Latinos upbeat about L.A. quality of life

Hispanics also gave better grades to public schools, with 37 percent rating the quality of education as adequate, compared to 24 percent of whites and 17 percent of blacks.

Sixteen percent of Hispanics gave public education a rating of excellent -- about four times the figure for either whites or blacks.

Only 40 percent said the quality was inadequate or poor, compared to about half of whites and seven in 10 blacks.

Hispanics comprise 70 percent of public school students, meaning they are most affected by problems such as lagging academic performance, chronic overcrowding and a lack of qualified teachers that have plagued the school district in recent years.

"It's the great paradox of Latino education: They are the strongest supporters of public education, but public education is not supporting them equally," said Harry Pachon, president of the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute at Claremont Graduate University. "Optimism is still alive in the barrios."

Analysts suggested Hispanics are more confident because of the good economy and an increased political presence since the mid-1990s. "I believe in America. I believe we can do well," said Miguel Carmona. But Hispanics also had considerable concern about some issues. 58 percent of Hispanics said that race relations in the city were "not so good," compared to 48 percent of whites and 63 percent of blacks.<