American Indicators
Compiled by TheProgressive ReviewYouth and education
MAIN INDICATORS PAGE
2006. . .
AP - Total college enrollment of black men and women 18 to 24 has increased from 15 percent in 1970 to roughly 25 percent in 2003. The number of black students enrolling in historically black colleges also has slowly increased -- from 190,305 in 1976 to more than 230,000 in 2001. Yet the percentage of black college students choosing black colleges has been declining -- from 18.4 percent in 1976 to 12.9 percent in 2001, according to the Department of Education's most recent figures available. Twenty-six of 87 black colleges profiled by the agency recorded enrollment declines from 1995 to 2004.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/22/AR2006092200252.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns
SCHOOL SEGREGATION
SHERREL WHEELER STEWART, BLACK AMERICA WEB - Schools in the Northeast and West continue to be more segregated than those in the South, with California and New York maintaining schools that are the most segregated, according to a recent report from the Harvard University Civil Rights Project. In California, 87 percent of the non-white students attend schools that are majority minority, and in New York, it's 86 percent. Further down the list, Mississippi has 77 percent; Georgia has 73 percent, and Alabama has 70 percent of minority students attending majority minority schools.
- More than three quarters of intensely segregated schools are also high poverty schools.- Despite an increase in diversity, white students remain the most isolated group.
- States where the largest shares of students attend multi-racial schools include the three largest states -- California, Texas, and Florida -- and one state in which the Latino population seems to be exploding -- Nevada.
- While South and Border regions are resegregating, black students in the South and Border states still have among the highest levels of exposure to white students.
http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/bawnews/segregation0124
2005
COLLEGE LITERACY PLUMMETS IN U.S.
SAM DILLON, NY TIMES - The average American college graduate's literacy in English declined significantly over the past decade, according to results of a nationwide test released yesterday. . . The test also found steep declines in the English literacy of Hispanics in the United States, and significant increases among blacks and Asians.
When the test was last administered, in 1992, 40 percent of the nation's college graduates scored at the proficient level, meaning that they were able to read lengthy, complex English texts and draw complicated inferences. But on the 2003 test, only 31 percent of the graduates demonstrated those high-level skills. . .
Grover J. Whitehurst, director of an institute within the Department of Education that helped to oversee the test, said he believed that the literacy of college graduates had dropped because a rising number of young Americans in recent years had spent their free time watching television and surfing the Internet. "We're seeing substantial declines in reading for pleasure, and it's showing up in our literacy levels," he said.
Among blacks and Asians, English literacy increased from 1992 to 2003.
About 29 percent of blacks scored at either the intermediate or proficient levels in 1992, but in 2003, those rose to 33 percent. The percentage of blacks demonstrating "below basic" literacy declined to 24 percent from 30 percent.Asians scoring at either the intermediate or proficient levels rose to 54 percent from 45 percent in 1992.
The same period saw big declines in Hispanics' English reading skills. In 1992, 35 percent of Hispanics demonstrated "below basic" English literacy, but by 2003 that segment had swelled to 44 percent. And at the higher-performing end of the literacy scale, the proportion of Hispanics demonstrating intermediate or proficient English skills dropped to 27 percent from 33 percent in 1992.
CHRISTINE BURKE, INDIANA DAILY STUDENT - A new study released by Indiana University found at least half of college students have attended more than one college or university. Out of all transfer students, more than half took most of their courses from a vocational-technical school or from a community or junior college.
http://www.uwire.com/content//topnews111105002.html
ACCORDING TO THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS, 44 percent of college and university faculty are now classified as adjuncts, or part-time teachers. Of these, fewer than 20 percent receive health benefits or contributions to retirement. [U-WIRE
2004
U-WIRE - A study that involved 42 industrialized countries, including the United States, found that girls are better readers than boys and tend to get better grades. The study was conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The study reported that three out five National Honors Society members are girls, and that girls outnumber boys 124 to 100 in advanced placement courses.
In 2000, 44 percent of girls taking the SAT reported an A average, while 35 percent of boys reported the same. In addition, in 39 out of the 42 industrialized countries involved in the study, girls earned more university degrees than men. At the University of Michigan, 51 percent of the students that received undergraduate degrees in 2002 were female.
