Did you know that by 2050 Caucasians will make up less than 50 percent of the racial composition in the United States?
Ray Suarez, Washington- based Senior Correspondent for PBS’s NewsHour and former host of NPR’s Talk of the Nation, shared these facts with students October 28 while presenting on how the influx of Hispanic immigrants will lead to an immense cultural shift in American society by the mid- twenty first century.
Among other facts about the future of demographics in America, Suarez also said.
“The country is in the midst of a very big social change. You can’t opt in or opt out. If you’re going to grow up in this country and have a worthwhile career, this is going to be part of your reality through your adult lives. That’s going to be the story of you’re adult lives.” said Suarez.
According to Suarez, more than 50.5 million Latinos reside in America, and more than 5.5 million of them are younger than five years old.
Suarez aid that the growing population of Latinos reflects a general trend of heightened immigration levels.
Many immigrants have assimilated into American culture and have found jobs in a variety of fields.
In conjunction with this point, Suarez said that approximately 34.5 million Americans speak Spanish at home, 2 million speak French, 2.5 million speak Chinese, 2 million speak Hindi, Gujarati or Bengali, and 1 million speak Korean, Russian, Vietnamese or Tagalog, which is spoken in the Philippines. According to Suarez’s research, half of the total Latino population in the US reside in either New York, California, Florida, and Texas.
“Some are unemployed workers waiting to be hired for a day’s landscaping work on a street corner while others are urban professional who share jokes in two or three languages,” said Suarez.
“Previous immigrant flows have gradually made their way into the American stream, into the middle class, sent precious sons and daughters up the ladder to do great things, giving great things to the country.” Suarez added.
In his presentation, Suarez explained that the Americans must fix their broken education system and provide equal opportunities regardless of race or nationality. Changes must be made to mobilize the social structure to provide more options for immigrants.
“We have to keep pushing the opportunity structure. There’s got to be a mutuality. If this new immigrant flow remains stock at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder, that’s bad for them and it’s bad for the country. We don’t make their lives better, and we don’t get their contributions.” said Suarez.
Following the presentation, members of the audience participated in a question and answer session with Suarez.
“I was stunned at how big the Spanish population was, knowing that this is going to be the biggest group of new immigrants, we will have to cater to them and we will have to think differently about them. They might assimilate in the country differently than the Europeans did.” said Susanne Torabi, International Student Coordinator.
Suarez also visited Spanish 400 classrooms during his stay at Phillips Academy to answer specific questions from smaller student groups.
Discussion topics in the Spanish 400 classes included the issues like bilingual education.
Suarez supported bilingual education that is executed correctly, though argued that previous attempts at bilingual education throughout the country have not been conducted properly.
“It doesn’t make sense if you have a large pool of students that don’t speak English to pretend like they do not speak another language. Students will lose leverage in other subjects such as Math,” said Suarez to the Spanish 400 class.
The Abbot Academy Association, the Ullman Fund and the Office of Community and Multicultural Development funded the presentation. Student leaders from Allianza Latina and members of the CAMD office planned to bring Suarez onto campus.
“I’ve been thinking for many years for someone to talk about the new trends, the changes in immigration not just in the US but in a broader context and it hasn’t been easy to find someone,” said Torabi.
“I really hope that students will learn to understand people from different places, and not to think broadly of them, while helping them integrate into this country,” she added.
