Is This True About Hispanic Americans?

There are over forty million Hispanics living in the United alone. (Marger 2009) An interesting aspect is that three different minorities make up the Hispanic population. They are: Cubans, Mexicans and Puerto Ricans. (Merger 2009)

            I live in El Paso Texas which happens to be a predominantly Hispanic area. I have lived there for twenty two years and from what I have seen and learned is that Hispanics are very family oriented.  They have tremendous extended families. At times I thought everyone was practically related. Many of my friends lived not only with their parents, but their grandparents also lived in the home as well.

 Its widely believed that Hispanics tend to avoid activities or social settings that would set them apart from their particular groups. I found this to be true within the community where I live in wherein many places only specialize in promoting parties in relation to Hispanics. Furthermore, many businesses will only hire people who speak Spanish and English.

Some people often believe that Hispanics will often do the dirty work, or the work that most people would refuse to do. I don’t believe this to be the case at all. I think its all about circumstances and location as well as education. Our text states that Hispanics have a higher dropout rate than whites and blacks. (Merger 2009) In el Paso, I remember being in high school and there was a significant number of students who were in the same grade level as I was, but were several years older than me.  When it comes to statistics, its also important to look at demographics.

The machismo effect is quite evident in the Hispanic culture but not as widely popular as it once was but still evident in some families. The machismo is used in flattering ways and pertains to the male ego. Children often learn that it refers to manhood or the tough guy persona. As they get older, they refer to it as a respect and showing dignity, such as being a hard worker and loving husband and father

References

http://www.coedu.usf.edu/zalaquett/hoy/culture.html

Marger, Martin N. (2009). Race and Ethnic Relations (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.