now for something more positive, attainment of second generation Latino immigrants

[Guest guest]

Folks,

This is an interesting study concerning educational, etc progress by successive Latino immigrant generations in Nebraska -- forwarded by Marinez. A link to the full study is provided at the end.

Alice Larson

-----------------------------Second-Generation Latinos in Nebraska: A First LookRecent raids at Midwestern meatpacking plants have again focusednational attention on immigrants and their families in America'sheartland. A new article from the Migration Information Source examineshow children of immigrants are faring in Nebraska, which between 1990and 2000, had the fastest growth of the foreign-born population of anyMidwestern state and the second highest increase in children ofimmigrants in pre-kindergarten to fifth grade.Noted scholars Lourdes Gouveia and Ann , from the Universityof Nebraska at Omaha, find that as of December 2006, Latino childrenmade up 22.6 percent of students in the Omaha Public School District,the state's largest, and that they are projected to be a majority in aslittle as five years. The authors provide a previously unavailable lookat first-, second- and third generation immigrants throughout the statebased on Current Population Survey data and their own EducationalAttainment in Nebraska survey, noting that due to limited sample sizes,the data are more descriptive than conclusive. Gouveia and find that:According to CPS data, school enrollment for 16- to 24-year-olds jumpsfrom 22.3 percent of first-generation Mexicans (59.7 percent full time)to 54.5 percent of second-generation Mexicans (90.3 percent full time).Educational attainment increases across generations, too. CPS data showthat nearly three out of four first-generation Mexican adults ages 25 to65 (73.8 percent) have less than a high school diploma, but this numberdrops to one out of four in the second generation (25.6 percent). Whileonly 2.6 percent of first-generation Mexican adults have a collegedegree, almost one-fourth of second-generation Mexican adults (22.8percent) do. Only sixteen percent of first-generation Latino students who completedthe authors' EAN survey reported that many or most of their friends hadplans to attend a four-year college, but 23 percent of second-generationand over half of third-generation Latino students reported friendshaving college plans. Despite this progress, hurdles remain. The majority of children ofimmigrants in Nebraska live in urban neighborhoods where poverty is atleast twice as high as the city's overall poverty rate, and the authorscaution that research has shown a correlation between familyfragmentation, due in part to immigrant parents' long working hours inlow-wage jobs, and downward assimilation. The authors found that of the second-generation Latino high schoolstudents who provided information on their parents' work status for theEAN survey, 100 percent of fathers and 69 percent of mothers work.However, the majority (55.2 percent) of first-generation high schoolstudents and over a third of second-generation high school students(38.4 percent) had to work to help their parents, while only 18.2percent of third-generation students did. Additionally, about 70percent of Latino children surveyed said they would need a scholarshipto attend college.Additional findings, as well as data charts, are available from the Migration Information Source article at:http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?id=569