How do you know if Hispanic's aren't part of the teams that help develop new
technologies? Maybe Hispanics didn't invent the television or your
vibrator, but you don't jack shit about us. People like you when you have
no job, miserable and feel inferior you start to put down others. The fact
is and I won't respond to anymore to this thread is that Hispanics, (and you
deliberately misspell the word Hispanic as Hispanicks to belittle us, or is
it that you are just plan stupid) are the largest minority group in the
United States now and we are not going away, soon we will be running
everything, deciding who the next president of the US will be and might I
add a lot more. By the year 2040 Hispanic's won't be considered a minority.
So if you don't like Hispanic's (and I would assume a lot of other people) I
would suggest that you pack your belongings and move into a hole somewhere.
You don't think that we don't contribute to technologies, read on.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- This island has become a gold mine for corporate
recruiters looking for talented Hispanic engineering graduates.
The reason? The University of Puerto Rico's School of Engineering in
Mayaguez boasts the largest number of Hispanic engineering students in the
United States.
You read it right. The public university located on the western coast of the
3,500-square-mile island hosts 4,593 engineering students. Another local
university, the privately-owned Universidad Politécnica, places second, with
3,776. They each have more than double the number of Hispanic engineering
students as are enrolled at Texas A&M University, the main source of
Hispanic engineers in the continental United States.
Puerto Rico's large pool of engineering students is not going unnoticed by
U.S. employers. In October, UPR's job fair had a record-setting number of
companies and federal agencies recruiting engineers: 74. The list includes
the likes of Motorola, Raytheon Systems, IBM, the U.S. Department of Energy,
and the U.S. Geological Survey.
"Some recruiters say we are the best kept secret in the engineering
industry," says Nancy Nieves, placement department director at UPR's
Mayaguez campus. "Recruiters are coming down by word of mouth."
Majority Status Helps
The 3.8 million Puerto Ricans are not a minority in their homeland, but
considering the island's small size, bleak economic indicators, and a
smaller pool of potential college students, the enrollment figures are
eye-popping.
A closer look at Puerto Rico reveals unique factors that boost sign-ups at
engineering schools.
The main one: a college degree has become the ticket out of economic
stagnation. Since the 1960s, there has been a growing emphasis on
educational attainment to secure better earnings and job opportunities.
Strong demand from the local market and the continental U.S. for engineers,
coupled with the proliferation of colleges, low tuition costs, and generous
student aid, have eased this task.
"If a person doesn't study in Puerto Rico, it's for lack of interest," says
Antonio Magriñá Rodríguez, research director for The College Board office in
Puerto Rico. "When it comes to college studies, the offer is greater than
the demand. There is a strong effort to promote education among our young
population."
Plenty of Schools
By one measure, there are 45 private and public colleges in Puerto Rico
offering at least a bachelor's degree. Only UPR and Politécnica have schools
of engineering, though other institutions offer bachelor's degrees in one or
two engineering fields.
Academic observers caution against drawing comparisons between Puerto
Rico-based Hispanics and stateside Latinos, mainly because the first group
does not face language and racial barriers. But statistics do help explain
why there is a larger pool of engineering students on the Caribbean island.
Take educational attainment rates. Hispanic Americans' 25 percent
high-school dropout rate, the highest of all ethnic groups, is significantly
higher than Puerto Rico's 16.7 percent. According to Puerto Rico's
Department of Education, the local rate is believed to be lower, because it
does not reflect the high mobility of families between the island and the
continental U.S.
"The job market in the continental U.S. offers good job prospects for
graduates of high school or trade schools, but not in Puerto Rico," says
Augusto Amato, an economist at Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, the island's
largest bank. "It's hard enough to get a job with a bachelor's degree. That
is reason enough to finish high school and enroll in college."
Dog Eat Dog out There
It's survival of the fittest, considering Puerto Rico's 13 percent
unemployment rate is the highest nationwide and almost triple that of the
U.S. mainland. And in spite of a strong economy during recent years, the
prospects of job creation are dim, because economic growth rates have been
inadequate for a developing economy in which the income levels of 59 percent
of the population fall within the U.S. federal government's poverty
guidelines.
According to a major 1994 College Board report on college education in
Puerto Rico, the limited job opportunities awaiting high-school graduates
and the availability of the Pell grant incline many to the college option,
though not all complete their degrees. With starting annual salaries that
hover around $25,000, engineering has become a highly coveted career,
especially since demand for these professionals is also strong.
A recent Banco Popular survey of 140 major Puerto Rico-based employers shows
a need for technical professionals here, particularly computer, mechanical,
and electrical engineers.
