairing them with IBM mentors and providing opportunities to work on research and development projects with Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM.
“Currently, there is a great opportunity for Hispanics in the technology industry,” IBM said.

Via / Bizjournals.com

Hispanic Alumni Club Gives Back

9:10 pm By Maegan La Mala · Education · Comments Off

9 Dec 2005

With its annual scholarship dinner tonight, the University of Arizona Hispanic Alumni club celebrates 20 years of contributing to students, now giving nearly $300,000 a year. The club has an endowment of $1.2 million and from that, spends about $80,000 a year on cash awards for 50 students, ranging from $500 up to $2,500. From money raised each year, the group gives full-tuition awards to another 50 students, spending about $200,000.

It’s great to see that this Alumni club is providing opportunities to future Latino college students. Aside from providing scholarships, the club also provides networking opportunities for students as well as a support system to assist students. I can just imagine how this club impacts the students that they help. It must be very comforting to Latino students, when they know that there is someone there to help them in their time of need. It also goes to show that as college graduates we have the responsibility to help facilitate higher education for others.

Via / Arizona Daily Star

Whittier Elects First Latino School Board Members

3:30 pm By Maegan La Mala · Education · 1 Comment

6 Dec 2005

“I think it’s a great honor. It means a lot not only to be the first Latino, but just to be elected in general. The times are changing. Plus, with the student population being (72) percent Latino, I think having one or two Latino representatives on the board was necessary.”

Finally, Latinos have been elected to the Whittier School Board. It’s good to see that Latinos are taking positions of power within their communities. It’s sad though to see that it has taken so long, but at least we have our collective foot in the door.

The 1990 U.S. Census showed that 40 percent of Whittier residents were Hispanics. By 2000, Whittier’s Latino population jumped to 56 percent.

Via / Whittier Daily News

High Demand for Minority Caregivers

9:28 pm By Maegan La Mala · Health|language · 1 Comment

5 Dec 2005

It seems that no matter what part of the country you are located, there is a huge demand for health professionals to help meet the diverse needs of the U.S. population.

According to the San Bernardino County Sun, minorities “…hold the majority of all chronic disease statistics,” yet they are the minority among health care professionals.

This disparity has to change in order to adequately meet the needs of all patients. The question then is how will the health community recruit more minorities into the health profession? The interesting thing is that this recruiting effort must go beyond simply hiring more minorities, and an effort must be made to recruit individuals that have an understanding of language and cultural differences.

Among the Latino population, language is one of many barriers to health care. One in four is uninsured and one in seven has Type II diabetes.

Companies in pursuit of Latino MBAs

12:50 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · business|Education|Marketing · 1 Comment