Annotations for Subject-headings: Education

The New York City school system is still looking for a replacement for ousted Chancellor Joséph Fernandez. The controversial administrator will vacate his post in June. From New York, Mandalit del Barco reports.

Joséph Fernandez returned to the city where he was born three years ago, vowing to turn around the nation's largest school system. In the end, it was his controversial reforms that put him at odds with his own board of education. His support for social issues created controversy, especially his programs to distribute condoms to high school students and his curriculum to teach respect for gays and lesbians. Fernandez had these words after a meeting in which board members voted not to renew his contract.

Some of my detractors have said, “Well, you didn't have to get into these issues of HIV AIDS…You didn't have to get into these issues of tolerance and bias program.” And that's a part of a… major part of educating our kids. I wouldn't have done it differently.

In a recently published autobiography, Fernandez details his years as a heroin addict and a gang member who went on to become a teacher and later Miami School superintendent. He also criticized New York's governor and mayor for not spending enough on education. Unless New York City's Board of Education reverses itself or is restructured, Fernandez's contract ends in June. For Latino USA, Mandalit del Barco in New York.

In Los Angeles, the Latino community suffered heavily and has still not recovered from the effects of the disturbances of April of last year. Latinos are half of those who live in the areas most affected by the disturbances. A third of those who lost their lives in the violence were Latino. Hispanic men made up more than half of those arrested and 40% of the businesses damaged in the riots were Latino owned. Reporter Alberto Aguilar recently visited one of the hardest hit Latino neighborhoods in South Central Los Angeles. He prepared this report.

[Faint voice in the background]

Very little has changed in Pico-Union, west of downtown Los Angeles in the last year, since hundreds of small and large businesses were looted. Here at the swap meet, the radio may be playing happy rhythms, but to the residents of the mostly Latino neighborhood, the road to recovery has been anything but happy.

Nosotros perdimos todos los negocios que teníamos. Teníamos tres negocios en la Union y todo fue perdido…[transition to English dub] We lost all our business. We have three little shops here and everything was lost, and we haven't really been able to recover anything.

María Elena Mejia sold children's clothes at the swap meet. The single mother of two teenage girls lost her life savings when the old theater, that housed dozens of swap meet stalls, was set on fire.

Lo que a nosotros nos ayudaron de parte del gobierno de la ciudad solamente fueron tres meses de renta. Lo que nos quedó a nosotros de eso solo fueron como… [transition to English dub] What the city government helped out with was three months’ rent, and after that, all we had left of our investment of five years was something like 14 or 10 dollars. I don't even remember now. We suffered so much because you know, being without work in this country is hard, and we were left without work and without anything… [transition to original audio] trabajo, porque nos habíamos quedado sin trabajo y sin nada.

This was a gift by a student, but it's called The Day that Los Angeles Cried, and you have an angel trying to turn off the fires and slow down the riots and above the Angel…

Mike Hernandez is a member of the city council. His district includes Pico-Union, the area hardest hit by the riots of '92.

Pico and Alvarado, for example… it’s one corner where we had the four corners demolished by fire. And so, in terms of intensity, it was the hardest hit area in the city.

What has happened since then? And a lot of people are now saying that perhaps the City does not have the leadership to bring the city of Los Angeles to where most people want it to go?

I think if you talk about community leaders, if you talk about the organization leadership, they very much want to bring the city together and start improving. If you talk about the political leadership, I think the political leadership hasn't displayed that well. They're out of touch with what's really going on in the city. See, the city of Los Angeles is not just the buildings. A lot of the buildings destroyed were empty. What the city of Los Angeles is, it's people from all over the world, and what we got away from is building people.

The building involves encouraging people to become citizens. Hernandez estimates this process can take as long as 10 to 15 years. He also says the City has to improve the educational level of city residents.

Over the age of 25, we have 2.1 million people. 900,000 cannot claim a high school diploma, and of the 900,000; 600,000 cannot claim a ninth-grade education. So that's 150% of the entire student body of the LA Unified School District. So, we have a tremendous amount of building of people to do.

[Transitional sounds]

Those who work with the residents of Pico-Union agree with Hernandez about the work that remains undone.

We're seeing families with multitude of problems… economic, social, relationship problems…

Sandra Cuevas works with battered Central American women in South Central Los Angeles. She has seen a decrease in the social services available to people in the area's hardest hit by the destruction. Despite all the publicized good intentions, little action and little resources are being allocated to the solution of the root causes of poverty and unemployment.

There seems to have been a lot of lip service. Little committees forming coalitions, but when you look at Rebuild LA, you have people that are coming from outside the community, very removed from the reality of Los Angeles and particularly of South Central and Pico-Union, that have excluded Latinos, by and large.

Cuevas is not the only Angelino critical of Mayor Tom Bradley's effort to bring back the city from massive destruction. His Rebuild LA has been described as a misguided effort to create job opportunities according to county supervisor Gloria Molina.

Very frankly, I don't want to be critical. I think they're doing their own thing, but I think that the mayor missed the boat in the beginning. I think he could have called many of us together to sort things out because it isn't just in South Central, it's throughout the community. And it isn't just a corporate effort and isn't about giving. It's about putting together a lot of institutions that have been unjust to minority segments of our community. And it isn't going to happen by a corporation coming together and putting together programs. It's about making the system much more responsive to the needs of people in this community.

I’m a member of the board, but it's hard among 80 people. A lot of those are corporate people and I’m… I guess, the only immigrant, it's really hard sometimes.

Carlos Vaquerano is one of a handful of Latinos on Rebuild LA's board.

We need to not only to rebuild LA physically, but to rebuild the soul of the city, the soul of people here. We need to make changes in terms of our morality, political changes, because that's one of the main issues in the city. Not only the city, but in the country.

[Transitional sounds]

Police helicopters assist uniformed officers on the ground in the search for gang members in the Pico-Union district. Longtime resident, Raúl González has been in this blue-collar neighborhood for 20 years.

It's kind of scary going out lately. Plus what you hear on the news and people… after the rioters start getting guns and bigger guns and you know what's going to happen in the street. Now you have to carry your own gun for protection… and you have to be careful lately…you know. And it's terrible, it is terrible because we are not supposed to be like this.

Um…but if everybody's armed and everybody's afraid…um…. what are you going to do?

Well, you know…to tell you the truth, if you're carrying a weapon, you have to know how to use it and when to take it out.

In Los Angeles, I'm Alberto Aguilar, reporting for Latino USA.

[Transitional Music]

May I present Gloria Romero: She played a vital role in the police reform movement in Los Angeles in the wake of the Rodney King beating. The title of her talk is Todavia Ando Sangrando: A Chicana's Perspective on the Fires This Time…Gloria.

[Clapping sounds]

April 29th, 1992, less than three hours after the verdicts were released, I stood at the intersection of Adams and Hobart in South Central LA. In reality, I stood at much more than the intersection of Adams and Hobart. I stood at but one of many intersections of race, class, and gender in America. Breathing in all I saw, even as light dimmed on America, the reaction in my guts at the intersection of life in America in the shadow of lies of an afterlife as light faded out on America, felt like the full velocity of the bricks hurled through the pane of that liquor store, which on an hourly basis, markets pain to Black and brown men and women in south central LA. Addiction, alcoholism, unemployment, a 50% dropout rate, incarceration, but a chance to win the lotto.

We stood at the intersection on April 29th in an America that has bled for too long, from too many unjust verdicts that Simi Valley merely symbolized, any one of which could have sparked fires at any intersection in America. And I believe a riot takes place on a day-to-day basis in LA, but nobody notices. Todavia ando sangrando, even as our trial continues.

