Hispanics, and higher education

I was reading an article recently [Hispanics Have Unique Cancer 'Profile'] when I noticed something. Why is it that in various documents from the government Hispanics are compared to non-Hispanic whites? I’m Hispanic (Black African American and Puerto Rican) but the government classified me African American, so does my doctor. Mexicans, Cubans, Brazilians, Ecuadorians and dozens of others are ‘Hispanic’ and many are not light skinned enough to be white. I also know many of all the Hispanic groups that are white skinned, including parts of my family. But none of them are white either.

In fact the only ‘white’ Hispanics I know of are Spaniards from Spain. Of course anyone who has paid attention to medieval history is aware that the Moors controlled Spain for 100+ years. The Moors were from Africa, need I say more? But I’ll take Spaniards as a given regardless. So who else are these Hispanic whites the government is referring to me not being? I just find that whole category annoying, but perhaps it’s just my ignorance on the subject.

By the way, the term Hispanic is dumb and misleading. It is derived from the word Hispania – an old word used to describe Spain. While the old Spanish did do a lot of ‘getting to know the natives’ (or ‘bringing them civilization/Christianity’ whichever you prefer) the native peoples/Indians of the various areas are as much part of the equation as Spain. Why such a term is used I do not know. It’s like the term Latino, which is better applied to Italian since Latin came from the Ancient Romans. While it is a pet peeve, it does annoy me that a more fairly descriptive term was never used. And why would it be a bad thing to call me a Black African American Taino Indian.

As for the above-mentioned article, read it and look at my post The health of this Puerto Rican Black African American. “If you don’t have your health what have you got?” (Bonus for those that know where that quote is from – hint, it’s a movie)

Another interesting article [Rising college fees will cost us in time] is one that hits home. I can definitely attest to the fact that college tuition has been raising since 1986. I recall the increase at Rutgers University; that would ‘only’ cause 11% of the student body to no longer be capable of affording the college as the school board of directors said. Not a big deal if you can afford it I suppose, I for one could not. And that was after taking into account the fact I maintained 3 part-time jobs while going to school.

Higher education has always been difficult to attain for minority students, especially those that are Black African American and Hispanic. Between less support from a family with lower incomes, less disposable income, fewer homes or assets, more difficult social backgrounds, worse elementary through high school systems and other factors – getting to college is hard enough. Of course that is a blanket statement, some of those factors apply to some people others don’t. But they do exist in abundance to many.

So with that said it’s no surprise that America is again becoming an elitist society in terms of education. One based on those with better education, and thus generally better pay, and those without. Not a new revelation, it has been happening since well before the 1980’s. It’s just far more apparent with the advances in technology in the last 20 years.

But that does not mean that higher education is impossible. Nor that anyone should give up. Some education is better than none. Such was true for me. It doesn’t mean that we should open up the colleges to everyone either. There should be some challenge, it makes the journey worthwhile. Making it attainable is a challenge; letting tuition prices continue on this path makes it a dream.

This is what I think, what do you think?