The Chronicle of Higher Education blogged recently that the report, California Policy Options to Accelerate Latino Success in Higher Education, was released by Excelencia in Education, a Washington-based group that seeks to accelerate Hispanic students’ achievement in higher education.

The document notes that educational attainment among Hispanic Californians is low. In 2005, the report says, only 9 percent of Hispanic residents age 25 and older held at least a bachelor’s degree…

The report recommends, among other things, that California provide all new parents in hospital maternity wards with informational packets on how to prepare and save for college, offer financial incentives to students to stay enrolled in higher education, expand state tax incentives for employers to support their employees’ education, and increase state support of colleges that enroll large percentages of students from underrepresented groups.[Report Urges California to Raise Hispanic College-Going Rate, and Suggests How to Do So] [LInks added]

About this, I have several thoughts:

• Considering the number of Latino students who were born, not in California, but in Mexico, I don’t see distributing pamphlets to American maternity wards will help that
• Also, for the pamphlets to work, one assumes the Latino parents speak English and would not be using words like “Excelencia”.
• The word “incentive” in this context gives me nightmares.
• Not to mention the question of why exactly California needs Latino students if the first place. Which it doesn’t.