More Schools Get In Tune With Mariachi
More Schools Get In Tune With Mariachi Save Email Print
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(January 5, 2008)--Jose Perez often butted heads with his Mexican-immigrant grandfather.

Abuelo feared his American-born grandson didn't appreciate the sacrifices his family made.

Then the teenager started playing the music of the elder's homeland.

At age 14, Perez took a mariachi music class at his high school in Fort Worth and gained a cultural connection to his grandfather as he learned how to strum the five-stringed vihuela.

Mariachi not only gave Perez closer ties with his family, but it also gave the North Side High School freshman one more reason to stay in school.

With dropout rates soaring among Hispanic students, mariachi education programs are springing up in schools across the country to help keep the nation's largest and fastest-growing ethnic group academically engaged.

Aside from encouraging Hispanic students, mariachi is bringing parents into schools who might have been too intimidated to visit before.

School concerts are often packed with parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who know all the old songs and are often heard singing along.
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