Customer Reviews

One Nation, One Standard: An Ex-Liberal on How Hispanics Can Succeed Just Like Other Immigrant Groups

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In 1970, Herman Badillo became the first native-born Puerto-Rican elected to Congress. He came to this country at eleven as an orphan (both parents died of tuberculosis) with his aunt. Badillo was shipped between the coasts and managed to get himself a good education and learn English despite obvious race and language barriers (for example, in New York Hispanics and Blacks were put on a vocational rather than a college track).

After learning about the college academic track, he got himself put in that, went to CUNY - then the Harvard for the Poor - got his undergraduate in 1951, a law degree from Brooklyn Law School in 1954, and in 1956 he qualified as a CPA. However, his passion has always been education. He knows what a difference it has made in his life and can make in the lives of millions of others struggling to break the cycle of poverty and out of the underclass. As he says at the end of chapter four, "If we fail in education, we fail everywhere. It has to be our most urgent priority." After several attempts to become Mayor of New York, he resigned Congress in 1977 to become Deputy Mayor under Ed Koch, a position he resigned in 1979 after a policy disagreement with Koch.

The title refers to the idea that while we need to recognize cultural differences as starting points and the value of retaining identity, it is essential that there be a single standard for education, that English dominate as the language of the culture, that social promotion end (because it makes the diploma meaningless), that open enrollment at CUNY be ended, that money go to classrooms and students and not consumed by the bureaucracies (the average funding per student is vastly misleading because of how the money is allocated), that special education cease being a money sink and a place to drop any student with behavioral problems with no expectations and nothing accomplished, that the schools for Gifted Children cease to be simply the kind of standard program that was available to all a few decades back and become the standard educational program. There is more.

Badillo is also noted for his place in fighting against bilingual education as it morphed from what he supported in Congress. He says the original notion was to provide support for students who entered the educational as he did, with no facility in English. However, the idea was to support them for a short time while they learned English and transferred to the English curriculum. Badillo recounts how it became a political weapon and allowed for a parallel system for students to stay in the non-English program. He even recounts how "bi-lingual" teachers were hired who did not speak any English. Many of them stayed here long enough to learn English themselves and then went home to become English teachers. The author recognizes that it is impossible to eradicate the parallel system of bi-lingual teaching, but that a focus on support and transition must be put in place and emphasized.

But Badillo recognizes that some of the problem exists in the way the Hispanic culture rose out of colonialism from the Conquistador culture and the severe stratification of that culture. He recounts what he calls the 500 year siesta and what must be done within the Hispanic communities to wake up. His recommendation for America to deal with the illegal immigrant (his term) problem is to help improve economic equality and opportunities for the lower classes to rise within Mexico and other Latin countries in the Western Hemisphere.

This book was a very interesting read and if it is a topic that interests you, and it probably should, it is an easy but thought provoking read.

This book is an eye opening manifesto that reminds us all that we have not, and will not make it, as a people, without the will to win; the detmination to get there; and the hard work and creativity to stay on a path that will furnish us with opportunities to succeed. America is about "opportunities", and not necessarily "equality." If you expect to be equal, Russia is still around -- go there; in America, you have to kick the door down with hard work and cajones to get ahead.

Our Hispanic community is smart; great; and, capable of winning any battle. The socialism of Venezuela; Cuba; and other Spanish speaking countries is just a "momentary illusion" that hides the true poverty and lack of imagination of these countries, and ignores the hard work that Hispanic Americans must thrive on to excel in this country. So, don't just whine and curse the USA for its "tough love"; embrace it and help each other, including your children, to succeed by avoiding laziness; learning the American language and customs; avoiding drugs and alcohol; stopping having children just "because"; GETTING AN EDCUCATION any way you can; nOt being a whiner; and praying to GDO for his GRACE and guidance. La revolucion continua, el Pueblo Hispano apenas tiene que saber quien es el enemigo verdadero -- "la ignorancia que sigue la falta de educacion y la pereza!!"

La malicia indigena siempre ayuda a los hijos de Dios que destinan el suceso del pueblo Andino por su trabajo fuerte y educacion!!

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Herman badillo's One Nation,One Standard, is a excellent expose on the

dangers of inferior education,the failures of not assimiating as Americans

to achieve economic success,and the low morale that plaque New York City

before Rudy Giuliani became mayor.

One Nation,One Standard is a MUST-READ for hispanics and non-hispanics.