Long before the word “multicultural” came into popular usage, it was reflected on the public television's children's program, Sesame Street. Now the program is making an extra effort targeting minority children with special cultural curricula. This year, the Emmy award-winning show is placing an emphasis on Latino culture as Mandalit del Barco reports from New York.

[Cheerful Sesame Street Music]

As Sesame Street becomes more bilingual, even the theme song incorporates Latino rhythms. With this season's emphasis on Latino cultures, viewers can watch Big Bird leading a Mariachi band, and Oscar the Grouch dancing the Mambo with Tito Puente. Sesame Street is visited by Chicano rock band Los Lobos and New York's Puerto Rican folk music group, Los Pleneros de la 21. The show goes on location to barrios in Los Angeles where kids paint a Mexican mural, and in New York where they make Puerto Rican masks and visit a community center known as a Casita. This year, the spotlight will also be on the new fluffy blue bilingual muppet, Rosita.

¡Hola Amigos! ¿Cómo están?

Muppet Rosita is played by Mexican puppeteer Carmen Osbahr.

Sí, sí…yes, yeah I'm trying to help my friends to speak Spanish and all of my other friends that they're watching us. I'm trying to let them know that if they speak Spanish like me and English, they have to feel proud because they're very lucky to speak two languages.

¿Abierto?

Yes, certainly! Abierto is the Spanish word for open! Abierto.

For many years now, Sesame Street has been teaching kids a few words in Spanish, like “hola” and “adios”, but what's different is that with its new Latino curriculum, preschool viewers will also be taught an appreciation of the diversity of Latino cultures.

El mundo.

That's the world all right, and we are moving into...

Puerto Rico!

Puerto Rico it is! But look...

¡Cotorra!

In studies of preschoolers, researchers for Sesame Street found Puerto Rican children have poorer self-images than white or African-American children. The Latino kids had negative feelings about their hair and skin color, and the majority of white and African-American children in this study said their mothers would be angry or sad if they were friends with a Puerto Rican child. Actress Sonia Manzano, who plays the character María on the show says that's why the Sesame Street producers decided to devote the season to addressing issues of self-esteem and pride among Latinos.

I had the opportunity to write a show where María's family comes to visit, and I wanted everyone in María's family to be a different skin color because that occurs in a lot of Hispanic families. Puerto Ricans especially, is that, there are people of different skin colors in the same family so…and actually have a puppet say, "Wow! But he's darker than you. How could he be related?" or "She's lighter than you. How could she be related to you?"

For the last 20 years, María and Luis have been two of the human characters on the show. In that time, they got married, had a child, and are partners in Sesame Street's Fix It Shop.

Here, Luis and María, who are both Latinos, are regular people. I mean… they own a business; they have a family. You know… they're just regular people. They work like everybody else… you know. They brush their teeth, they comb their hair, you know…. whatever. The role model is, "Hey, they're just like everybody else.” You know… and that's important to show.

Actor Emilio Delgado, who plays Luis, says, since its beginning, Sesame Street was way ahead of most US television shows in realistically portraying Latinos.

20 years ago when we first started doing this, I don't remember any Latinos on a regular basis on television. As a matter of fact, I can't think of any right now either.

[Kid singing about his cultural roots]

Sesame Street is now in its 24th season. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

Oh, that was great! Well, this is Big Bird leaving you with one final word: "¡Viva!"

The word mentor is derived from the ancient Greek from the name of the man who spent 10 years teaching the son of the poet Homer. In ancient Greece, young people often studied in apprenticeship programs. Today, some Latino students are learning a variety of skills, from chess to chemistry, in a mentorship program taking place in New Mexico. Debra Beagle prepared this report.

Here, I'm thinking of placing my knight on D5. It attacks his queen.

Now, had I scanned a little better, I would've seen that the knight would've come to that square…see, and I would not have put my queen where it is, because now I need to move that queen…

Thirteen-year-old Miguel Atencio of Chama, New Mexico, beats his father in chess almost every game. He began playing when he was nine. Two years later, he joined the high-school chess team. That's when someone from Celebrate Youth, a six-year-old mentorship program in New Mexico, spotted the talented youngster and invited him to work more seriously on his game. This year, Miguel won the state middle-school chess championship.

In math, it's helped me. I can like work out problems in my head and all that. It's helped me like to remember like what the things I read and all that, because you have to remember things. You have to remember positions and all that. So, I've been getting a little bit better at that.

Miguel Atencio is both highly motivated and very talented. These are the characteristics Celebrate Youth director, Paquita Hernández, looks for in students. She also pursues teenagers who are equally talented but living in what Hernández describes as economic and social poverty.

A child who is economically poor but is matched with a mentor who is an artist or is a physicist or is a chemist or is a great writer, offers challenging conversations, exciting questions, um…different opportunities to look…through which to experience the world…I think that they flourish in ways that are magnificent.

The adult mentor meets with the student once a week for six months. Each student develops a project, perhaps a dance, a piece of sculpture, a science or math project, an essay or poem, or a piece of music.

[Person playing the piano]

Okay, now do the last two lines, and make a difference between your…your forte in the top line and your fortissimo in your bottom line.

[Person playing the piano]

Ninth grader Alyssa Montoya works with Mary Agnes Anderson of Española as her mentor. Anderson has mentored three students so far.

It gives them courage to be different, a reason not to be like everyone else, to have faith in themself. Watching this happen is my basic reward on it.

Other mentors have seen more impressive changes as a result of the program. Paquita Hernández tells the story of one talented teenager who is likely to follow two older brothers into drugs and depression. After delving into a science research project for two years in the Celebrate Youth program, he entered college and now plans to become a doctor. Success stories like these, Hernández says, are less likely to happen within the current school system.

I think there's a vacuum in the schools, not only in New Mexico but in the whole nation. I think the schools need to change, and I think they need to change radically because they are not reaching the majority of young people. I think those kids who don't drop out of school physically actually drop out often, even though they're sitting in the classroom with the books in front of them.

Those involved in Celebrate Youth say the goal is to promote excellence over mediocrity. Achievement is measured against one's own abilities rather than in competition with others. This is the attitude Miguel Atencio takes.

All right, and here's the last move, and I'm going to checkmate in one move. I'm going to move Queen on E7 to B7. Checkmate.

That's the end of the game.

These days, Miguel is sharpening his chess skills to prepare for the annual Celebrate Youth Festival in June. Nearly 400 students, including 30 chess players like Miguel, will gather for three days at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, which co-sponsors the program. There, they'll perform their dances, hang their paintings, and display their research projects that demonstrate the skills they've worked so hard to develop.

[Person playing the piano]

The Wild Rider. The Wild Rider. Everyone has trouble with the Wild Rider. He's a hard-bucking horse.

For Latino USA, this is Debra Beagle in Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico.

This is news from Latino USA. I am Maria Martin. Several congressional house members led by Democratic representative Xavier Becerra of California are calling for legislation to investigate human rights abuses by federal agencies along the US-Mexico border. From Washington, Franc Contreras reports.

Widespread allegations of abuses by the US Border Patrol, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and Customs have prompted this legislation. It would create a commission with the power to recommend, not mandate disciplinary actions against those three agencies. Currently, people with complaints must either go through the agency they're complaining against or go through the Inspector General's office. The problem is that most complainants are not familiar enough with the system to use it. This proposed bill would address those problems, say congressional supporters. The panel would have seven members appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. This legislation has support from Representative Jose Serrano, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and representative John Conyers, chairman of the Government Operations Committee. Since the commission would have no enforcement powers, the legislation is expected to pass easily. For Latino USA, I'm Franc Contreras in Washington.

