0.1 Preface

This manuscript has been peer-reviewed, accepted, and endorsed by the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration (NCPEA) as a significant contribution to the scholarship and practice of education administration. In addition to publication in the Connexions Content Commons, this module is published in the International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation , Volume 5, Number 1 (January – March 2010). Formatted and edited in Connexions by Julia Stanka, Texas A&M University.

Immigration in the united states and spain: considerations for educational leaders

Tomás Calvo-Buezas

Catedrático de Antropología de Iberoamérica, U.C.M. (España)

Director del Centro de Estudios sobre Migraciones y Racismo, CEMIRA

Public school administrators, teachers, and professors are no less affected by political and public issues as they affect their campuses and the students they serve than is the general society. In order to impact policy, curriculum, instruction, learning, and family involvement, information regarding the immigration in the latter part of the 20 ^th Century and in the first decade of the 21 ^st Century is crucial. For example, the students in schools up through 2050 will continue to grow in color and language differences. The Census Bureau projects that by 2050, one-quarter of the population will be of Hispanic descent, and, subsequently, the English language learner population will continue to grow. There are grave educational, public, and political issues that must be considered by administrators and teachers in schools, as well as education professors, as they lead in educating all children, including the fastest-growing immigrant population, Hispanics.

Politics makes reference, particularly, to power; and there are many fronts in which power is developed and influenced, such as the Hispanic political influence, which ranges from electoral power to presence in different public administrations, in federal state and municipal governments, as public government employees, etc, etc. But there are other power spaces, which therefore carry political weight, where that power is exerted: in the economy, business and the labor force, social mass media, the education system, etc. This Hispanic political power in the United States is increasing, thanks to two factors mainly: their demographic weight with vertiginous growth and the increase of Hispanic population’s spending power with Latin business on the rise. Here are some numbers as proof of that demographic power. In 1980, there were 14 million Hispanics; in 1990 there were 22 million, and in 2004 there are about 40 million, without counting the “undocumented people,” that are estimated at around six million. In other words, in 1980 Hispanics represented 6.4% of the North American total population; in 1990 they were 9%; in 2004, they were 12%. And it will continue to grow, as much due to new migrations as to the increasing birthrates of Hispanics, more than any other group. By 2005, it is calculated that there will be 62 million Hispanics, 18.2% of the population of the United States, and in 2050 it is estimated that there will be 98 million Hispanics, 24.3% of the US, a greater population than the original group of Anglo-Saxons. And this is not only demographic power, but also political power.