The Asin Name in History

I was exposed to this book during an interview with Mr. Badillo on CNN which encouraged me to purchase it. While I think he makes some valid points, HIspanic Culture is far too diverse with too many different socio-economic class groups and national identities to tag them all with the label of failure. As a Chicano, a Fronterizo and coming from a family of educators, I agree with some of the points made in this provocative book and I feel it will create some interesting discussions. Still, while I have witnessed first hand the apathy and outright neglect towards education in too many familes, I have also seen the humblest parents make extreme sacrifices to educate their offspring and guide them into becoming productive citizens. For these familys, Mr. Badillos' assertions will be not only hurtful but outright insulting. Nevertheless, there are far too many children who are raised with no structure, little guidance and they easily become slaves to the popular culture or the culture of the streets. It is a historical tragedy that has played out in other ethnic groups who arrived to this nation of opportunity. The difference is that Hispanics are far too diverse and have arrived in such large numbers that generalizing is too convenient and plays into the contemporary politics of the far right and their agenda of perpetuating the Hegemonic Culture of WASP America. I still recommend that all of us need to read his book because we cannot deny what is far to prevelent among our children and threatens to label all of us as a failed culture. It's time we define ourselves or risk letting other define who we are!

Sergio S. Guerrero Jr.

El Paso, Tejas

As a former school teacher, this book was refreshing to read. From first hand experience, my worst students were always the hispanic kids. I felt more like a baby sitter with them. They were constantly absent and had no interest in learning (for the most part). Naturally, many dropped out. The hispanic kids in my classes were usually disruptive and interfered with the white and Asian students who generally were eager to learn. Another thing is that the hispanic kids would always mark their desks & books with graffiti, showing they have no respect for anything. My advice would be to separate the hispanic kids from the others because the hispanics severely interfere with standard coursework and thus hold the entire class back.

A very simplistic view of a social problem that exists across the board for just as many non-Hispanic Americans. Thus, the premises are flawed and the proposed solutions, illogical. This book is full of hasty generalizations and founded on traditional American prejudices. I give the book an F for its faulty analysis and the author one star for his purported objectiveness and optimism.

This is yet another impassioned conservative rant about everything that's wrong with America, liberals and life in general; in brief, America is racist, rotten and repulsive, and would be vastly improved if it was more like Ruerto Rico.

Personally, I worked for the only Mexican-American to be elected governor of Arizona; he faced many tougher situations than anything described by Badillo, but he always had the attitude "if one door is closed in your face, there's another one open somewhere."

Gov. Raul Castro has a true and abiding love for America, Arizona and Mexico. I have never heard him speak disparagingly about Arizona, America or the opportunities he found in this country. Like state Sen. Alfredo Gutierrez, University of Arizona Vice President Frank Felix, Ted Valdez (Valdez Transfer), Sen. Tony Gabaldon and many others, they succeeded because they believed in themselves.

The vast difference between them and Badillo is they never became nattering nabobs of negativism (to use a Republican term for those who do not obey the conservative line) who blame the government or anything else for setbacks they encounter. They all achieved greater success than I, a Gringo; probably because they are smarter, and they worked harder.

Badillo is a good match for Linda Chavez, a Spanish-American with prolific contempt for Mexican-Americans, who he quotes generously. (It's an insult to call a Spanish-American a Mexican-American; they are Spanish, and justly proud of it. They consider themselves a world above Mexicans, just as Mexicans consider themselves a world above "los Indios".) Racism? I've seen it again and again, first hand and blatant, in Mexico and in New Mexico. Badillo thinks it's a Gringo-only habit.

Worst of all, Badillo fails to understand and appreciate positive attributes of Hispanic culture which do not necessarily fit into North American attitudes. However, one must first understand their own culture before adopting or criticizing a new lifestyle. He offers no evidence of such understanding.

Badillo complains about Hispanics remaining outside of North American culture. He needs to consider the Irish after 1848, who were far poorer than any Mexicans, were more Catholic and spoke a foreign language. Yet they integrated seamlessly into North American society, and are still proudly "Irish". Badillo needs to ask, "Why them and not us?"

When it comes to not integrating into American society, it's the Canadians who remain the most stubborn and un-converted outsiders of all immigrant groups. Once again, "Why them more than us?"

The fault for failure, as William Shakespeare once wrote, "lies within ourselves."

Yet, he blames so-called "liberal" policies for Hispanic failures. If he's right, and government is truly that powerful, then all solutions are found in government. If he's wrong, our successes or failures lie within ourselves, not with a "patrone" or the government. Every successful Hispanic I've met knows that simple fact. Only the failures blame government, or "los Gringos", or being forsaken by God, or whatever other excuse is handy and popular.

Failures always find excuses, and someone else to blame. Success always realizes that every time a door is closed, another is opened somewhere else.