Everybody out here keep the strength going because we need all the support for all of our brothers and sisters. There's about 90 of them in jail.

Mexican-American students at the University of California at Los Angeles continue to demand a Chicano Studies department, one demonstration protesting budget cuts for the Chicano Resource Center. And UCLA Chancellor Charles Young's opposition to an independent Chicano Studies department resulted in over 90 arrests as students occupied the campus faculty center and allegedly caused over $50,000 in damages. UCLA student Benny Madera was among those joining the protests. He spoke with Latino USA's Alberto Aguillar.

It's been too long that they've kept our history from us. It's 1993 and they're still trying to keep our history from us. They don't want to give us a Chicano Studies program. We've been asking for it for years.

What does it do for you, Chicano Studies?

First of all, it tells me who I am, where I came from. It gets rid of that low self-esteem that the gabacho puts us through. You know that gabacho grinder system were put through growing up in this society, but without finding out who we are, where we came from, we don't have that amor proprio.

UCLA Chancellor Young has said keeping Chicano Studies an interdisciplinary program gives it intellectual vitality. Young was in Japan and unavailable for comment, but Vice Chancellor Andrea Rich says the protest would not make the chancellor change his mind.

You're listening to Latino USA.

In Orlando, proceedings are underway in the retrial of Miami policeman William Lozano, whose shooting of an African American in 1989 sparked three days of disturbances in Miami. Losano was convicted of two counts of manslaughter in an earlier trial, but that verdict was overturned when an appeals court ruled it may have been influenced by fears of inciting racial violence. The volatile case was moved from Miami to Orlando, then to Tallahassee and then back to Orlando, which has a larger percentage of Latinos than Tallahassee. A recent national survey says Hispanic parents differ from other ethnic groups in their support for the public schools. From Washington, Patricia Guadalupe reports.

According to a survey released May 11th in Washington DC by the National Parent Teachers Association, Hispanic parents are more confident than Anglo parents at the quality of public schools will improve. The survey, commissioned by Newsweek Magazine for the PTA, found that close to half of the Hispanic parents surveyed believe schools will improve over the next five years as compared to a third of Anglo parents. Carlos Sarsed, Director of News Stats in Austin, Texas compiled and analyzed the survey's Hispanic data.

Hispanic parents are feeling very responsible for the education of their kids, and interestingly, even Hispanic parents who were interviewed in Spanish who are primarily Spanish speakers, help their kids a lot in school. In many respects, the parents are learning themselves.

The survey also found that Hispanic parents, more than others, believe funding for schools is inadequate. For Latino USA. I'm Patricia Guadalupe in Washington.

According to the US census, more than 4 million Latinos voted in last year's presidential elections. Analysis of the data by NALEO, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, indicates Latino voter registration increased by 12%, nearly double the national average. Latino voter turnout is still well below the national average. I'm Maria Martin. You're listening to Latino USA.

This is news from Latino USA. I'm Maria Martin. President Clinton met with Latino leaders from around the country in Washington. Among those meeting with the president were representatives of the National Council of La Raza, the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda and the League of United Latin American Citizens. Healthcare, Education and Clinton's economic plan were among the topics on the agenda.

Chicano students at the University of California at Los Angeles continued to press for a Chicano studies department. Several students and a UCLA faculty member have even started a hunger strike to call attention to their cause. From Los Angeles, Diana Martinez reports.

For several months now, students along with Latino professors have tried to get a department by working through university channels. All of those attempts have failed. In fact, there have now been three generations of students since 1968 who've attempted to establish a Chicano studies department at the well-known campus. Now, the six students and one university professor, on the water only fast, say they're determined to continue even if it takes their lives.

I'm more afraid to die in vain, to die without having our three demands met. I'm more afraid of the chancellor not responding to any of what we're doing.

One student has already become ill and another sits in a wheelchair because his legs have grown weak. Concerned about their health and the support of their position, some parents and community members are joining the students on rotating two-day fasts. For Latino USA and Los Angeles, I'm Diana Martinez.

UCLA Chancellor Charles Young says he stands by his decision to maintain Chicano studies as an interdisciplinary program rather than a department at the university.

[chanting] This is news from Latinos USA. I'm Maria Martin. A hunger strike by Chicano students at the University of California at Los Angeles has ended happily. The students who had fasted on water only for nearly two weeks reached an accord with UCLA Chancellor Charles Young, over their demand for the establishment of a Chicano studies department.

I want to let you know what we won today. First of all, we won the Cesar Chavez Center for Chicana and Chicano studies. Second of all, we got the administration to realize that the 99 students that protested in the faculty center are not criminals, but they're political activists and we have the charges dropped. Third, we got the administration to recognize the validity of ethnic and gender studies on this campus and guaranteed two years of no budget cuts for any of those programs. [sounds from community gathering]

The final agreement falls short of the students' original demand that Chicano studies become a full-fledged department on campus. Nevertheless, the development was greeted as a major step forward by the students and their supporters, including California State Senator Art Torres and Dolores Huerta of the United Farm Workers.

We're going to have one of these in every UC campus in the state of California. [gatherting sounds]

We're showing here, in the spirit of Cesar Chavez, that we can make social change, that we can right the wrongs that people have done against us with gun violence, by unity and by sacrifice. And by working together, we can make them listen to us. [gatherting sounds][nat sound, music]

This is news from "Latino USA." I'm Maria Martin. The U.S. Census Bureau has released a new report on the country's Latino population. Reporter Barrie Lynn Tapia has more.

Over the last 10 years, the number of Latinos in this country grew seven times faster than any other group. They had more children and less elderly than non-Latinos. They were also less likely to be covered by health insurance. Julio Moran, a reporter for the "LA Times," says the findings are more than just statistics.

When we talk about urban agendas, we're really talking about a Latino agenda. We're finding that Latinos becoming more segregated and more concentrated in precisely the same areas that need, I think, more attention into what's happening to our society at this moment.

The Census Bureau also says Latino unemployment rates are consistently higher and median family income lower than the population at large. Although more Latinos are graduating from high school than a decade ago, Latinos still lag behind the rest of the nation in education. For "Latino USA," I'm Barrie Lynn Tapia in Washington.

Educators and education reporters at the Washington Conference of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists agreed that the public schools in this country continue to fail Latino children, especially in bilingual education. Laura Varela reports.

Jim Lyons, the executive director of the National Association for Bilingual Education, says the government and the media pay too much attention to test scores. Instead, he says, the education system should be graded in its performance. Still, Lyons says many Latino students are not letting the lack of quality bilingual ed programs get in their way.

I think one of the great success stories in this country is the number of children that have become fully bilingual, many fully bi-literate, when most of their teachers are still hopelessly monolingual.

To solve the problem, Lyons says, more bilingual teachers must be hired, and more government funding for bilingual education programs must be made available. For "Latino USA," I'm Laura Varela.

Long before the word ‘multicultural’ came into popular usage, it was reflected on the public television children's program, Sesame Street. Now, the program is making an extra effort targeting minority children with special cultural curricula. This year, the Emmy award-winning show is placing an emphasis on Latino culture as Mandalit del Barco reports from New York.

[Latino Sesame Street Music]

As Sesame Street becomes more bilingual, even the theme song incorporates Latino rhythms. [Latino Sesame Street Music Highlight] With this season's emphasis on Latino cultures, viewers can watch Big Bird leading a mariachi band and Oscar the Grouch dancing the Mambo with Tito Puente. Sesame Street is visited by Chicano rock band Los Lobos and New York's Puerto Rican folk music group, Los Pleneros de la 21. The show goes on location to barrios in Los Angeles where kids paint a Mexican mural, and in New York where they make Puerto Rican masks, and visit a community center known as La Casita. This year, the spotlight will also be on the new fluffy blue bilingual Muppet, Rosita.

