Washington ( CNN ) -- President Barack Obama took to the Spanish-language network airwaves Monday to discuss challenges in educating Hispanics students . In a Univision-sponsored town hall meeting with Hispanic students and educators at Bell Multicultural High School in Washington , the president said to out-educate and out-innovate the global competition , the Latino community must play a key role in the future . `` Our workforce is going to be more diverse ; it is going to be , to a large percentage , Latino . And if our young people are not getting the kind of education they need , we wo n't succeed as a nation , '' Obama said . With several students and parents asking questions about immigration and deportations , Obama said the answer would n't be overnight . He hoped the DREAM Act , which would give kids who have grown up in the United States an opportunity to earn citizenship despite their family 's immigration status , would be passed in the future . `` We did n't get it passed this time , but I do n't want young people to be giving up because if people in the past had given up , we probably would n't have women 's rights , we would n't have civil rights . So many changes that we 've made had to do with young people being willing to struggle and fight to make sure that their voices are heard , '' said Obama . Carrie Cofer , an English teacher at Lincoln-West High School in Cleveland , says one challenge she faces with her Hispanic students is that they have n't been in the United States long enough to become proficient in English . Although they only read at the `` first-grade , or second-grade level , '' Cofer and other teachers are supposed to teach them the material they will need to pass state-mandated tests in order to graduate from high school and possibly attend college . It does n't help that many of the students do n't speak English at home . `` They do n't have the skills because they do n't practice except in the classroom , '' she said . Obama said that strong programs , including both bilingual education and immersion programs , are key to making sure bilingual students keep up with their studies while becoming fluent in English . He said that it 's up to both schools and parents . `` We have schools that do it very well ; there are some schools that do n't do it as well . We want to lift up those models that do it well , '' the president said . `` And parents should be demanding and insisting that even if your child is not a native English speaker , there is no reason why they ca n't succeed in school , and schools have an obligation to make sure that those children are provided for . They have rights just like everybody else . '' Latino students make up over 20 % of the pre-kindergarten-through-high-school students in the United States , Secretary of the Education Arne Duncan said in a conference call with reporters last week . `` These students face real and growing challenges that we have to address . '' Duncan said that only about half of all Latino students earn their high school diploma on time , and only one in eight end up with a bachelor 's degree . The problems faced by Latinos in high school are unique , said Juan Sepulveda of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics . `` We have a small percentage of the population that has a college degree , '' said Sepulveda . `` Even if you throw in community college degrees , we only get up to 19 % . '' Sepulveda said these students are often the first in their family to go to college , suggesting school officials need to target parents to make sure they understand what courses their children need to take to get into college and how student loans work . CNN 's Sally Holland contributed to this report .
Education secretary : The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has received a complaint alleging that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) violated Title IX by failing to protect students from sexual harassment Only one in eight end up with a bachelor 's degree . Many Hispanic students are n't proficient in English .