While women outnumber men in number of bachelor's degrees obtained, men still earn more post-undergraduate degrees than women. In 2002, 56 percent of graduate degree conferrals and 54 percent of professional degrees went to men. . .
GAP GROWS BETWEEN RICH AND POOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS
PUBLIC EDUCATION NETWORK - After narrowing in better economic times, the financial gap between poor and wealthy school districts has widened, a new report has found. State and local money account for more than 90 percent of all education spending, but high poverty districts typically received $868 less per student from those sources than their counterparts with relatively few poor children did in 2002, the latest year for which data is available, the report found. As recently as 2000, the gap was down to $728. The disparities were significantly more stark in some of the nation's more populous states, reports Greg Winter. In Illinois, for example, high poverty districts received $2,026 less per child than those with the fewest poor students, the report found, even though researchers largely agree that it costs more to educate low-income children. In New York, the gap was $2,040, the largest in the nation. The findings, released by the Education Trust.
REPORT: ONLY HALF OF HISPANICS, BLACKS FINISHING SCHOOL
WASHINGTON POST -- Barely half of all black, Hispanic and Native American students who entered U.S. high schools in 2000 will receive diplomas this year, according to a new report that challenges conventional methods of calculating graduation rates. Of all students who entered ninth grade four years ago, 68 percent are expected to graduate this year. The rates for minorities are considerably lower -- 50 percent for blacks, 51 percent for Native Americans and 53 percent for Hispanics -- according to a measure devised by the nonprofit Urban Institute in Washington.
2003
US SCHOOL SEGREGATION NEAR 1969 LEVEL
MICHAEL DOBBS, WASHINGTON POST - Half a century after the Supreme Court ordered the desegregation of American education, schools are almost as segregated as they were when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, according to a report released today by Harvard University researchers. The study by the Harvard Civil Rights Project, shows that progress toward school desegregation peaked in the late 1980s as courts concluded that the goals of the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education had largely been achieved. Over the past 15 years, the trend has been in the opposite direction, and most white students now have "little contact" with minority students in many areas of the country, according to the report. . .
Triggered by a civil rights case in Topeka, Kan., the Brown decision marked the start of three decades of intensive efforts by the federal government to integrate public schools, first through court orders that opened white schools to minority students and later through busing. Its most dramatic impact was in southern states, where the percentage of blacks attending predominantly white schools increased from zero in 1954 to 43 percent in 1988. By 2001, according to the Harvard data, the figure had fallen to 30 percent, or about the level in 1969, the year after King's assassination.
WASHINGTON TIMES - Nearly 75 percent of the nation's teenagers get along just fine with their parents, and a majority lists a family member as a top role model. Peter D. Hart, who conducted the annual survey for the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, a nonprofit education group, said the numbers prove that in these uncertain times of war and threats of terrorism, teens increasingly are "looking to the family as a touchstone."
. . . Forty-four percent listed a family member as a major role model, and of that group, 37 percent listed their mothers. But, Mr. Hart said, what was most surprising was students' response when asked what they would do with more time: Fifty percent said they would spend it with family. Surprisingly, a slightly higher 52 percent of juniors and seniors - "the ones who have wheels" - said they would choose to spend that time with their families.
. . . Despite increased awareness of terrorism, the youths remain positive and upbeat, with 75 percent saying they are hopeful and optimistic about the country's future.
. . . The majority of those surveyed said they are skeptical of the media, with 49 percent saying they have a negative effect on teenagers' morals and values. Nearly all those surveyed are aiming for a college education, and define success as having close family relationships, an intimate group of friends and an active spiritual life, rather than fame, fortune or popularity.
9-12 YEAR OLDS watched 6.5 hours less of television a week in 1997 than they did in 1981. They spent:
- One hour and half more playing.
- One hour and 40 minutes more a week in sports.
- 27 minutes more a week shopping
- One hour and 18 minutes less doing housework.
[Institute for Social Research, University of Mich.]