Hola amigos como estan?

Muppet Rosita is played by Mexican puppeteer Carmen Osbahr.

Si, si. Yes. Yeah. I'm trying to help my friends to speak Spanish. And all my other friends that they're watching us, I'm trying to let them know that if they speak Spanish like me, and English, they have to feel proud because they're very lucky to speak two languages.

[Clip of Sesame Street] Abierto? Yes, certainly. Abierto is the Spanish word for open. Abierto!

For many years now, Sesame Street has been teaching kids a few words in Spanish like hola and adios. But what's different is that with its new Latino curriculum, preschool viewers will also be taught an appreciation of the diversity of Latino cultures.

El Mundo.

[Clip of Sesame Street] That's the word, all right? And we are moving into...

[Background music] Puerto Rico.

[Background music] Puerto Rico, it is, but look.

Cotorra!

[Background sounds of Sesame Street]In studies of preschoolers, researchers for Sesame Street found Puerto Rican children have poorer self images than white or African-American children. The Latino kids had negative feelings about their hair and skin color, and the majority of white and African-American children in this study said their mothers would be angry or sad if they were friends with a Puerto Rican child. Actress Sonia Manzano, who plays the character Maria on the show says that's why the Sesame Street producers decided to devote the season to addressing issues of self-esteem and pride among Latinos.

I had the opportunity to write a show where Maria's family comes to visit. And I wanted everyone in Maria's family to be a different skin color because that occurs in a lot of Hispanic families, Puerto Rican especially, is that there are people of different skin colors in the same family. And actually have a puppet say, "Wow, but he's darker than you. How could he be related? Or she's lighter than you. How could she be related to you?"

For the last 20 years, Maria and Luis have been two of the human characters on the show. In that time, they got married, had a child, and are partners in Sesame Street's fix-it shop

Here, Luis and Maria, who are both Latinos are regular people. I mean, they own a business, they have a family, they're just regular people. They work like everybody else. They brush their teeth, they comb their hair, whatever. It's the role model is, hey, they're just like everybody else. And that's important to show.

Actor Emilio Delgado, who plays Luis, says, since its beginning, Sesame Street was way ahead of most US television shows in realistically portraying Latinos.

20 years ago, when we first started doing this, I don't remember any Latinos on a regular basis on television. As a matter of fact, I can't think of any right now either. [Background sounds of Sesame Street music]

Sesame Street is now in its 24th season. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

Oh, that was great. Well, this is big bird leaving you with one final word, Viva! [laughter] [Children yelling] [Wooshing sound]

My friends, today, on the 25th anniversary of our birth, I pledge to you that the National Council of La Raza will carry on the struggle.

That's Raul Yzaguirre, president of the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest community-based Hispanic organization. At its recent national conference in Detroit, NCLR celebrated its 25th anniversary, and as Latino USA's Vidal Guzman reports, "While many of its members believe great strides have been made for Latinos over the past 25 years, they also see challenges and struggles ahead."

The 25th annual conference of the National Council of La Raza opened with a retrospective hosted by actor Edward James Olmos.

The year is 1968, and it is a year of tragedy. First, Martin Luther King, then Bobby Kennedy are killed by assassin's bullets. For those neither black nor white, but brown. It is a momentous year. In that year, a great organization is born in Phoenix, Arizona. It was then called the Southwest County...

As I look back, and I saw the photos of the marches we were doing, we were fighting discrimination.

Ed Pastor, a founding member, went on to become the first Latino congressman from the state of Arizona.

I look back, there's a lot of stories of success that people have empowered themselves and there has been movement forward, but the irony of the whole thing is that we have a long way to go.

This was made clear with a release during the conference of a report called the State of Hispanic America. According to the survey, Latinos are more likely to be among the working poor than other Americans. In 1991, one third of Latino families living below the poverty line had at least one full-time worker. The authors say this challenges the stereotype of poor Latinos, as well for recipients. Another study released at the conference focuses on Latinos in the Midwest; up to now, a largely invisible population. John Fierro, one of the authors of the report is Director of Community Affairs at the Guadalupe Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

Well, I think overall what we've seen was Hispanics in the Midwest resemble the national scene as far as educational attainment. Both areas suffer from high dropout rates. Poverty is high, the income is basically similar, but a couple things that stand out to me is definitely the labor force participation among Hispanic females, that when you look nationally, Hispanic females rank third among blacks, whites and Hispanics. Whereas in the Midwest, they're leaders.

Everyone in attendance at this 25-year retrospective agreed great accomplishments and great strides have been achieved. However, they also felt that many of the original problems that the council began to tackle in the sixties have still not disappeared, but they left the conference feeling the 90s will provide many opportunities for continued progress. NCRL president Raul Yzaguirre, echoed that sentiment.

We will win because our issues are America's issues, because ending poverty and discrimination is not only the right thing to do, it's the smart thing to do.

For Latino USA, covering the National Council of La Raza's 25th anniversary in Detroit, Michigan, I'm Vidal Guzman.

This is news from Latino USA. I'm Vidal Guzmán. California governor Pete Wilson is calling for major changes to limit undocumented immigration. The governor promoted a so-called program for recovery at press conferences in San Diego and Los Angeles. Alberto Aguilar reports.

Governor Wilson alleges that up to 2 million of California's 32 million people are here illegally, 1 million in Los Angeles alone.

In a state where we have within Los Angeles, a community of illegal immigrants the size of San Diego.

Governor Wilson, who will probably seek reelection next year, wants President Clinton to deny US-born children of undocumented parents citizenship and access to healthcare and education: proposals which have created a firestorm of controversy with state Senator Art Torres saying that the governor is using the wrong approach to a complex problem. Other immigration advocates say denying education to children goes against a 1982 US Supreme Court decision and keeping somebody from achieving citizenship will require a change in the 14th amendment to the US Constitution. For Latino USA, I'm Alberto Aguilar in Los Angeles.

A revival of traditional Mexican mariachi music is taking place across this country and many Latino youth are participating. Marcos Martinez of Radio Station, KUNM prepared this report on the Mariachi celebration held recently in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Now in its fourth year.

[Mariachi Music]

Albuquerque's Mariachi Spectacular brings together groups from throughout the southwest who bring their instruments and their devotion to the music for four days of workshops and concerts. On a Saturday afternoon, some eight mariachi groups alternate between six different stages along Main street of the New Mexico State fairgrounds. This is called Plaza Garibaldi modeled after the original Plaza Garibaldi in Mexico City where Mariachis gathered to play and find work. This year, about half the groups at Plaza Garibaldi are high school students. 17 year old Nick Watson plays with Mariachi Oro Del Sol from El Paso, Texas. He says Mariachi music is complex and fun to play

Well because it's challenging. It has more than three chords. It's basically what I think rock and roll is. And not that I'm knocking, I like rock and roll, but it's challenging. It's more challenging to play, you know, learn a lot more from it.

[Mariachi Music]

With this music, you can express your feelings more.

How?

Um, with the songs, the words and stuff, they're very powerful words.

Jennifer Luna is the leader of Mariachi Oro del Sol and shares Watson's enthusiasm. She says in her part of Texas, young people are very drawn to this style of music.

A lot of young people play in El Paso. That's mostly what there is there. The groups are younger kids. Cause over there it's in the schools they teach it to you, so it's pretty common over there.

