There aren't many Hispanics in Europe...?

I've never heard it used to refer to someone from actually from Spain.

Thus, Spain and Portugal are the two original Hispanic cultures. Any culture that has Hispanic roots (i.e. most countries south of the US) is also Hispanic.

Anecdotally, a friend of mine was a first generation Spanish immigrant, and won a college scholarship aimed at Hispanic immigrants.

When he's referring to "Hispanics and African Americans" he is trying to refer to specific "racial" (insomuch as the concept exists) groups.

It might be an academic distinction to you, but it isn't to everybody. On the flip side of your example, while teaching in an inner city, I broke up a fight that started because a kid called a Haitian "African American".

It's far from an academic distinction to me, and that fight could have just as easily occurred if an African American had been called a Haitian, or any number of similar errors...

Are you saying that nations are irrelevant, and ethnicity is what really matters? Is this a subtle entreaty to focus the brunt of America's educational efforts on specific ethnic subgroups so that the entire nation can have better results?

Instead of blindly downvoting, I really am interested in the point of this statement.

If so, there isn't a lot we can do about it.

So you're going w/ B) A subtle entreaty to focus the brunt of America's educational efforts on specific ethnic subgroups so that the entire nation can have better results. The upside is that it's possible that whatever procedural improvements are made will probably improve all of the student body, so it's a win-win!

Unless, of course, you're also positing that these sub-groups can't be taught??

Unless you can demonstrate that this is cost effective, I'm certainly not.

And yes, I do generally posit that most educational interventions are ineffective. If you disagree, please point to one which can reliably and scalably increase the score of any group by an amount proportional to the black/white (or white/asian) gap.

So are you saying that the current methods of education can't be improved?

I'm not referring to an intervention, which, like dieting, will not be useful in the long term. I'm giving you credit for hitting upon the idea that education itself can be altered in a manner which is not only far more effective, but evenly distributed improvements across all tested populations.

That's a great idea, and we all look forward to hearing of your progress in this endeavor.

(I hesitate to post this out of concern it sounds "racist". I am sure the reasons for this pattern are complex.)

(But have an upvote. I am pretty sure your intent was to be supportive.)