Jeffrey Burgos, principal of Bessie Carmichael Elementary School/Filipino Education Center in San Francisco, addresses the FilAm media and community advocates on the study.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA: The Philippine American Press Club (PAPC) USA, partnered with the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA), tackled pressing problems besetting Filipino American students from K-12 in the American public school system.
In the PAPC’s quarterly Kapihan at the West Bay Pilipino Multi-Center in the heart of South of Market, concerns of local schools in Seattle and San Francisco had been developed into full-blown research on how students are coping in ten major cities with large Filipino populations. The center and a public school nearby might just as well have been ground zero for Filipino students coping in an inner city setting and its socio-cultural and economic factors.
The Bessie Carmichael Elementary School/Filipino Education Center with a 52% Filipino student population is lucky to have a Filipino principal who understands both the negative and positive influences affecting his students. Jeffrey Burgos, principal for the past five years, empathized with the group’s concerns but also stated that the findings were not atypical of Filipinos but applied to all the ethnics.
In the panel to discuss the “High Drop-out Rate and Low Performance of FilAm Students” was a mix of academicians and community advocates: Jeffrey Burgos; Hydra Mendoza, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s education adviser; Thelma Boac, principal of Silver Creek High School in San Jose; Ruby Munoz, Alameda Commissioner for the early childhood education program Head Start; Rodel Rodis, member of the City College board; and Anthony Barretto Ogilvie, Ed.D, executive dean of Continuing and Professional Education, Seattle Central Community College. Moderators were Henni Espinosa of ABS-CBN Channel Network and Rudy Asercion, executive director of West Bay.
The most pressing issue was how to alleviate the problem of dropouts and, even more compelling, the high suicide incidence among FilAm high school students. Not only are there academic challenges to consider; there too are emotional and physical growth, social values, peer pressure, economics and language difficulties that strain student performance.
Johanna Navarro, a psychologist in the audience, recommended the development of intervention projects to help the students. Hydra Mendoza and Burgos said such programs are in place, but school environment, the home and parenting are major factors too.
Someone recalled, “It takes a village to educate a child.” How wise were our forebears in the Philippines where extended families keep an eye on all the children, making sure that they toe the line and adhere to the family dream of a better future through the best education possible.
But the reality is that we are now in America, where the family ties are not as strong, even fragmented. With more urgent needs like putting food on the table and a roof over their heads dislodging the dream of a better tomorrow, education plays second fiddle. With monetary concerns to the fore, even the aspirations of students are focused on where it’s easier to excel and bring the best returns, like nursing. Rocket scientist? Doctor? Electrical Engineering? Law? Politics? Journalism? No, nursing.
The study also brought to light that these problems are not new. Filipino students have had them for decades. It was also found that the newer immigrant students excelled more than the children who’ve stayed longer or were born in America. Is Americanization of the Pinoy a factor? Perhaps.
Meanwhile, here are NaFFAA’s findings in a study of Filipino American K-12 public school students in a ten city/area-study – Chicago, Honolulu/Hawai’i, Jersey City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle – on a grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation, with Dr. Tony Ogilvie as national research project coordinator.
1. In the four city/areas of Jersey City, Miami, New York City and San Diego, Filipino public school students are doing well.
2. In two city/areas of Chicago and Las Vegas, Filipino students appear to be doing well academically, but indicators suggest existing or pending problems.
3. The city/areas of Honolulu, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle were noted to clearly have significant academic deficiencies among Filipino students.
4. In spite of the good news of exemplary Filipino academic achievement in most city/areas, in California are low numbers of Filipino students going to college and dropping out early, high suicide rates among Filipino teenage girls, and many Filipino teens feeling excessive parental pressure to succeed.
5. The lack of disaggregated statistical data on Filipino students in five city/areas must be addressed in order to verify the assessments based on interviews.
6. The significant academic deficiencies in city/areas where there have been three to four generations of Filipino immigrants and the additional bad news in California are in sharp contract with the avowed high value placed on education by Filipino parents and Philippine culture. Countervailing pressures in American society may be influential in shaping Filipino K-12 student performance.