The word mariachi comes from the French word for marriage. According to history, French people who came to Mexico in the 1800s became interested in the Mexican string bands of the time and invited them to play at French weddings. Today, mariachis typically include guitar, violin, trumpet, and the vihuela, which is a small guitar, and the guitarrón, which is a very large guitar. While they carry on traditions, youth mariachi groups like Oro Del Sol are also different from the older generation of mariachis in that they tend to be more gender balanced. Nick Watson says his mariachi group is all the better for including young women musicians.

They're good. We just picked who’s good and they're good. So we take them, it doesn't matter. Sex has nothing to do with it. If you're good, you're good, you play.

[Mariachi Music]

There's no doubt that among the young people attending this year's Mariachi Spectacular is some great future talent. Alex De Leon is a vocalist for the Mariachi Azul y Blanco from Adamson High School in Dallas. This 17 year old has already received high praise for his vocal talents.

[Mariachi Music]

People keep giving me comments, I'm good and stuff. So now I want to get better.

Young Mariachis, like De Leon have a chance to learn from more experienced mentors like Al Sandoval, who teaches music in the Albuquerque public schools and is director of Mariachi Romántico. Sandoval says, attendance at the Mariachi Spectacular workshops has tripled since last year. Sandoval says because of its expressiveness, mariachi music is a big part of Southwest Hispanic culture.

It's the most addicting music of all. I mean Southwest, it's the most addicting music. It grows on you and once it's in your blood, you'll never get it out. It's worse than the worst habit you can ever have because I mean, you grow to love it and you can never get away from it.

[Mariachi Music]

Everything about Mariachis hearkens back to Old Mexico from the ornate charro outfits and broad brimmed hats to the instruments and the old songs. But on the final night of the Mariachi Spectacular, as the teenage musicians joined the world's most famous mariachi groups on stage for a grand finale, the tradition seemed certain to continue for a long time to come. For Latino USA, I'm Marcos Martinez in Albuquerque.

Latino students are enrolling in higher education in greater numbers than other minority groups. These numbers according to the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, HACU, will continue to grow as the end of the baby boom results in fewer young non-minorities. But according to the National Institute of Independent Colleges and Universities, US institutions of higher learning are not doing enough to prepare for the upcoming influx of Latino students. According to the Census Bureau, the Hispanic population is expected to rise from 24 million in 1992 to 41 million by the year 2050. In the year 2010, there will be nearly 3 million Hispanics ages 18 to 21. I'm Maria Martin, you're listening to Latino USA.

For four days, recently, more than 150,000 young people gathered in Denver to see Pope John Paul II. Among them, many Latinos from across the country. Producer Betto Arcos, spoke to the young Hispanics about what was on their minds, issues ranging from the future of the Latino community to abortion, President Clinton's performance, and gays in the military.

The Hispanic community is not getting very well educated, okay? We need to push more for education.

We're working our way up, and I want to see us in power, not let everybody else walk all over us. We're going to be doing a lot of the walking, and we've got a lot to do.

President Clinton, up to this day, I feel that he takes in a lot of information from his public, from his staff, and he later he comes up with the plan out of that.

I think he's done a good job so far. I think he's the best president ever since John F Kennedy.

I'm sure he has good intentions. He can't please everybody all the time. He's looking out for the general welfare of the whole United States.

I do like the fact that he has let gays and lesbians in the army and stuff like that because I mean, that's their own private life, and nobody should get into that because it's theirs and it's personal. So I mean, we shouldn't hold that against them. Their preference is their business as long as they can do their work right. I mean, I think that's cool.

That's a tough situation. And the way it is right now there, we know that there are some gays in the military, but we don't know who they are, if they keep it quiet or ... Once you do know, I do know of one, a guy that was in my unit, and he seemed just like any other guy. So on a personal level, it's all right, but when you think about the overall picture, it's kind of an eerie feeling.

I don't know if you can say maybe the sixties, free love, everything like that was a part of it. And some of the people took that wrong as to what free love was, and they took it to the extremes with sex. And nowadays, you have a generation that holds nothing sacred.

Yeah, I believe that it's women's choice, even though in the case of rape, they should have an abortion, like incest and stuff like that. But I do believe it's women's choice.

Abortion is not a word for me. I don't believe in it.

Sex is not a game. It's not something we should play with. Responsible sex is knowing that you're going to have sex and knowing that the possibility of having a child is there and taking that responsibility if a child is in your womb.

I work in a neighborhood where the dropout rate is 75% of our high school and 75% of that, 45% of that is due to pregnancy. And I can't justify telling a kid for whatever reason, not to have abortion, not to have abortion, but I think it should be there to be addressed correctly.

We are most honored to have the following dignitaries celebrating with us tonight, and they are the honorable members of Congress. First of all, from Texas, Solomon Ortiz, from California, Esteban Torres from Guam, Ben Blaz, from Arizona, Ed Pastor...

This is the time of the year dedicated to celebrating the contributions Latinos bring to this country. In Washington, an annual ceremony honoring Hispanic achievements in the arts, sports, literature, leadership, and education takes place in September.

A celebration of our culture from all over the world. A big hand for all of our special guests, ladies and gentlemen.

Today, Latino USA begins our Hispanic Heritage Month programming with the words of some of those who've been recognized in the past for their contributions, preserving and enriching Hispanic heritage in the United States.

At a time in life when many are enjoying the easy life of retirement, Dr. Pantoja is actively engaged in building institutions.

Dr. Antonia Pantoja institution is a Puerto Rican educator, the founder of the National Puerto Rican Forum and the Youth Leadership Organization, Aspira.

I invite you to come see me in my retirement. I live in the hills of Puerto Rico in a place called El Yunque, which is a magical mountain. [Natural sounds of clapping] A magical mountain where the Tainos, who were the people who were in Puerto Rico, when Columbus came to find Puerto Rico.

Un río dos Riveras, one river two Riveras is the title of a book written by Dr. Guadalupe Rivera, a writer and historian. Dr. Rivera is the daughter of famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. Dr. Rivera is visiting this country, and she joins us now from Austin, Texas where an exhibition of her father's work is opening at the Mexic-Arte Museum. Welcome, Dra. Rivera.

Thank you, Maria Hinojosa. I am very pleased to meet you.

There are probably a lot of people who don't know all of the facts about your father, and they may have one question on their mind about you. And that question might be, are you the daughter of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo?

No, no, no. My father was married several times. And I am the daughter of Diego Rivera and Lupe Marin. She was the second wife that my father had.

Dr. Rivera, there is so much known about your father. I mean, his murals inspired a whole movement across the world. I mean, he's one of Mexico's most important artistic icons, but what is the one lasting memory that you have of your father that might tell us a little bit about who he was as a human being, as a person, as a father.

He was an extraordinary person because he allow my sister and I to become professionals and to go to university and to study and to learn how Mexico is and how revolution was and to be a real Mexican because he was very proud to be a real Mexican, and he teach us how to really appreciate who we are as member of a very important cultural movement.

One of the things, Dr. Rivera, about your father was that he really wasn't into... As far as I can tell and remember just from reading about him and seeing his work, which was very political, is that he really wasn't into the commercialization of art. I mean, he was really into art for communicating, what you've said, a history of the people of Mexico. But your father's work has now sold in this country and across the world for hundreds of thousands of dollars and really has an incredible market value. How do you think he would've reacted to this what is, I guess, the commercialization of his art in the art world?

Well, I think that he was not so proud of that as he was proud about the mural painting he realize in public buildings. He never want to commercialize his art. He painted paintings, let's say this small paintings, all canvas or all things like that or watercolors because he thought that he must have a way of life when he cannot paint murals. But in a way, his enormous desire was to paint murals much than everything in life.

