... A report issued Thursday by the National Women’s Law Center and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund attempts to call attention to the high secondary school dropout rate of Latinas and the factors contributing to the dismal number. The study, which surveyed hundreds of high-school age Latinas throughout the country, cites statistics from the U.S. Department of Education. The data shows that 41 percent of Latinas do not complete high school in four years or drop out altogether.
“Latinas are the fastest growing group of female school-age youth,” says Lara Kaufmann, senior counsel for the National Women’s Law Center in Washington D.C. “If Latinas continue to drop out at these rates, we will surely have a huge work force without education and that’s going to be a huge problem for this country.”
The study blames the high dropout rate on a variety of factors that include a need for many Latinos to work to help support their families as soon as they come of age. Latinas often have increased responsibilities at home like having to take care of their younger siblings, the study notes. For many, this means having to sacrifice their studies for domestic duties. A high teen pregnancy rate among Latinas also makes it difficult for many of these young women to continue with their education, the study said.
The study cites statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, which show that 53 percent of Latinas become pregnant before age 20.
