Puerto Rican Students in U.S. Schools:

A Brief History by Sonia Nieto

In the book Sonia Nieto the author writes about the issues that Puerto Ricans faces in the United States education system.  She stated that, Puerto Rican students are no stranger to U.S. schools, since they have been living in the United States for countless number of years; they were in New York City and a handful of other U. S. cities a number of years ago so, they are not newcomers.

Although Puerto Rican students have been attending schools in the continental United States for a significant part of this century, by and large they have not done well. Their achievement levels tend to hover around the lowest in the country, and the drop-out rate from high school tends to be among the highest of any other group. She stated that longevity does not seem to make a major difference.  In addition to dismal educational outcomes for the group as a whole, the case of Puerto Rican students also needs to be studied because of the unique relation between Puerto Rico and the United States. In an age when colonialism is not in trend, and in fact is downright contemptible in many quarters, Puerto Rico continues to be a colony in almost every way but name which is often called a “commonwealth” by the United States. The centenary of the invasion of Puerto Rico by the United States

  School systems that don't care, no matter their expertise, are hardly school systems at all, because very little” schooling, teaching and learning occurs within them. Things will get no better until the schools face up to their obligations and decide that what needs improvement is not their image but their performance. Meanwhile, they forfeit their responsibilities, just as the children forfeit their hopes and the nation forfeits its future. Margolis (1968, p. 15).  Sonia also stated that even though this was written over 30 years ago, this rather bleak assessment of schools' responses to Puerto Rican students still rings true today in far too many cases. In spite of the many changes that have taken place in the intervening years, many schools remain alienating places for Puerto Rican youngsters, who continue to fail and drop out at alarming rates.

After reading the “Puerto Rican Students in U.S. Schools: A Brief History” I realize that the American system of education is simple set up for the most favored which mainly include white America. Even though Puerto Rico is a part of America their children are still failing because they are considered among the less favored in society.  This is a sad realization but it is one that we as educators and aspiring educators have to deal with, since many educators in the United States are still uninformed of their Puerto Rican students' past and of how they might use their past to teach these children more successfully.