Your father also of course loved Mexico, his country, and he was really quite radical in his politics and extremely nationalistic. What do you think your father, Diego Rivera, would've thought of NAFTA, the tratado de libre comercio- the free trade agreement?

I think that he was not very, very happy about it.

Why?

He always talk about that the necessity that each country keep his own identity. And maybe, he will realize that with NAFTA, the identity of Mexican people is going to be lost an enormous way.

Personally, I think it's a paradox, but at the same time, I am very pleased to be asking to come here as a guest to this exhibition because, in a way, my father is, again, a bridge between both countries as he was before in the '30s when he was asking to come to United States to paint the murals. It was in a special moment in the Mexican history in the '30s in which it was necessary for the Mexican government to establish a stronger contact with United States. And I consider that now, it's important to Mexico, to my country to establish a stronger contact with United States again.

Dr. Guadalupe Rivera is the daughter of Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera, the exhibit Diego Rivera and the Revolution in Mexico in Times of Change will be on view at Austin's Mexic-Arte museum through December 31st.

This year the Council for the Advancement and Supportive Education in Washington DC chose out of almost 400 nominations, Dr. Vicente Domingo Villa as the recipient of the National Professor of the Year Award. Dr. Villa is a professor of biology at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. First of all, felicidades to Dr. Villa who now joins us on Latino USA. Dr. Villa, I understand that when you first started teaching at Southwestern University eight years ago that there were no Latino students there studying the sciences and now eight years later that almost 20% of those who graduate in the sciences from Southwestern are Hispanic students. So what happened and how can it happen in other places where it doesn't?

Indeed, the numbers have changed in the last eight years. I arrived at Southwestern University in '85 and not unlike what happens in many other institutions, unless you get a critical mass, unless you get someone working actively at encouraging the young people, the young Hispanics to come into the sciences, it happens, but it happens very slowly in some instances as the critical number goes up, the students themselves do the recruiting.

From everything that I've read, you just don't inspire from the lecture hall, but you take a very proactive, dynamic relationship with your students. Someone described you as part teacher, part parent, part pit bull. Is that correct?

[laughter] Well, that is correct to up to a certain point. I do agree with your statement that teaching, if I just restricted to the lecture hall and even the laboratory, the job is incomplete. Teaching means sharing and giving, and the bulk of the teaching actually occurs in my own experience at the level of what I call study with a prof sessions. I love to have a time period at the end of the day, at least once a week if not twice a week, where I ask my students, "Come and visit. If you're going to study on your own, why don't you come and spend that hour or two with me and let's study with together." At those sessions, I really get to know my students. I really get to know and get a good feel for where they're at, how well they're understanding the concepts. I also discover where they're going and I'm in a unique position of encouraging them. If they have a certain goal, I will encourage them to consider other options, especially if I can detect and I can see that they have the talent and they're just not shooting high enough. What a privilege to be in a position like that.

What advice would you have for parents or young students about education and then perhaps not just in the sciences but in general?

I was able to get an education because my education started at home and the parents play a key, key role. I come from a family that I was the first one to go into college. My father was born in a ranch, born a cowboy, worked as a cowboy before he got married, never went to school. My mother was born in Monterrey, Mexico, moved over here when she was nine or ten and went as far as the fifth grade. They played a key role in terms of the encouragement that they gave me. So to parents, I would stress that even if they have not obtained an education, they are involved in the process of educating their children and preparing them to get an education. The question may come up, "Well, but how can I?" Encouragement is a bottom line, encouragement. I was prepared for college work along the way and indeed my father always stressed, "Get an education. Get an education."

In his case, the experience that he went through, growing up in a ranch in south Texas, he never learned English. So then World War II comes around, he's drafted, here he's having to go serve and he doesn't know the language. So he went through some very, very trying times and I think that that was a lesson that was so well-placed in his own mind and his own heart that he would not have his children go through that. Now education is a sacrifice and if I were to tell you that getting an education is not a sacrifice, I would be lying to you. It's going to require work, but the beautiful thing about it is that it is a kind of work and a sacrifice that becomes fun as you become successful.

Thank you. Dr. Vicente Domingo Villa of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. Dr. Villa has been named the National Professor of the Year by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is proposing what they call the greatest reform of bilingual education. Congressman Jose Serrano, caucus chair, says their bilingual education program would concentrate funds on poor areas and on those with high numbers of limited English-proficient students. With this bill, Latino representatives hope to improve and expand educational opportunities for Latinos and other language minorities. According to a recent poll, almost half of public school teachers say students should be required to learn English before being taught other subjects. A coalition of Latino organizations is calling for an end to what they called the racist rhetoric surrounding the debate over NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. From Washington, Patricia Guadalupe reports.

In a recent floor debate in Congress, an Ohio representative spoke out against the North American Free Trade Agreement by saying all the United States would get in return were two tons of heroin and baseball players. Others say they are against a treaty because Mexico is in their words "a pigpen." The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, a coalition of over 20 Latino organizations, wants that to stop. They say they are putting people on notice that any racist and stereotypical comment will no longer be tolerated. MaryJo Marion, senior trade analyst at the National Council of La Raza, is a member of the coalition.

We think their statements are much like what's said about Jews in Eastern Europe. What was said about Black Americans here 20 or 40 years ago.

Marion added that the coalition is meeting with labor and political leaders about their concerns. For Latino USA, I'm Patricia Guadalupe in Washington.

In San Diego, the county board of Supervisors has voted to bill the federal government for the cost of services provided to the undocumented in this country. Board members say they plan to charge President Clinton for the cost of providing hospital care and jail service to day laborers. This vote follows debate in several San Diego area school districts over the cost of educational access by undocumented immigrants. Wanda Levine reports on a resolution passed in the San Diego community of Vista, which criticizes federal laws requiring all children be taught regardless of citizenship districts.

The original resolution endorsed efforts by California Governor Pete Wilson to control illegal immigration. But public outcry and disagreement among board members toned down the final resolution to read, "The school board is concerned about legislation designed to curtail illegal immigration." School board member Joyce Lee proposed the resolution.

I'd like to be able to count the illegals, send the number back to Washington and ask for federal funding that they would send in foreign aid to Mexico because these are their people. So let's get some of that money back to the school districts.

The final vote on the resolution came after 30 minutes of heated public comments, most critical of the decree. Many called the resolution racist. For Latino USA, I'm Wanda Levine in San Diego.

As the Census Bureau issued new figures showing the Latino population growing at a faster rate than previously projected, dozens of Latino leaders from across the country met to focus on the issues which most affect this growing population. Among them, education, health, and how to make Latino communities viable. Organized by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the three day meeting culminated with an electronic town hall meeting linking together San Juan, Miami, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Antonio. Latino USA's Maria Martin reports.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute presents threads of diversity, the fabric of unity.

Finding an agenda which can unite the many diverse and regionally scattered Latino communities is what brought together some 800 invited guests and the Hispanic members of Congress for an electronic town hall meeting joining together seven cities.

In New York, Congressman Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, resident commissioner Carlos Romero Barcelo is in San Juan. We have Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Congressman Lincoln Diaz Ballard with an audience in Miami.

In their regional and national diversity, the Hispanic Congressional Caucus, its 20 members up from 14 since last November, mirrors this country's Latino community. Members don't always agree on issues, such as the embargo of Cuba and the North American Free trade Agreement. Yet at this conference, the congress members echoed the sentiment expressed by HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.

Yes, we are different national origins and yes we are are different partisan roots, Republicans, and Democrats, and independents, and radicals, and conservatives, and every sort of breed of political roots. And yes, we live in different parts of the country and we've already talked about that, but the truth is we have much more in common than the things that separate us.

