by Luis J. Echarte
Many promising Latino students are missing out on great educational opportunities because their parents live in fear of media images of college socializing, which often portray loose morals and excessive drinking.
It’s especially hard for our Latino families to push offspring out of the nest at the age of 18, or even younger depending on birth months and whether an exceptionally bright student may have skipped a grade, given the strong importance of family ties in our communities. After speaking Spanish, a strong family network is one of the things that best defines being Latino in the United States.
Like many important decisions in life, it’s a question of choice. There are great local universities and community colleges. However, unless you happen to live in a college town or a city known for its concentration of universities, staying at home could mean foregoing the opportunity to go with the best in the country.
The US educational model is based on the assumption that students at age 18 are legal adults and that part of the education process is living away from home. Parents should rest assured that the family values that are instilled in their children from birth are not tossed out of the window when freshmen move into their dormitories.
In my personal experience, I can certainly say that living away from home taught me discipline as well as the ability to do domestic chores, qualities that have probably made me a better husband.
Are their opportunities for abuses and excesses in universities? Yes. However, opportunities to lose yourself are abound anywhere in society, regardless of whether you are attending a local college or living on campus.
If academic or career advancement is your top priority, you should probably base a university decision on the strengths of its programs and your interests, instead of whether you will be able to make it home to dinner with the family every night.
* Luis J. Echarte is Chairman of the Spanish-language television network Azteca America and the non-profit group Fundación Azteca America