Financial Pressures
Puerto Rico's high cost of living, buoyed by high real estate prices and
dependence on exports, prompts many workers to seek better job
opportunities. Most of Politécnica's students already hold full-time jobs
and are turning to engineering as a way to move up the ranks, says Gilberto
Vélez, dean of engineering. That's the case with the more than 100 workers
from the government-owned Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority that attend
Politécnica. The average annual salary of the agency's 558 engineers is
$50,000, a good income in light of Puerto Rico's $30,860 family average.
"The title of engineer enjoys prestige, and there is demand for them," says
Vélez. "A career in engineering also offers the flexibility of being your
own boss."
There also has been a local shift to pursue degrees in science and
engineering, a reverse of the trend in the continental United States, where
more students are majoring in humanities and social and behavioral sciences.
No Slacking Up
The Engineering Workforce Commission of the American Association of
Engineering Societies reports that the number of B.Sc. degrees awarded in
engineering has decreased by 17.2 percent in the past 10 years.
Not in Puerto Rico. While 8 percent of all SAT test-takers in the U.S.
mentioned engineering as the intended college major in 1999, Puerto Rico's
figure is higher, at 12 percent. A comparable figure is not available for
Hispanic Americans, but a report put out by the University of California's
Higher Education Research Institute says that Hispanics accounted for only
5.1 percent of freshmen intending to major in engineering in 1996.
"Hispanic engineering enrollment is growing, but very slowly and not on
parity," says Al Staropoli, national director for math and science for
Aspira, a nonprofit organization devoted to the education and leadership
development of Latino youth.
Rock-Bottom Costs
Part of the reason why a larger share of Puerto Ricans opt for college is
the relatively low cost of higher education there, local observers say.
UPR is the number one choice for most high-school graduates, not only
because of its world-class engineering program but for its rock-bottom
tuition. With a college credit at $30, a one-year, 36-credit program costs
about $1,345 in tuition and fees. That pales in comparison with the $3,489
annual average for in-state students at U.S. public universities. Even
Politécnica's estimated $4,500 in annual tuition and fees is less than
one-third of the $17,197 average for private universities in the U.S.
The lower cost does not come at the expense of quality, observers say.
Seventh largest in the U.S., UPR's engineering school is considered to be
among the nation's 10 best. Not only do three-fourths of its professors have
Ph.D.s, but the 170-credit program takes five years to complete, one more
than at most stateside universities. A well-rounded education that includes
courses in humanities and social sciences and exposes students to a basic
knowledge of other engineering fields is often cited as one of the school's
salient points, says Nieves.
Corporate Support
Reinforcing the curriculum are cooperative education agreements with several
companies and government agencies.
"UPR's engineering school is without a doubt one of the best schools
nationwide," says Nelly González, Andersen Consulting's diversity director
for North America. "It has an intense and rigorous curriculum that focuses
both on the technical and people skills."
González says she came down reluctantly three years ago after meeting Nieves
at a stateside conference. She was immediately surprised with the quantity
and quality of graduating students and their willingness to relocate
stateside. Since then, the world's largest management and technology
consulting firm has hired more than 80 UPR graduates, the majority of whom
are engineers.
"The experience has been excellent," says González.
UPR draws the best of the best of the island's high-school graduates, many
of whom have taken advanced placement courses. For the current academic
year, only half of the 1,774 applicants were admitted. To gain admission
into the popular electric and computer engineering programs, for instance,
students must have a GPA of at least 3.5 and high admission test scores,
says Jorge Rivera Santos, acting dean of the University of Puerto Rico's
School of Engineering.
Prep Courses Required
It's easier to get a foothold in Politécnica's School of Engineering, which
this academic year admitted 1,200 of the 1,600 applicants. Still, weaker
academic performers must take up to 24 credits of remedial courses before
they dip into the engineering programs, which, like UPR's, are accredited by
the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). Stateside
recruiters have taken notice and are increasingly scouting local talent at
both UPR and Politécnica.
"It's true most of these companies come thinking of their minority quota,
but in the end they continue coming for the quality of our students," says
UPR's Nieves.
Ken Acosta, cooperative education recruitment coordinator of the National
Security Agency, agrees.
"Puerto Rico has the best caliber students when it comes to engineering,"
says Acosta. "They have good GPAs in addition to being responsible, hard
workers."
The NSA, the U.S. Defense Department unit that handles signal intelligence,
recruits between 10 and 20 local students annually. Given the quality of
candidates, they easily could exceed those figures, but the agency aims at
diversified recruiting. Acosta says the agency gets good Hispanic candidates
from the mainland as well but concedes the pool is not as large as Puerto
Rico's.
There is also a fierce competition for the few Hispanic engineers graduating
from stateside universities, so Puerto Rico is an excellent alternative,
added Andersen's González.
Drain, or Growth Opportunity?
Local politicians and economists decry the brain drain, especially of
students trained at the publicly funded UPR, which sees more than half of
its graduates leave for stateside jobs. But the truth is that the local
market cannot absorb them all.
