Columnist Sandra Thompson: Conference helps Latinos find direction

Sandra Thompson is vice president/associate editor of the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at 259-4025 or through e-mail at thompson@ lasvegassun.com

"IF A MAN doesn't know to which port he's sailing, no wind will be favorable."

Horacio Valdez cites that quote from an unnamed scholar to describe the recent Latino Youth Leadership Conference, saying it showed him "which port to sail to and how to get there."

The 1999 Las Vegas High School graduate was one of 109 students to attend the sixth annual conference at UNLV. Four days of sessions focused on leadership skills, cultural and family values, and motivating students to attend college. There also were workshops on such nuts-and-bolts college issues as scheduling, class selection and financial aid.

Valdez, who was elected president of the conference's alumni association, plans to attend UNLV in the fall. That's quite an accomplishment considering his sister and two brothers will be in college at the same time.

The key to motivating youths, Valdez says, is the family.

"It's how you're brought up. It's how well your parents support you and treat you. It's all about who you hang around with ... which direction you go in," he says. "I was with people who wanted to better themselves."

The challenge is how to motivate Hispanic youths who don't have that family support. It's a daunting task when you consider the high dropout rate among Hispanic students. In 1997, the rate was 17 percent; among seniors, it was 29 percent compared to 20 percent for non-Hispanics.

Despite all the public hand-wringing over the state's high dropout rate, there is no overall policy to address specific areas of concern such as why the Hispanic rate is higher than any other group's.

A goal of the Latino Youth Leadership Conference is to stem the dropout tide, according to Maria Chairez, director of Secondary Success Programs for the Clark County School District.

Chairez notes that many of the Hispanic students who take advantage of educational programs, such as the leadership conference, are immigrants.

"Immigrants have the ability to compare and contrast. They have a prior point of reference -- usually they were worse off than they are now," she says.

If they face discrimination or other setbacks, they usually don't internalize it, Chairez adds. They rise above it; they're resilient. Many American-born Hispanics think their fate is sealed or have a fatalistic view of their future, so they aren't as motivated to succeed in school.

Many immigrant youths also have oral stories from their parents about their traditions and heritage. "That helps give them motivation and rooted-ness that some urban youth don't have. It puts their life in context, and gives them meaning and direction," Chairez says.

She believes many kids need incentives to stay in school. But, she adds, "How far do you go to entice students (to stay in school) until their internal motivation kicks in?"

Chairez oversees a truancy program that tracks youths' weekly progress on school attendance. Those who show improvement receive 2-for-1 coupons for fast-food restaurants.

She also has advocated learning centers for dropouts that would offer basic skills in a curriculum based on the students' needs -- at their pace. For example, if a teenager can't read, he would work with a teacher on just reading skills until he achieved a certain level. The centers also could offer vocational education and job skills training for dropouts.

The idea was pitched to the Legislature this past session, but the pilot project was not approved for funding.

Unless we find innovative ways to reach kids who aren't motivated to stay in school, our dropout rates will only grow. So we'll need more social welfare programs and prisons, which will cost more tomorrow than a preventive measure would have today.

One idea is convincing businesses not to hire kids who dropped out of school. While that may be impractical, businesses could refuse to promote youths unless they have a high school diploma or the equivalent. Too often, kids choose a fast-food paycheck over education.

We need more Horacio Valdezes who know where they want to go in this world.

We need more Maria Chairezes who are tackling the problem bit by bit.

"We need statewide leadership," Chairez says, throwing down the gauntlet.

Who will pick it up?

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