To address issues in common, a survey was taken among those invited to the seventh City Electronic Town Hall. The results indicated education is the issue of greatest concern among Latinos followed by health community viability, that is jobs, and the environment. From politicians to students to grassroots organizers, they all had questions for their congressional representatives.

My question is language minority preschool-aged children do not have to be provided with equal educational opportunities. How is this issue going to be addressed?

Responding is California Congressman Xavier Becerra.

Mrs. Maria, I can tell you one thing that in Congress you will not be satisfied by the answer because those of us in Hispanic caucus are not satisfied. We will be spending something over $200 million this coming year on bilingual education, about 20 or 30 million more if the president has his way than was spent in the past year. That 250 or $230 million provides us with the funds to reach about 10 to 15% of all the children in this country who are in need of bilingual services. The states aren't doing much better-

I would like to know how the Hispanic Congressional Caucus intends to deal with the current anti-immigrant backlash. In general, its impact on K-12 education. In particular, its impact on children enrolled in federally funded bilingual education programs.

Responding to this question from Los Angeles, LA Congressman Esteban Torres.

At this time in our history we're undergoing a tremendous onslaught by those who would wish to blame all the economic ills on this country on immigrants. The immigrants I might say, didn't have a lot to do with the SNL scandal. They didn't have a lot to do with the Cold War issue.

Those questions and responses having to do with the prevalent anti-immigrant climate seem to get the most response from those in the town hall audience, not only in the area of education but regarding the exclusion of the undocumented from the administration's healthcare plan. Illinois Congressman Luis Gutierrez.

In Chicago, in our discussions, we understand that healthcare needs to become. Given any package that we approve in the Congress of the United States, needs to be looked at as a basic and fundamental human right. A basic and fundamental human right that is guaranteed to every human being who lives in the United States regardless of the color of their skin or their economic status, regardless of whether they arrived yesterday or today or they're going to arrive tomorrow. Cancer and tuberculosis and illness does not ask for a MICA card as to whether it can visit your home or your children.

Just very briefly say that on this issue and on every other issue, it is a caucus policy to include the undocumented as part of our community.

Caucus chair, New York Congressman Jose Serrano.

We are not immigration agents. We don't get involved in how people get here. Once they're here, we feel that they have to be protected. Number two, this caucus, for the first time is also addressing the fact that people who live in American territories are part of our American community. There are questions yet to be settled about those territories, but as far as fair play from Washington, this caucus believes that the members who represent those areas and the people who live in those areas, for American citizens that they are, must get equal treatment and that's the kind of approach that the caucus has taken.

There are no easy answers to all the questions and issues facing the Latino community and addressed during the three days of sessions on Capitol Hill, but what was perceptible in Washington was a new attitude. The Hispanic caucus has been energized by new leadership and by the additional members elected in November, including its first Mexican-American and Puerto Rican congresswomen. There was serious talk of coalitions between Hispanics and African-Americans in Congress at one of the sessions, and at the same time the issues forum was taking place, the 20 members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus had an opportunity to show their new clout when they blocked a bill which would've extended unemployment insurance by cutting off benefits for blind and disabled legal immigrants. Congressman Xavier Becerra.

Chairman Serrano came into the discussions and it was through the efforts of the caucus, the name of the caucus, that we were able to say that Congressman Pastor who also came in, we were able to say that we as members of the Hispanic caucus, could not support this particular bill even though we knew we had many people in our districts who were unemployed, but this was not the way to do it. You don't rob Peter to give to Paul and we would not let it happen, and fortunately we had a leadership with the foresight to know that they should not do it either.

We have shown great progress and the fact that this caucus is being held here today is proved that the Mexican-American, the Hispanic can go forward. My question to you-

This new visibility and increasing political power for Latinos on Capitol Hill led one elderly participant to ask what those outside of Congress could do to help the members of the caucus be more effective. The answer came from representative Becerra.

Three important words Vote, vote, vote.

The town hall session of the Issues forum sponsored by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus was broadcast over public television stations in New York, Washington, San Antonio, Los Angeles, and Chicago. For Latino USA, I'm Maria Martin.

The US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and LULAC, the League of United Latin American citizens, support the free trade agreement as it now stands. After a six-month search, the city of New York has a new schools chancellor. Mandalit del Barco has more.

Ramon Cortines comes to New York as the former superintendent of schools in San Francisco and is acting assistant Secretary of Education. He now faces the daunting task of leading the massive New York City school system, rocked by an asbestos scare and highly politicized social programs that got his predecessor fired. Cortines says he's ready for the challenge.

I've always wanted to climb Mount Everest and I believe that this is the Mount Everest in my career. We will slip and we will make mistakes, but together, I believe we can make progress.

Cortines is Mexican-American, born in Texas and adopted by a European couple. He served as superintendent of San Francisco, Pasadena and San Jose, California before working with the Clinton administration. He admits he's wary about all the problems facing New York schools and his priorities will be high standards and the city's immigrant school children. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

While the media debates the pros and cons of immigration and pollsters measure growing anti-immigrant sentiment, it's somewhat harder to measure how immigrants feel about the ongoing debate. So Latino USA went to commentator, John Guardo, who came to this country from Colombia as a young boy to get his views on the controversy.

Yo, you want to know what really burns me up? It's when I hear people talk about minorities and immigrants like we are subhuman. It's those same people who think it's our fault when bad things happen in our neighborhoods. What they don't realize is that our communities are the ones abandoned by the authorities and left to decay. To set the record straight, let me tell you a story. There once was a kid, a smart kid, who came to this country not to freeload or abuse the opportunities America had to offer, but for a more basic reason. To live with his mom. You see, earlier in his life, his parents had separated. Pops was an alcoholic who had made a habit out of beating up mom. Mom was a teenager, who after the separation, moved to the US, leaving the kid behind, sacrificing it all for a shot at a better life. Finally, time allowed for mother and son to reunite in New York City.

This story should have ended with them living happily ever after. Unfortunately, this is the real world and it didn't happen that way. I am that kid. When I put my foot on the plane, I knew it was the start of a new life. I look forward to visiting Disneyland and the Empire State Building. I had a lot of aspirations. Catching a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty just before landing gave me confidence. It reassured me that I was finally free from the family violence I left back home. But had I really escaped violence entirely? For the first few weeks after I came to this country, life was good. Living in postcard New York was how I thought it would be. That all ended when my mom ran out of places to take me and I had to face it all on my own. Armed with only intellect and friendliness, I stepped into society only to face a seemingly indestructible enemy. Prejudice.

Being nice didn't keep me from getting beat up. Being smart didn't mean anything if no one would listen. But being punched for not knowing English, that was the last straw. From then on, respect became more important than anything and the streets became my school. My mother, on the other hand, worked incessantly, pushed to exhaustion by a dream of seeing her son wear a graduation gown. Sometimes, I felt like telling her how many obstacles I was facing as a new immigrant and just because of being myself, but that would've disillusioned her and she didn't deserve that. When I turned 15, I joined a gang. It seemed like the only way out of my situation. It was like a passport to a regular life, free from being pursued by hate I didn't understand. With size came strengths, and all our voices fused into one that was heard and respected. Now, through violence, I had earned the right to be.

Being young at that time though, I was more inclined to the social aspects of gang life. Being with girls, drinking with the guys, and wilding. Walking down that path landed me in jail a couple of times, turning me into a stereotype, just another statistic. I admit that my sense of responsibility decreased by being in a gang. Instead of hanging out, I could have been studying. But that lost time was replaced by a sense of security. The acceptance given to me by my crew filled up the hole created by being rejected during my first months here. Belonging to a gang fulfilled me, but as time passed, I realized this wasn't the way either. Now that I've been here for almost 10 years, I look at other young kids who have just arrived to this country and see myself. It's a shame that a person whose only intention is to come here and do better is welcomed by prejudice, greed, and racism.