"The local job market is tight, and they are offered very competitive
salaries," says Rivera Santos.
Most of the corporate recruiters offer pay in the $40,000-plus range. The
best a starting engineer can do locally is the $38,000 paid by major
multinational companies located in Puerto Rico, but these offers are the
exception rather than the rule, says Nieves.
"Some of our graduates that take up stateside jobs beat right away the
$40,000 annual salary average for our Ph.D. professors," quips Rivera
Santos.
There is an added bonus in recruiting locally. Puerto Rico is also a bounty
of hard-to-find female engineers, who made up only 19.4 percent of all
first-year, U.S. engineering enrollments in 1994, according to Engineering
Workforce Commission reports. Female engineering students account for 35
percent of UPR's student body, a figure that also puzzles UPR
administrators.
"In Puerto Rico, we have access not only to talented Hispanics and
technology but also to female engineers," says González. "We feel we have
found a pot of gold."
© Copyright 2001 by Hispanic Engineer and Information Technology
We Hispanic's are the largest minority group in the United States now, and
we are still growing. Soon we will be running everthing. People that put
down others is because they are jelous, don't have a job and needs to pick
on others to gratify themselves.
Post by Leusogafofomaaitulagi Fonoimoana<<We Hispanics live together with Indians and Blacks as apposed to the white
man. >>
From "Triumphs and Tragedy, a History of the Mexican People", by Ramon Eduardo
Ruiz, copyright 1992.
page 56
Only by exploiting the land, which required Indian labor, could the Spanish
colony flourish. Thus began the rape of the Indian, especially brutal between
1521 and 1550. The pillage of the Indian community included the taking of
women, "the most beautiful and the virgins," according to the natives of Santo
Tomas Ajusco; the Spaniards "were never satisfied."
The hunt for labor and tribute, which Spaniards exacted from the Indian,
helps explain the never-ending expeditions to explore, pacify, and enlarge the
boundaries of New Spain. Even before the dust had settled on Tenochtitlan,
Cortes dispatched expeditions to the four winds. Before long, Spanish soldiers
had seized all of Mexico, marched into Central America and braved the arid
region lying between the Californias and New Mexico.
The subjugation of the Maya of Yucatan, actually never truly completed until
the middle of the 19th century, lasted for a decade and a half, from 1527 to
1542. The mastery of Yucatan was entrusted to Francisco de Montejo, a
companion of Juan de Grijalva on his expedition to Yucatan and later of Cortes.
With the blessings of the crown, which named him an "adelantado", Montejo
sailed from Spain in 1527 with 400 men. In 1540, with the pacification of
Yucatan still unfinished, and old and exhausted Montejo delegated the
subjugation of the Maya to his son. Montejo El Mozo completed what his father
had set out to do, founding Merida, the capital of Yucatan, in 1542.
Tha pacification of southern Mexico started in 1521, when Cortes sent
Gonzalo de Sandoval to Coatzalcoalcos. Luis Marin went off to impose Spanish
control on the Zapotecs of Oaxaca and, to do so, pushed south into Chiapas,
where he established a town. Chiapas resisted the Spaniards until 1527, when
Diego de Mazariegos subdued its inhabitants.
Pacification of northern Mexico began under Beltran Nunyo de Guzman, a
corrupt and sanctimonious lawyer of noble family with friends in high places.
Guzman set off for Mihoacan in 1529, acquiring almost immediately a reputation
for cruelty. The natives knew him as the "senyor de la borca y cuchillo", the
man who relied on the noose and knife to kill. Among his wanton acts one stood
out: the hanging of six Indian chieftains simply because they failed to sweep
the path over which he would walk. For six years, this sadistic Spaniards
pillaged Mihoacan, southern Zacatecas, Jalisco, and Culiacan, a region baptized
Nueva Galicia.
page 61
Encomenderos, first off, had their pick of the Indian women, whether with
husband or not. They used them as domestics and as concubines and, when they
were no longer useful, drove them away. On the sugar plantations, the
encomenderos "married" them off to their slaves. Some beat their Indian to
death; others buried them alive; the less cruel killed them with guns. When
they fled from his grasp, the encomendero pursued them with bloodhounds. Cortes
and fellow encomenderos earned money by selling their Indians into slavery.
