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The call to a better life: Vocational training for Latinos

01/04/2012 By Leave a Comment
The new year is upon us and with it comes the eternal hope for peace and prosperity. For Latinos in the U.S., the road map to achieve this clearly involves education and community organizing to ensure that we continue on our path towards this goal. A worthy question to consider is the type of education that may best serve the individuals in our communities.Latino presence in U.S. colleges is growing. This very important and hopeful trend signals a positive change in a country where Latino higher educational achievement has been lacking. We have seen, that in addition to Latino students seeking college degrees, there also appears to be an emerging trend of Latinos entering post-graduate educational institutions.

Carlos Porto

While these developments are hopeful, it is important to note that not all individuals are either suited for or desirous of this type of education. As a community, we need to ensure that we all have a means by which to earn a decent living. One option that would benefit from increased advocacy, and federal and state support, is vocational training.

Learning a marketable skill is an excellent option for those individuals who see the end of high school as the end of their formal academic training. Since obtaining a high school diploma is currently not sufficient to ensure financial and social well being, students who might otherwise seek a spot on an assembly line or behind a counter could quite possibly secure a better future for themselves and their families by obtaining a skilled trade.
In addition, it is crucial not to disregard the effects of such training on the psyche of those people who may have developed poor self esteem due to lack of academic achievement. Families who might otherwise have continued to struggle with the burden of poverty could find the entrance to stability and prosperity that comes with a decent salary and pride in their work.

Vocational training is not widely presented with the dignity and emphasis that befits a solution to some of the economic hardship that Latinos endure. In many countries in Europe, for example, vocational training is regarded as a respected and viable option for many individuals who do not seek an advanced academic degree. The U.S. has not properly embraced the concept of trade skills and their importance to a thriving community.

This is, once again, an opportunity for us to provide some grass roots momentum to an idea that could fundamentally, over time, change the social dynamics of Latinos in this country. The Obama administration has proposed a 20 percent cut in funding for vocational programs for the fiscal year 2012. It is therefore up to us to become involved by contacting our representatives to demand well funded, effective training programs. It is up to us to visit schools and inquire about options that can be presented to those students who will plan not to attend college. Our future depends on it.

Adelante, todos juntos!
Filed Under: Comunidad
About Maitri Pamo

Matri was born in Guatemala City and emigrated to the U.S. with her parents when she was a toddler. Her childhood years were spent in Washington D.C. She was fortunate to have been aided and encouraged to apply to a great school in Virginia by a teacher who saw a spark in her when she taught her in the DC public school system. Maitri was disadvantaged in that she then became the only Latina in her class for many years. When it came time to go to college, she left for New York City, the place of her childhood dreams, to attend Barnard College, Columbia University. She graduated with a degree in Foreign Area Studies, with a concentration in Latin America. When she finally realized what she wanted to do professionally, she enrolled in three extra years of undergraduate coursework in order to fulfill the requirements for application to veterinary medical school. She graduated from the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine with a degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine.

In addition to her professional life, a life she finds not only rewarding but constantly challenging, Maitri is a wife and a mother of three young children. She is an activist, interested in furthering knowledge, participating and directly involving herself in the areas of human and non human animal rights and environmentalism. She tries to engage in the world around her to influence it as much as she can to help secure a healthy, peaceful living environment for her children and all other living beings on the planet. She is a benevolent misanthrope, a polyglot, a lover of travel. She has wild plans of obtaining a law degree when her children are older. She is currently practicing emergency medicine and volunteers her services wherever they are needed.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and should not be understood to be shared by Being Latino, Inc.

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