By Macarena Vidal

WASHINGTON – Increasing the number of university graduates and reducing the number of students who drop out of high school are two of the goals of the educational plan presented on Tuesday by U.S. President Barack Obama.

The president presented his proposals in a speech before the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Washington.

Neither the audience nor the subject were chosen by chance. The president is making an active effort to get closer to this community of growing importance in U.S. political life.

At the same time, education is a matter of crucial importance to Latinos, whose students, according to statistics, are systematically behind their non-Hispanic classmates.

Only 49 percent of Latino children go to preschool learning centers, compared with 60 percent of non-Hispanic tots.

By eighth grade, only 16 percent of Hispanic students are reading at grade level or better, compared with 39 percent of non-Hispanic white students, according to data of the 2006 National Survey on Educational Progress.

Some 22 percent of Hispanic students fail to complete high school, a proportion three times higher than that of their white classmates.

About 47 percent of young Hispanics never attend college and a scant 5 percent take postgraduate studies, according to data from the Pew Hispanic Center.

Obama, greeted on Tuesday with cries of “si se puede,” the Spanish version of his electoral slogan “yes we can,” said that numbers like these are unsustainable if the United States wants to keep its economic leadership.

Obama’s initiative seeks to improve the entire system, from preschool education to university, although at least for the moment, he does not foresee approving new educational regulations and will maintain the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind program.

But the president does seek to increase the number of preschool places so that kids begin their formal education at least knowing the first rudiments of reading and writing.

In primary and secondary schools, he proposes toughening teaching standards and the possible lengthening of the school day.

One of his most controversial proposals, to which the teachers union is opposed, is to give incentives to teachers who get the best results from their students.

Unions say that will spark rivalry among teachers instead of teamwork.

Obama also wants to reduce the school dropout rate.

“As I said a couple of weeks ago, dropping out is quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country, and it is not an option – not anymore. Not when our high school dropout rate has tripled in the past thirty years. Not when high school dropouts earn about half as much as college graduates. And not when Latino students are dropping out faster than just about anyone else,” the president said.

The U.S. president also wants to promote a greater proportion of university students for 2020 and get aid for underprivileged students.

Obama, who stressed that the measures he proposes must be accompanied, if they are to be successful, by both parents and students accepting their full responsibility, acknowledged that his measures will not all be popular with everyone.

Many Democrats, he said, “have resisted the idea of rewarding excellence in teaching with extra pay, even though we know it can make a difference in the classroom,” he said. “Too many in the Republican Party have opposed new investments in early education, despite compelling evidence of its importance.”

Despite these criticisms, he said, it is imperative to invest in the educational system to guarantee the nation’s economic wellbeing.

“America’s place as a global economic leader will be put at risk – unless we not only bring down the crushing cost of health care and transform the way we use energy, but also do a far better job than we have been doing of educating our sons and daughters,” Obama said. EFE