NUMBER OF MINORITY STUDENTS ON CAMPUS MORE THAN DOUBLES IN 20 YEARS - The Minorities in Higher Education Annual Status Report issued Wednesday by the American Council on Education found that the number of minority high school graduates between the ages of 18 to 24 attending U.S. schools jumped from nearly 2 million in 1980-81 to 4.3 million in 2000-01.
U-WIRE - A study that involved 42 industrialized countries, including the United States, found that girls are better readers than boys and tend to get better grades. The study was conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The study reported that three out five National Honors Society members are girls, and that girls outnumber boys 124 to 100 in advanced placement courses.
In 2000, 44 percent of girls taking the SAT reported an A average, while 35 percent of boys reported the same. In addition, in 39 out of the 42 industrialized countries involved in the study, girls earned more university degrees than men. At the University of Michigan, 51 percent of the students that received undergraduate degrees in 2002 were female.
While women outnumber men in number of bachelor's degrees obtained, men still earn more post-undergraduate degrees than women. In 2002, 56 percent of graduate degree conferrals and 54 percent of professional degrees went to men. . .
ANDREW MOLLISON, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION Too few Americans go to college, say reports released Wednesday by the federal Department of Education and the state-sponsored Education Commission of the States. The United States, once first in the world, now ranks 11th in college participation leading to a bachelor's degree. While the proportion of degree-seekers stagnated in the United States, other industrial nations invested more in their systems of higher education and training, said Sandra Ruppert, who directed the commission's study.
Blacks between the ages of 26 and 35 support school vouchers at a rate of 70 percent, according to a survey by the liberal Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. The group released its report yesterday. The report stated that 67 percent of Hispanics ages 18 to 25 also supported vouchers. At the same time, the study found that 55 percent of whites rated their public schools favorably, as opposed to 35 percent of blacks and 43 percent of Hispanics. The survey of 2,463 adults was conducted between Sept. 17 and Oct. 21 and has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points. WASHINGTON TIMES
GRADES VS. SLEEP
THE HARRIS POLL GEORGE ARCHIBALD, WASHINGTON TIMES - Fourth-graders in the United States rank ninth worldwide in overall reading achievement, behind European and Canadian students, according to a four-year study in 35 countries. Top Stories o Saddam seen at site In individual categories, American students came in 13th place when asked to show they understand textbook-type informational reading. But only fourth-graders from Sweden, England and the Netherlands bested American 11-year-olds in fiction story reading, the study by Boston College researchers shows. "The United States has better relative performance on the stories than it does on the more [factual] textbook-type" reading materials, said Ina V.S. Mullis, co-director of the $6 million Progress in International Reading Literacy Study. . .
G. Reid Lyon, President Bush's top reading adviser at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, said the study disappointingly shows no change in the level of reading achievement of American students from two prior studies during the past decade. "That's very concerning," Mr. Lyon said in an interview. . . . Mr. Lyon said the report shows 30 to 40 percent of U.S. fourth-graders are not proficient readers. . . Among the study's major findings:
o Sweden had the highest literacy achievement of all participating countries.
o Girls in all countries "had significantly higher achievement than boys in reading overall."
WITH THE EXCEPTION of black fourth-graders, each racial/ethnic group in the United States scores higher than the international average on the combined reading literacy scale, as well as on the two reading subscales.
In a nation of working parents, a new guardian is emerging as the leading child-care provider - grandparents. New census figures show that among the nation's 19.6 million preschoolers, grandparents took care of 21 percent, or 1 in 5, of those who were in some type of child-care arrangement in 1997. Fathers cared for 17 percent of preschoolers while mothers worked. About one-fifth of preschoolers were cared for in organized facilities - 12 percent in day-care centers and 6 percent in nursery schools or preschools. - CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
NY TIMES - Only 16 percent of Latino high school graduates earn a four-year college degree by age 29, compared with 37 percent of non-Hispanic whites and 21 percent of African-Americans, according to a recent study of census data by the Pew Hispanic Center.
2002
ONE IN 12 CHILDREN has a disability that interferes with daily life, as does 1 in 5 working-age adults. Forty-two percent of people over 65 report a disability. [Census, Washington Post]
NY TIMES - Only 16 percent of Latino high school graduates earn a four-year college degree by age 29, compared with 37 percent of non-Hispanic whites and 21 percent of African-Americans, according to a recent study of census data by the Pew Hispanic Center.