7. There are a number of university-based programs aimed at recruiting, supporting and retaining Filipino students, but community-based programs serving Filipino youths are for the most part essentially conducted with volunteers. This national study suggests that Filipino students in American public schools are not being adequately prepared for high-demand, high-skills jobs in the current workplace environment.
Recognizing that not all future jobs require college education and that not all Filipino students need to go to college there is agreement among those who participated in the study that if the national Filipino student academic performance is not improved and sustained, the Filipino community will feel the negative consequences locally and nationally.
These results of an initial research project call urgently for more detailed research and analysis towards taking steps in the coming years to ensure a brighter future for all Filipino students regardless of where they reside and whether they attend public or private schools.
Study Implications
One can look at the national picture of Filipino students in the K-12 public school system as a glass that is half-full or half-empty. There are areas where Filipino students are succeeding academically. But there are also high numbers of Filipinos doing poorly, especially in cities and areas where the Filipino community has been around for 100 years or more.
In these areas one may find the local school district responding inadequately to the critical needs of first- generation immigrant students and students who have become fully “Americanized.” These have become less academically achieving and may soon be caught in the insidious cycle of poverty, becoming permanent members of the low-educated and low-skilled group vying for low-paying jobs. The research group expressed several concerns:
• Insufficient advanced academic preparation leading to a lack of sustainability and ascendancy in the careers of young Filipinos in the workplace, thereby diminishing their preparation for national and global economies.
• Filipino youth unable to participate in higher level jobs with higher incomes.
• Minimum involvement of Filipino parents and community members in their local school system due to past historical tradition and practices resulting in Filipino student needs going unheeded.
• The low number of Filipinos going on to higher education and graduating, especially in teacher education, creating an anemic pool of future Filipino teachers to cope with serious deficiencies in the school system.
• If not reversed, the “colonial mentality” that still persists in both Filipino adults and youth will make it all the more difficult to reverse the pattern of low academic achievement afflicting Filipino students in the K-12 public school system.
Recognizing that the K-12 Filipino student academic situation cannot be left to resolve itself, the group researchers recommended urgent action at several levels – the school system, the Filipino community and the Filipino parents
School System
1. Data by sub-ethnic group (e.g., Filipinos) must be separated immediately; otherwise the problems of these groups will remain invisible and their issues and problems left to worsen.
Board members and K-12 school districts administrators are asked to seriously consider the following actions:
1. Hire more Filipino administrators, teachers and counselors to ensure staff that can deal appropriately with the challenges and problems Filipino students encounter in the school system daily.
2. Revise and infuse the existing curriculum with Filipino culture, history and experiential content.
3. Provide other educators with training that introduces them to Filipino culture, history, practices and skills enabling them to work more effectively with Filipino students.
4. Involve Filipino community members and parents in the school’s daily operations and special programs; this can be done in coalition with other ethnic groups when the opportunities arise.
5. Place Filipino educators in leadership and succession positions.
Filipino Community
Filipino communities across the nation are strongly urged to:
1. Provide education leadership training for parents and students to enable them to look at the education system critically and engage school personnel in pro-active dialogue and actions.
2. Encourage and facilitate parental involvement in the local school system.
3. In addition to providing scholarships, conduct academic support and other programs for their youth that foster academic achievement.
4. Prepare an inventory of existing organizations, programs, and resources to assist Filipino youth who need academic and personal help.
5. Join other ethnic groups in forming coalitions that push and promote better responsiveness to community needs by the school system.
6. Conduct highly visible activities that promote awareness of the Filipino community in other sectors of the community (business, government, education).
Filipino Parents
The National Filipino Study group also urges Filipino parents to the following:
1. Learn how the American school system works and critically assess what the school is doing for their children.
2. Increase involvement in their children’s education by participating in school activities and programs, especially advocating on their children’s behalf.
3. Know where their children are – both in terms of physical location and use of the Internet (MySpace, YouTube).
4. Continue to encourage high performance in school and at the same time support their children in times of success and difficulty outside of school.
5. Collaborate with parents from other ethnic communities in ensuring that the school system meets the needs of all students.
For a complete copy of the Filipino American K-12 Students: A National Survey, click here.
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