The history of our Hispanic and Latino immigrants is a long and noble story.
Hispanics have always had a high rate of participation both in our labor markets as well as military service. In fact, these Spanish-speaking immigrants represent the second largest number of ethnic names on the Vietnam War Memorial. Yet our nation must confront the current achievement gap among our newest Americans, particularly in the areas of STEM -- science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Far too many worthy Hispanic and Latino students are not able to graduate from high school or college. The central reason for this underperformance among Hispanic students is the need to drop out of school in order to provide financial support for their families by going into the workforce, or they simply cannot afford to continue college. It is most critical to bridge this gap between our rising Hispanic student populations and their participation in the hard sciences. If we allow these students to fail, our nation will fail.
Today there are 50 million U.S. Hispanics.
That population will more than double by 2050, as Hispanics are the largest and youngest growing minority population. If they do not become immersed in STEM education, our nation will not be competitive in the global market, and deserving Hispanics will become our poorest Americans. Can Hispanics excel in science?
Consider this: Hispanics represent nearly 20 percent of new recruits for our high-tech military. As professional military soldiers, these young men and women help run our computerized military hardware and software in fields ranging from engineering and weather analysis to emergency medicine and cutting-edge weapon systems. Yet, why do these unprivileged Hispanic immigrants have to risk life and limb in the global war on terror to have exposure to technological fields?
As a nation, we can do better. We must develop volunteer networks to inform Hispanic parents of the value of a STEM education. According to a Georgetown University study, 63 percent of graduates with a two-year degree in STEM are paid more than a graduate with a non-STEM four-year degree. And 47 percent of graduates with a Bachelor's of Science earn more money than a Ph.D. in a non-STEM occupation.
We can certainly count on Hispanic parents being very receptive as 91 percent of Hispanic parents say they expect their children to go into higher education, according to a recent poll.
The challenge will be to provide financial support for the hopes of Hispanic America. This effort must be supported by emerging nonprofits, philanthropists and our foundation's Brinker Education Initiative to provide scholarships for select Hispanic/Latino collegians in science, technology,engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in cooperation with our best 21st century corporations.
After all, what good is an open door to an empty room? Make no mistake, if our nation does not provide sufficient private and public funding for Hispanic immigrants to enter the many fields of science, not only will they lack the technological innovations to compete and lead our nation in the global economy, we will be allowing millions of our most well-intended but vulnerable new Americans to descend into an unacceptable cycle of poverty.
Matthew Tsien is the communications director for the Brinker Education Initiative for Hispanic STEM Collegians.
