Why we should help Spanish speakers get high school diplomas

I assume people think what I thought. At first, I didn’t want to provide tutoring in Spanish for the high school diploma test. “Because,” I thought, “people who move here to live need to learn English.”

What I had failed to consider was the difference between learning to speak English and being able to pass a difficult academic test in a language that is not your primary language.

I still believe people living in America need to be able to converse in English, just as I would need to learn to converse in Spanish if I moved to Mexico.

However, I now see the value in options – options that allow you to test your knowledge of social studies, science, language arts and math to see if you have an understanding of these subjects equivalent to a high school graduate.

That is, after all, the purpose of this test. It not the purpose to find out if you know English well enough to pass these tests.

California recognizes this fact and, for that reason, gives the same diploma no matter what the language used to take and pass the test.

A student I will call Isabella provides a perfect example of this point. Isabella moved a lot in her life, and by middle school she was behind in her studies and dropped out.

Subsequently, she could not find a good job to help her family. So, for the sake of her children, she came to LearningQuest to study for the Spanish test and her diploma. She didn’t know how to divide numbers, let alone do basic algebra and geometry.

Now, Isabella has passed all her tests and has her diploma and a job at Amazon. If she had been required to learn so much – and also learn it in a language other than her primary language – this task would have been insurmountable. And Isabella would not be contributing as much to society or her family.

LearningQuest is trying to expand this opportunity. A class scheduled for 15 adults has a waiting list of 130. We want to add a second class to provide education starting at an eighth-grade level and help more people have the opportunity for a diploma. Through the generosity of the Mary Stuart Rogers Foundation, we have an opportunity to have all the donations to our scholarship drive be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $15,000 as long as they are received by April 15.

This will allow us to continue to provide education for the GED and HiSet tests (which California uses to determine eligibility for its diploma) and provide it in both Spanish and English.

Since our destination is graduation, we want to provide alternative routes. Spanish preparation for a High School Equivalency test is another route that has limited availability locally. I think it is something we should support as a county and make sure people have this option so they can get a job and take care of their families as Isabella is now doing.

This story was originally published March 24, 2016 at 2:23 PM with the headline "Why we should help Spanish speakers get high school diplomas."