Juan Ponce de Leon, one of these encomenderos, beat his Indians so badly that
the authorities arrested him for crimes. The best of the encomenderos drove
their Indians from dawn to dusk, while the heartless robbed them of their
goods.
page 68
Zumarraga, one of the most fanatical of them, believed that they must
discipline Indian heretics. As apolistic inquisitor, he brought before him some
19 Indian "sinners", one being Don Carlos Chichimecatecuhtli, whose notorious
trial in Texcoco in 1539 ended with his burning at the stake. In Mihoacan, a
Augustinian zealot had 4 Indian heretics tied to a pole in the town plaza, laid
quantities of wood at their feet, and then lit a fire, which the wind
supposedly blew out of control. Whatever the friar's intent, 2 of the Indians
were burned alive and the others scarred for life. Another friar in Mihoacan
had an Indian tortured in order to compel him to confess his sins. On the next
day, when the jailer came to his cell, he found that he had hanged himself to
escape further torture. Similar accounts besmirched the reputation of the
Franciscans in Yucatan, where they kept a tight rein for over 2 centuries.
Beatings were common, as well as reliance on church jails to woo the
unconvinced. At church masses, the absent were noted and, when caught, whipped.
page 77
The dramatic decline of its native population also recast the society of New
Spain. The death of millions of Indians, as well as the fickleness of mining,
shaped the silver age. According to some scholars, of the 25 million people who
dwelt in central Mexico in 1519, just slightly over one million survived over a
century later. Even when the original figure is cut in half, as dissenting
sages urge, and the number of survivors is doubled, the loss of Indian life is
still breathtaking. Not until the mid-seventeenth century did the decline come
to an end. No other European conquest had such devastating repercussions..
Illness alone did not kill the Indians. The black legend off a ruthless
Spain was no myth. The Spaniard was directly responsible for the death of
millions of native peoples. The Spaniards, after all, came to get rich, if not
with gold and silver, off the labor of the Indian.
Not exempt from blame were the missionaries, often the same friars who
defended the Indian. Determined to erect temples, convents, and monasteries,
they demanded labor of their neophytes and settled them on mission lands, where
European maladies spread like wildfires. Every one of the Catholic shrines,
usually edifices for the use of a few friars and staffed with a raft of Indian
servants, arose at the expense of the Indian's way of life. The clergy and
their secular allies, furthermore, disturbed the ratio of food to man by
reducing the numbers of dirt farmers while multiplying the ranks of townsfolk
who must be fed. The policy of congregating Indians in pueblos, which exposed
them to European diseases, exacerbated their plight. Spaniards, also, upset the
ecological balance, cutting down the forests and using the wood for their
buildings or fuel. Within a century, vast stretches of land lay barren of
trees. The iron plow cut deep into the soil, often on unprotected slopes; when
the rains came, they carried the topsoil away, leaving ravines and gullies.
Cattle roamed freely, stripping the earth of its grass cover and adding to its
woes in time of rain, or, more than once, wandered into the fields or corn and
squash tilled by Indians, destroying crops and enlarging their food supply.
Colonial record are replete with Indian complaints of damage done by cattle.
The pivotal injury done to the Indian, maybe the clue to his demise, only
students of the human psyche can measure. By intent and by accident, Spaniards
altered drastically the native cultures. Conquest was a traumatic experience
because the Spaniards made no effort to reach a cultural compromise. The
Indians, recalled Bernardino de Sahagun, we so "trampled underfoot that not a
vestige remained of what they had been." Sahagun exaggerated, but none of the
major Indian groups, the Aztecs included, weathered the Conquest; only groups
of marginal importance to the Spaniards, the Maya for one, survived. Still,
even in Yucatan, the conquest was a terrible episode. The arrival of the
Spaniards reduced Maya society essentially to one class, converting even the
native elite, which lost all but a few of its privileges, to milpa farmers.
Eventually, there were no native soldiers, no full-time craftsmen, no
shopkeepers or millers of flour, occupations reserved for non-Indians.
Subjugation transformed other aspects of native life. Before the arrival of
the European, Indians ate raw food and vegetables in abundance and drank
alcohol sparingly. The Europeans changed that. Among the Maya, for example, a
people who drank sparingly before the Conquest, alcoholism became a major vice
and the drinking of aguardiente, a raw, white rum, commonplace. Indians were
also told to change their ancestral way of dress, to give up loincloth for
zaraguelles, white cotton trousers, standard wear by the end of the 16th
century. Women of the humbler families, accustomed to leaving their bosoms
naked, were shamed into covering them with the huipil, before long their
traditional blouse.
page 87
Before 1540, just 6 percent of Spaniards in New Spain were women. But
Spaniards, like males the world over, could not live without women, and so they
fornicated with Indian females and sired mestizos.
page 89
Cortes also introduced the first African slaves to New Spain. Most of them
were of the Islamic faith, hailing from the western Sudan, the Congo, and the
Gulf of Guinea. The Spaniards had first enslaved the Indian, at times placing
him in chains, as had Nunyo de Guzman in Nueva Galicia. In the Panuco region of
the Gulf of Mexico, they sold into slavery 15,000 Indians shipping them to the
sugar plantations of the Caribbean. Spaniards held as many as 200,000 Indian
slaves in 1542....
faitau Tusi Pa'ia