Puerto Rican youth speaks out: SOME QUOTATIONS

In April 1971 11 lively and perceptive Puerto Rican young people met with guest editor Uvaldo Palomares for a discussion. Nine of the young people were in high school and two were enrolled in universities in the New York City area. All of them were involved in the Aspira Club Federation¹, whose aim is to enlighten and encourage Puerto Rican students to attain the educational level to which they aspire. First Palomares explained to the group that he was preparing a special issue of this journal and would like their opinions about counselors. Then he asked them to respond to the following questions: (a) Are there problems that are special to the Puerto Rican? What do you think is the present situation? (b) What are some positive characteristics of Puerto Ricans that counselors and teachers usually don't know about? (c) Why don't counselors or teachers generally recognize these things? (d) What can they do to overcome this problem? What follows here are frank, forthright responses relating to a great variety of concerns, from culture and stereotyping to poverty and tokenism. The interview has been edited by Geraldine Palomares, who is a consultant at the Human Development Training Institute in San Diego.