% OF STUDENTS IN COLLEGECOMPARING SMALL SCHOOLS (less than 300) with big schools
(1,000 or more), big schools have:o 825 percent more violent crime
o 270 percent more vandalism
o 378 percent more theft and larceny
o 394 percent more physical fights or attacks
o 3,200 percent more robberies
o 1,000 percent more weapons incidents(Department of Education, 1999)
RICHARD ROTHSTEIN, NY TIMES - High school dropout rates seem to have jumped. Although dropouts are notoriously hard to track, the best available data show that in 1990, 26 percent of American adolescents failed to graduate from high school. By 2000, the figure had risen, to 30 percent. Some states may have done a better job than others. Dropout rates in New York and Texas appear to have gone up by about as much as the national average. California's rate grew less, while rates in Massachusetts and North Carolina grew more.
FROM 'DOLLARS AND SENSE' A STUDY ON THE ECONOMICS OF SMALL SCHOOLS DIANA JEAN SCHEMO, WASHINGTON POST - The number of minority students attending American colleges and universities jumped 48 percent in the 1990's, with all minorities posting double-digit gains in college enrollment, according to a study by the American Council on Education. The study, which analyzes statistics from the United States Department of Education, the census and other government sources, found that despite the greater numbers of minority students in college, blacks and Latinos lagged behind whites and Asian-Americans in graduating. It also found a widening gender gap in college attendance among African-Americans. From 1990 to 2000, the share of African-Americans in the 24- to 29-year-old group with college degrees rose to 17.5 percent from 13.4 percent. Among Latinos in the same age group, 9.7 percent earned college degrees in 2000, up from 8.1 percent in 1990.
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION STATSTHE LIST
Gap in test scores[High scorers listed first]
<> ACT
0.2 Male - Female
2.4 White - Hispanic
4.9 White - Black
5.4 Income over $100,000 - Income under $18,000<> SAT
42 Male - Female
135 White - Hispanic
201 White - Black
262 Income over $100,000 - Income under $18,000[College Board; ACT High School Profile] MORE COLLEGE FRESHMEN identify themselves as politically liberal, according to the results of UCLA's annual survey of the nation's students entering undergraduate classes. The fall 2001 survey conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA's Graduate School of Education and Information Studies finds that 30 percent of students entering four-year colleges and universities characterize their political views as "liberal" or "far left," the highest percentage in two decades, and substantially higher than the 21 percent who consider themselves "conservative" or "far right." The overall percentage of today's "liberal" freshmen increased from 28 percent last year and 21.0 percent in 1981, but is still lower than the all-time high of 41 percent recorded in 1971. Most students labeled themselves "middle of the road" (50 percent, down from 52 percent last year).
A record high 58 percent of this year's freshmen believe that same sex couples should have the right to legal marital status. Only one-fourth of entering students advocate laws prohibiting homosexual relationships. This is a significant decline from the record high of half of students who agreed with the statement in 1987.
37% agree that marijuana should be legalized. 75 percent of today's freshmen agree that employers should be allowed to require drug testing of employees or job applicants.
32 percent of incoming college students advocate ending capital punishment
Interracial interaction among freshmen reached a record high, with 70 percent of this year's entering college students reporting that they have socialized with someone of another ethnic group in the last year.
When asked to indicate their current religious preference, an all-time high of 16 percent of students reported none.
An all-time record high 41 percent of students report feeling frequently bored in class during their senior year in high school.
The survey also finds that students spent less time studying and doing homework, with only 35 percent of entering students reporting studying or working on assignments for six or more hours per week in the past year. This marks the lowest figure since this question was first asked in 1987, when 47 percent reported studying six or more hours weekly.