This country was built on immigration. Why is it then? And some people claim to have more rights than others. Is it a seniority thing or a freedom thing? You see, I believe if there was some sort of structure or orientation to guide immigrants when they arrive here, those who are new to this country would be able to avoid certain obstacles. Like the ones I had to confront. A good start would be an expansion in the English as a second language program to make it available to everybody, students and adults alike. Not knowing how to speak English is a problem that leads to others like difficulty in finding a job or being a target for discrimination. America is a beautiful country, full of promise and opportunity for everyone. Immigrants included. Too bad, there are those out there who tarnish its beauty with ignorance. I am John Guardo, speaking for the street.

In California, voters turned back by a two to one margin, a proposition which would've given 2,600 state government dollars to students enrolling in the private schools. Most Latino education organizations had opposed the controversial school voucher initiative. From Austin, Texas, this is news from Latino USA.

This is news from Latino USA, I'm Vidal Guzmán. Latino students at Cornell University have ended a four-day sit-in of the university's administration building. The protest, which also included some African-American students, began after a Latino art display was vandalized with what the students called racist graffiti. From Syracuse, Chris Bolt filed this report.

When the piece called Burning Castle was vandalized, Latino students at Cornell saw it as an act of racism. A demonstration followed, which escalated until a group of 75 students took over the university administration building. The artwork consists of several black walls constructed at places around the campus with slogans pointing out acts of discrimination against Hispanics. Vandals defaced the work by painting swastikas on the monoliths. Students want an aggressive response from the university to stop more acts of racism. The group of protestors refused a private meeting with Cornell President Frank Rhodes, instead calling for a public discussion of this incident and hiring practices at some of the university's colleges, especially those popular with students of color. Rhodes acknowledges the concerns of the students, but says they're the same problems confronting every major school in the nation. For Latino USA, I'm Chris Bolt in Syracuse, New York.

A recent study by a Latino think tank shows an underrepresentation of Latino teachers in schools across the country. Patricia Guadalupe in Washington has the story.

The study conducted over a five-year period by the Tomás Rivera Center found three times more Latino students than teachers in some states. It cites research that links the presence of Latino teachers to improved academic performance by Latino students. Rivera Center director Dr. Harry Pachon says the study highlights what he calls the crisis in Hispanic education.

We have a tremendous underrepresentation of Latino teachers in the United States. We're having school districts now that are 50% Latino, but yet less than 5% Latino teachers.

The importance of early childhood education, the importance of quality public schools, the availability of teacher leaders, the role of schools in the community are integral to our work.

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Henry Cisneros, who is a member of the center, says the lack of Latino teachers early in a student's life will have a later impact on the entire community. The center recommends that the US Department of Education target more resources to colleges with Latino students interested in teaching careers. The study's chief researcher, Dr. Reynaldo Macias, wants to see mentoring programs that would identify and support Latino teacher candidates.

The support that takes place as a result of interacting with faculty in the teacher education programs, counselors, practicing teachers in the schools and otherwise being told that yes, you do matter and yes, you can make it and we're here to make sure you make it has made a tremendous difference.

Representatives of the Tomás Rivera Center are meeting with members of Congress in hopes of including their recommendations in the Education Appropriations package now under consideration for Latino USA, I'm Patricia Guadalupe in Washington.

I'm Maria Hinojosa. November 2nd is election day in many places throughout the country. In California, voters will decide on a controversial initiative known as Proposition 174, a school voucher proposal, which advocates say is right in step with parents fed up with the state's troubled public schools, but which opponents call, a thinly veiled attempt to bankrupt the public education system, in which 36% of the students are Latino. Isabel Alegria has this report.

Proposition 174 would give each student $2,600 in state education funds, to use toward tuition at participating private or religious schools. Advocate Sean Walsh says, "Simply put, the voucher initiative would give parents, especially those stuck in inner city schools, the power to ensure their children get a good education."

It says, okay, here is $2,600. Walk into your principal's office with this $2,600 and say, "Mr. Principal, either you do a better job of educating my child, or I'm going to go to a school that will." And if the school does not improve, then you can say, "I'm out of here."

Opponents of the measure say, if it were that simple, Californians would be embracing Prop 174 wholeheartedly. But recent polls show they're not. Rick Ruiz is a spokesperson for the No on 174 campaign. He says one of the measure's main problems is that it would give all students a voucher, including 500,000 already enrolled in private schools. That means a drain of more than a billion dollars in public education funds to private schools over three years. Ruiz says advocates of the voucher plan are unconcerned about the effect on public schools.

They seem to be more interested in punishing the public schools than in reforming them.

Prop 174 has been rejected by many Hispanic civil rights groups, including MALDEF, LULAC and the Latino Issues Forum. Ruiz says there's no question that voters in California, especially Latinos and African Americans, want to see education reform, but not at the expense of public schools. In interviews outside Lazear Elementary School in Oakland, parents, most of them Latinos, express this same sentiment. But there is another concern over Prop 174, says Edgardo Franco, who was at Lazear to pick up his little sister and says he'll vote no on the measure.

I don't think we should be giving them money for they want to open their own school without a license. And then someone, the government probably, is going to give them money to do it. So I don’t think that's right. I think they should give the money to the public schools better.

Franco is expressing a widespread concern about the voucher plan that opponents say may result in the measure's defeat. Polls show most voters don't want public money to go to private schools that aren't required to hold to state standards on academic safety or teacher training. Rick Ruiz of the No on 174 campaign says even if parents did believe that private schools were better, most of them would be hard-pressed to send their kids to the private schools of their choice.

The really top quality private schools that are enjoyed by the wealthy charge anywhere from $7,000 to $15,000 a year and more. A $2,600 voucher is not going to provide anybody access to that kind of education.

Proponents of Prop 174 say these negative arguments are based on false information. Advocate Sean Walsh says surveys show most private schools, like parochial schools, would be accessible with a voucher. As for state supervision of schools, Walsh says it has hardly resulted in a top-notch public system. But Walsh says, what will influence voters the most to support the voucher plan is their disillusionment at the pace of school reform.

And again, we feel confident that when those parents go into that voting booth and they pull that little lever, that they're going to stand there before they do and say, "You know something? I can't afford to have my child go another 10 years without any sort of educational reform, that my child will be out of school by then and my child will have lost his or her future."

Opponents of Prop 174 are convinced voters will reject the measure, but they're not as quick to say that a no vote on November 2nd should be considered the final word on the idea of school vouchers. For Latino USA, I'm Isabel Alegria in San Francisco.

This is news from Latino USA. I'm Maria Martin. According to the United Nations, US Latinos and African Americans enjoy a lower quality of life than people in many developing countries. Franc Contreras reports.

The report from the United Nations studied quality of life for people living in 137 countries around the globe. It's called the Quality of Life Index and it examines life expectancy, education, and purchasing power. The report found that, as a group, US Latinos fall way behind the US as a whole. The report says the non-minority population in the US has the best standard of living in the world, but Latinos ranked 35th worldwide. Life for Latinos in the US compares to people living in the former Soviet republics of Latvia and Estonia. And according to the report, US Latinos do just a little better than people living in Russia. The number one country in the world, according to the report, is Japan, but that country drops to number 17 when the treatment of Japanese women is taken into consideration. For Latino USA, I'm Franc Contreras in Washington.