News, Views and Careers for All of Higher Education
July 12, 2005
Community colleges have long been seen as key institutions in the push to get more minority students into higher education. A new study suggests that for one minority group — Chicanos — the importance of community colleges extends up through the production of doctorates.
Nearly one-fourth of Chicanos with doctorates started their higher education at a community college, according to a new report by the Chicano Studies Research Center at the University of California at Los Angeles. The report found that the proportion of Chicano doctorate holders who started out at a community college (23 percent) is more than twice that of doctorate holders who are white (11 percent), black (10 percent), Puerto Rican (6 percent) or Asian American (3 percent).
The only ethnic or racial group to come close to Chicanos in this regard is Native Americans (19 percent).
“For Chicana and Chicano students, the community college is the most critical gateway to postsecondary education,” said Daniel Solórzano, a professor of education at UCLA and associate director of the Chicano Studies Research Center.
As a result, he said, if educators and policy makers want to have more Chicano professors, they need to pay more attention to community college issues, and especially to efforts to help students at community colleges transfer to four-year institutions. Surveys have found that more than 70 percent of Latino students who enter a community college want to eventually transfer to a four-year institution, but fewer than 20 percent actually do so.
The UCLA findings come at a time that other students have found serious gaps in Ph.D. attainment by Latinos, compared to the rest of the population. For example, Chicanas make up 6.7 percent of the age cohort that typically earns Ph.D.’s, but receive only 1.1 percent of doctorates awarded to women. Chicanos make up 7.9 percent of their equivalent age cohort, and earn only about 1 percent of doctorates awarded to men.
The impact of attending a community college on earning a doctorate appears to vary by discipline. According to the UCLA study, Chicanos who started their educations in community colleges were most likely to earn doctorates in education and the social sciences. Education, for example, was the discipline of 40 percent of Chicano doctorates who started in community colleges and only 26 percent of Chicanos who started elsewhere.
Other fields are more likely to attract Chicano doctorates who didn’t start at two-year institutions. For example, 17 percent of such Chicanos received doctorates in the life sciences, compared to 11 percent of those who started at community colleges.
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I found this article to be very interesting and “telling” on many levels. The data verifies the accessibility and openness of community colleges and supports our Founding Father’s goal of “public education” and not just for the wealthy elite.
However, with an ever increasing Hispanic population, I wonder if we couldn’t be doing more, e.g., basic math and computer courses and ESL taught via internet courses. Hispanics are hard-working and many work at multiple jobs. They do not have the time to attend “traditional” on-campus classes, but given “basic computer skills,” most would benefit from the availbility of an expanded CDI internet curriculum and so too, would the community at large. Respectfully, Durwood Foote
Durwood Foote, Asst. Professor, Natural Sciences at Tarrant County College, at 10:40 am EDT on April 24, 2008
El Cabezon says some are unemployed because the Chicano Studies major was politically too hot. Nel ese! Your not unemployed because you majored in Chicano Studies. Your unemployed because you are looking for a job in the wrong places. Give us a call in Austin, Texas. (512) 912-1077. We’ll solve your unemployment problem pronto y quick!
Alfredo Rodriguez Santos c/s, Chief Operating Officer at Mexican American Center for Community & Economic Development, at 8:54 am EST on November 14, 2005
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Some of us have gone to the state universities of California and graduated with a major in Chicano Studies.Today we find ourselves UNEMPLOYED because we found out that this major is very political and the only entry level has been as an educator.Of course the racism that is prevalent in this US society(dominated by white males mostly)has been a key factor.Thanks.El Cabezon(my nickname or nom de guerre)
Mr.F.G.Cortes, at 6:01 pm EDT on July 12, 2005