May 5, 2009: The Brian Lehrer Show, WNYC
Democracy's Living Room: The Mexican American Experience

The Brian Lehrer Show

New York, NY – Research on the Mexican community in New York has uncovered some startling statistics -- while Mexicans are among the fastest growing groups in the city, they are dropping out of high school at alarming rates -- more than other new immigrant groups and more than Mexican students across the country. And few are attending New York's colleges. WNYC’s Marianne McCune has this report on an international partnership that aims to reverse that trend.

Mexicans Dropping Out at Alarming Rate

Carmen is originally from Guerrero Mexico, when she first came to New York, she didn’t speak Spanish or English, she spoke only mixteco indigenous language and she didn’t have the opportunity to go to elementary school.  While attending MASA, she was able to learn how to write and speak both Spanish and English. From not having a formal education in Mexico, with the support of “MASA a CASA” family mentoring support, she is currently studying for her GED in English. The family structure and costumes on Sundays has changed to be dedicated to the learning of the whole family, In a Triangulation Teaching methodology, both parents and children share a table with the mentor and focus only in education. All children are performing extraordinary in school

A native indigenous Mexican mother overcome her language barriers, and decrimination

NIÑOS EN DESVENTAJA. En Nueva York, casi la mitad de los adolescentes inmigrantes de México no están inscritos en la escuela, lo cual representa una proporción mayor que la de cualquier otro grupo de inmigrantes. Los expertos consideran que se trata de una “tormenta perfecta de desventaja educativa”: la inmigración mexicana a Nueva York es relativamente nueva, muchos inmigrantes mexicanos son indocumentados, pocos son los programas tutoriales dirigidos a ellos, y muchos se creen el mito de que los jóvenes indocumentados no pueden ir a la universidad. ¿Quién está abordando este tremendo problema?
Invitados: Ángelo Cabrera, presidente de la Alianza de Estudiantes México-Americanos (MASA), Nueva York, NY, masany.org/new/ ; Benjamín Zapién, estudiante mexicano, Nueva York, NY; Guillermo Linares, Asambleista, New York State Assembly, Albany, NY,

angelo cabrera_interviews