Hispanic American Diversity

Hispanic American Diversity

Hispanic groups of all origins have a profound interest when relocating to the United States. Hispanic groups such as Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans and Central and South Americans share the same common interest of prosperity and a future for their families. Language of these groups is commonly Spanish speaking and they relish with religion of the Roman Catholics and Protestant faith. The United States Census Bureau shows different percentages in poverty and the differences of these groups acquiring the English language separately. The Pew Hispanic Center offers information of each of these Hispanic groups unemployment rate in the United States. The Cuban Americans and the Puerto Ricans share a common political background of citizenship in the United States. As immigrants flourish to the United States, should all Hispanic groups be equal to one another.

Language

The Spanish language is a shared heritage among Hispanics living in the United States. According to the United States Census Bureau (2002), there are various differences of Hispanics groups acquiring the English language in the United States. The Mexican Americans are reported to speak English is 23 percent, while Puerto Ricans are more English oriented with a 39 percent of them speaking English (Schaefer, 2006). Southern and Central Hispanics groups such as Salvadorans and Dominicans; a more recent immigrant to the United States speaks more in their current tongue of Spanish.

On the other hand, Cuban Americans have established a slightly higher knowledge of English with 40 percent of them speaking English (Pew Hispanic Center, 2004).

Bilingualism in schools plays a factor to conversing Hispanics immigrants to the English language. According to Barbara Miner (1999), California approved a proposition 227, which means the diminishing of bilingual programs in schools and the making the schools of “English only” programs. The greatest concern of mandating “English only” schools in California for example is that 80 percent of the population of students is Latino. Miner further explains, “Good bilingual programs are about more than learning a language, it should be about respect for diversity and multiculturalism (Bilingual Education, 1999).”

In addition, 4.4 million limited English Proficient students enrolled in the United States. President Bush proposes new plans for bilingual education. In his plan, it requires a three-year limit on bilingual education to be sufficient enough time for a student to obtain “English fluency” (Krashen, 2001).

Religion

Religion is cordially express with all origins of Hispanics groups. The vast majority of the Hispanic communities acknowledge religion in their every day activity. In the world, 90 percent of the Spanish-speaking world is Roman Catholic. When evaluating the Hispanic population in the United States it is, reveal that 70 percent of Hispanics are protestant (Census, 2002). It is relevant that church influences family life and community affairs, and gives spiritual meaning to Hispanic cultures. Family life is very strong among Hispanic groups.

Economics

In 1990, 41 percent of Puerto Rican children were living in poverty, compared to 32 percent of Mexican-American children, 22 percent of Central/South American children and 17 percent of Cuban-American children (Census, 2002). These Hispanic groups are reliant on employment with few alternative sources of income. However, surveys have shown in 2001 that 68 percent of Hispanics adults are working. The Cubans had the highest unemployment rate of 10 percent, Mexican Americans with 8.1 percent unemployment rate, Central and South American origins had an unemployment rate of 6.7 percent (Pew Hispanic Center, 2004). The unemployment rate of Hispanic groups is beginning to decline and improve economic prospects for Hispanics. Employers do require a demand of less-skilled workers. In order for Hispanics to prosper in the future, they need to rely on education and when getting a job they need to stick with it.

Political Aspects

Over several years, political parties are beginning to acknowledge the growth rate of Hispanic populations. According to Schaefer, Congress began to lean towards offering bilingual ballots and multi-lingual ballots in either area that consist of five percent of the voting age or areas that consist at least 10,000 of population that does not speak English (2006). In addition, political parties did not take into account of the numerous numbers of illegal immigrants in the United States, so offering bilingual ballots did not have a good