Hi, I'm Stacy, and I graduated from college in 2006. I am not condoning plagarism of any kind, but am putting my essays online to help with general writer's block. Learning by example is one of the most widely recognized methods of self instruction and effective tutoring. Feel free to read one of my essays to help you write your own! Donations are appreciated.

Latinos continue to be the biggest minority population in the United States today. Yet, the injustices that Latino-Americans tolerate with are just as great as their size. They suffer daily from poor education and issues of poverty and despair, while they are still targeted by politicians and advertisers. The United States welcomes immigrants while forcing them into unlivable situations at the same time.

Education in the United States is not the same for everyone. California’s high school graduation rate for students is 87 percent. The graduation rates for minority students are significantly lower –57 percent for blacks, 60 percent for Latinos, and 52 percent for American Indians.

Studies show that Latino children are much more likely than white or black students to attend the nation’s largest and poorest public high schools. Also, Latinos are more likely to be in high schools that have the highest concentrations of poverty and largest ratios of students for a single teacher. Does it make a difference that Latino teenagers are more likely than any other racial or ethnic group to attend public schools that have that the dual characteristics of extreme size and poverty? Richard Fry, senior associate at the Pew Hispanic Center, says yes. School size matters because research shows that students in larger schools have higher dropout rates and more trouble being successful academically.

More young Latino students are attending college, while the number of whites enrolling in college is growing even faster. Even with college enrollment, Latino students are chasing a target that is quickly accelerating ahead of them.

Latino pedestrians in the South are worried about acceleration as well –vehicle acceleration. It is not uncommon to see cars traveling more than 50 mph down a highway and come within just a few feet from hitting a family standing precariously in the middle of a lane, waiting for a break in traffic to complete their crossing. Extreme poverty and immigration issues put Latino immigrants in special conditions more susceptible to pedestrian accidents. Some are merely unable to afford a car, while others simply are unable to obtain a driver’s license.

The military targets these Latino-Americans. With military enlistments at a stagnant level, the Pentagon spends hundreds of millions of dollars to find out as much as they can about young Latinos. Military recruiters devise new and often unexpected ways to penetrate daily Latino life. Latinos are not only rejecting the military –they are organizing grassroots movements against recruitment in their communities. The Pentagon worries about a decrease in Latino enlistment numbers. Latino-Americans are a rapidly growing, relatively population; a prime recruiting group for the military. Grassroots movements against recruitment question the lack of leadership among Latinos at the national level.

This year Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa was elected as mayor of Los Angeles. He is the first Latino to win this office in 133 years, because he was able to energize Latino voters to turn out for him at historic levels. Many Democrats across the nation called to congratulate him. The power of the Latino-American community in regards to politics is well-known, and all parties desperately want to tap into it. Advertising simply in Spanish to reach the Latino voter is not done anymore. Now, there are campaign strategists that work solely on Latino advertisements.

Politicians want Latino votes, so Republicans and Democrats alike brush up on their high-school Spanish before visiting Latino neighborhoods. Research is now showing that young Latino-Americans actually want to be spoken to in English. Yet, even though the language may be the same, companies are still targeting Latino-Americans specifically. Gone are the days of simply translating advertisements into Spanish to appeal to Latinos. Latino advertising has its own slogans and endorsers.

Two out of every three Latinos in the United States is of Mexican origin. Mexicans have, in fact, lived in the United States since before there was even a Mexico or United States. It can sometimes be difficult for white Americans in the Southwest to understand how deep the roots of Mexican Americans are in certain parts of the country. Most whites have migration stories that cannot even compare to those of the old Mexicans. And, yet, immigration from Mexico continues to be an extremely controversial subject in white America.

Organizations like the Minuteman Project express strong messages against illegal immigration. Yet policies affecting illegal immigrants seem to be financially beneficial for everyone but the immigrants themselves. Illegal immigrants can receive in-state tuition for California colleges, but cannot qualify for federal loans. They can buy cars and car insurance, but in most states, they cannot get driver’s licenses. President Bush previously promised to step up efforts to close American borders to illegal immigrants, but now he insists that these efforts be accompanied by a guest worker program to individuals who are already in the country illegally. These contradictions in the immigration laws of America welcome immigrants while rejecting them at the same time.