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                                    for Hispanic Heritage Month

Veterans, Active Duty Hispanics Can Help Hispanic Youth

By Rudi Williams

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON – Hispanic-American military veterans and active duty personnel can help staunch soaring high school dropout rates that threaten the futures of Hispanic youth, a top Department of Veterans Affairs leader said recently. When Hispanics are discharged from military service,
a top Department of Veterans Affairs leader said recently.

When Hispanics are discharged from military service, they

become immediate community role models who can greatly influence

high school children, Kathy Jurado, VA assistant secretary for

public and intergovernmental affairs, told the American GI Forum

education and training conference in Kansas City, Mo., in August.

"They know the neighborhood kids who are having problems and

need to take them under their wings," Jurado said. "We look to

them for leadership. They can help tremendously in getting

youngsters to stay in school, get a college degree or even

consider military service to help find their niche in life."

While veterans are using the GI Bill for their own college or

vocational training, they should take some time to mentor and

tutor students who might be troubled or have problems, she added.

"We need to become experts about financial aid for college,

know how to take advantage of tuition credit and teach everybody

else in our community," Jurado told the American GI Forum

education and training conference in Kansas City, Mo., in August.

"While the tools are there, we need to take advantage of them."

That's why "Excellence in Education: Building Opportunity

for Our Youth" is this year's Hispanic Heritage Month theme, she

said. Jurado said the heritage month observance delights her, but

the underlying need for the theme angers her.

The GI Forum's theme was "Hispanic Patriots: Educating

Tomorrow's Work Force." With more than 160,000 members, the

American GI Forum is the nation's largest Hispanic veterans'

organization. Since 1978, the American GI Forum Hispanic

Education Foundation has awarded more than $5 million in

scholarships to about 20,000 students.

"We need to do more -- go beyond our community and raise

money for our students, because this enables us to grow as a

community," she said. The heritage month, she said, is a chance

for the mosaic population of Hispanics to showcase, among a

multitude of other things, a panoramic view of their culture,

heritage, accomplishments, roots and patriotism. Doing so infuses

ethnic pride and creates better understanding of cultural

differences among the various ethnic groups in America, she said.

But she said she finds Hispanics' high school dropout rates

and low college enrollment rates disturbing.

For example: "Thirty percent of Hispanics between 16 and 24

have dropped out of high school," said Jurado, a life member of

the GI Forum. "The haves and have nots in the 21st century will

be those with and without education. In 10 years, we're going to

be the largest minority group in this country. By the year 2035,

one of every five Americans will be Latino. If something isn't

done about education, Hispanics as a group will not be able to

compete in the job market."

Jurado said Hispanic high school dropouts don't think

they're hurting themselves, but they are -- and they're hurting

the whole Hispanic community as well. "We have to make them face

reality: If they don't stay in school, they're going to have

problems in the future," she said. "A lot of kids say, 'I'm going

to leave school and get a job.' They don't realize they're

locking themselves into low-wage jobs, and most of the Latinos

who do that are now living in poverty."

She said the whole Hispanic community needs to take

youngsters by the hand and explain the ramifications of not

having an education. They need to take advantage of federal and

state funding for higher education and local and charitable

organizations' scholarship funds.

Jurado also urged young Hispanics to become community

leaders. She urged them to consider going into public service,

including local, state or federal government employment or

military service. They should consider working for the local

government in their communities and states and the federal

government.

"Unless Latinos are in positions of authority in the

government, we will not have a voice in the solutions to the

problems of our community," Jurado said. "We need our young

people to consider public service because that's the best way to

help our community. They should consider elective offices. We

need more voices.

"There are all kinds of ways to serve, but staying in school

is the most important thing," she emphasized. "And we need you to

go to college and be an example, no matter what you do."

Jurado said the outlook for the future would be bleak if

Hispanics don't find ways to express the importance of education

and its relationship to better jobs and income to coming

generations.

"The median income of Latinos is declining," she said. "In

1995, everybody else's income was going up, including all other

minority groups. Latinos were the only group to have a drop in

the median income, and it fell by 5.1 percent. The working poor

are Latinos. The definition of working poor is someone who works

all week long and is poor. They're making minimum wage and can't

make ends meet because they are supporting a family. One-third of

married Latino couples are poor."

Jurado said Hispanics need to know about scholarship dollars

in the balanced budget agreement, tax credits for education and

educational programs such as Head Start and the America Reads

campaign.

She said the new tax credit program for education can help,

but the problem remains of getting Hispanics through high school

so they can qualify for college. Head Start focuses on 3-year-

olds from poor and disadvantaged families to give them an extra

push in English before elementary school. The America Reads

Program is in place to ensure every child knows how to read by

the third grade.

Job Corps is another program that can help Hispanics improve

their marketability. But Jurado noted Hispanic participation in

these programs is low.

"The country has embarked on the largest investment in

education since the GI Bill," Jurado said. "The GI Bill created

the middle class in America. Before the GI Bill, there was the

lower class and the upper class that had all the wealth and the

land. Few people owned houses or had a college education. The GI

Bill came along after World War II, and all of a sudden all of

these GIs all over the country had college educations."

Education is going to help people gain the skills and

college degrees that will enable America to grow as a nation in a

technological age, Jurado said.

"We made an investment in 1945 with the GI Bill, and now

we're making an investment in 1997," she noted. "We can't wait

for another investment. We have to take advantage now -- all of

us working together and fighting to get our people into school

and getting them to graduate and go on to college."

The failure to pursue an education isn't unique to the

Hispanic community, she noted. Another sad commentary, according

to Jurado, is 95 percent of service men and women sign up for the

GI Bill, but only 47 percent use it, according to Department of

Defense records.

"They made a commitment -- $100 per month for 12 months,

$1,200 total -– and in return, they would get about $15,000 in

education funds," Jurado said. "It works out to about $425 per

month. It won't pay for their college, but it sure helps. But

many of them are not taking advantage of educational

opportunities.


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