SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

Sociological Perspective

Sociological Perspective

Introduction

This paper looks at the sociological perspective of the situation of Hispanics in the United States. More specifically, the paper covers the educational attainment and the poverty rates of the Hispanics in the country. The thesis statement of this paper is that 'The low percentage of Educational Attainment of the Hispanics may be related to the high poverty rates of the ethnic group'. In the past, Hispanic Americans have been discriminated against and denied equal opportunities in education, work and social activities. Now I would like to focus on what problems Hispanic Americans face today. The situation of Hispanic Americans in society has been subject of study for many years. The problem with discrimination still has a very strong effect on lives of Hispanic Americans in the society. Many Hispanic people face problems like poverty, employment and lack of education (Corley, 2003).

Quantitative Component

These statistics show that the overall educational attainment of the Hispanic group is very low as compared to the other race/ethnic groups of the country. They table 1 of group 'A' shows the Educational Attainment of different race/ethnic groups in the United Sates. The Hispanics who have attained less than a high school diploma are 39.20%. While 26% of the Hispanics have acquired high school education, 21.90% Hispanics have achieved college degree, 8.90% of them have acquired a bachelor's degree and only 4% has graduate or professional degree (Corley, 2003).

The poverty rate of the Hispanics is 21.30%, which is high as compared to the rest of the race/ethnical groups of the country. The poverty lines of the Hispanics and the Blacks are close. Both of the minority groups face a lot of discrimination within the country. This factor contributes to dire statistics of education and poverty level of Hispanics. Lack of educational attainment, combined at times with a lack of English language and other job skills, leads to the confinement of the Hispanics to the low paying, more unstable and more risky jobs. The low earning level and big size of the family results in high rate of poverty. This cycle continues from generation to generation (Iceland, 2006).

Qualitative Component

The educational experiences for Hispanics in the United States are of collected drawbacks. Numerous Hispanic pupils start formal education with a lack of social and economic assets which several other students receive, and educational institutes are commonly poorly equipped to compensate for these primary discrepancies. For Hispanics, initial drawbacks often stem from parents' immigration and socio-economical position and their lack of information about the education system of United States (Iceland, 2006).

The lack of education can be a result of discrimination faced by the Hispanic students in their schools. News about protests and discrimination are frequently seen in the news reports. The Hispanic students are also subjected to beatings and fights by the other race/ethnic groups. (See appendix: article 1) This discrimination results in the Hispanic students being pulled out of the schools by their parents. When the students don't get proper education it ultimately ...