Although students are spending less time studying, their high school grades continue to soar with 44 percent of freshmen report earning "A" averages in high school, compared to 43 percent last year, and a low of 18 percent in 1968. 2001
In 1998, about 5 percent of children ages 0 to 17 had asthma. This was up from 3 percent in 1981 and 4 percent in 1988. Black, non-Hispanic children had higher rates of asthma than other racial or ethnic groups in 1998, at 7 percent. About 5 percent of both white, non-Hispanic and Hispanic children had asthma. Asthma rates have increased for children in each of these groups over time.As children age, their rates of asthma increase. About 5 percent of children under 5 had asthma, compared with 6 percent of children ages 11 to 17 in 1998. Children living below the poverty line are more likely to have asthma than higher-income children. About 7 percent of children below the poverty line had asthma in 1998, compared with 5 percent of children at or above poverty.
Motor vehicle and firearm injury deaths were both more common among male than among female adolescents. In 1998, the motor vehicle traffic death rate for males was twice the rate for females, and the firearm death rate among males was seven times that for females. Black males were three times as likely to die from a firearm injury as from a motor vehicle traffic injury. Deaths from firearm suicides were more common than deaths from firearm homicides among white, non-Hispanic adolescents and American Indian/Alaska Native adolescents. Deaths from firearm homicides were more common than deaths from firearm suicides among black, Hispanic, and Asian/Pacific Islander adolescents. Motor vehicle and firearm mortality declined more for males than for females between 1994 and 1998. Deaths from firearm injuries among adolescents declined substantially between 1994 and 1998, particularly among black and Hispanic males. From 1994 to 1998, the firearm homicide rates for Hispanic and black adolescent males declined substantially, to 29 and 78 per 100,000, respectively.
In 1998, the death rate for adolescents ages 15 to 19 was 71 deaths per 100,000. After increasing to 89 per 100,000 in 1991, the rate declined again and continues to be substantially lower than the rate in 1980. Injury, which includes homicide, suicide, and unintentional injuries, continues to account for over 3 out of 4 deaths among adolescents. Injuries from motor vehicles and firearms are the primary causes of death among youth ages 15 to 19. Motor vehicle traffic-related injuries accounted for 37 percent of deaths in this age group during 1998, while injuries from firearms accounted for 23 percent.
In 1999, the adolescent birth rate was 29 per 1,000 young women ages 15 to 17. There were 163,588 births to these young women in 1999. The 1999 rate was a record low for the nation.12 The birth rate among teenagers ages 15 to 17 declined one-fourth, from 39 to 29 births per 1,000, between 1991 and 1999. This decline follows a one-fourth increase between 1986 and 1991. The 1999 rate was a record low for young teenagers.12 There are substantial racial and ethnic disparities in birth rates among adolescents ages 15 to 17. In 1999 the birth rate for this age group was 12 per 1,000 for Asians/Pacific Islanders, 17 for white, non-Hispanics, 41 for American Indians/Alaska Natives, 54 for black, non-Hispanics, and 61 for Hispanics. The birth rate for black, non-Hispanic females ages 15 to 17 dropped by more than one-third between 1991 and 1999, completely reversing the increase from 1986 to 1991.
The 1998 infant mortality rate for the United States was 7.2 deaths per 1,000 live births, substantially below the 1983 rate of 10.9, but identical to the 1997 rate. While infant mortality rates continued to decrease for Hispanic infants in 1998, the rates increased for black, non-Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander and American Indian/Alaska Native infants. Infant mortality has dropped for all racial and ethnic groups over time, but substantial racial and ethnic disparities remain. Black, non-Hispanic infants have consistently had a higher infant mortality rate than white, non-Hispanic infants.44 In 1998, the black, non-Hispanic infant mortality rate was 13.9 infant deaths per 1,000 live births and the American Indian/Alaska Native rate was 9.3, both significantly higher than the white, non-Hispanic rate of 6.0, the rate of 5.8 among Hispanic infants, or the rate of 5.5 among Asian/Pacific Islander infants. Infant mortality rates also vary within race and ethnic populations. For example, among Hispanics in the United States, the infant mortality rate ranged from 3.6 for infants of Cuban origin to a high of 7.8 for Puerto Ricans. Among Asians/Pacific Islanders, infant mortality rates ranged from 3.5 for infants of Japanese origin to 6.2 for Filipinos.
Hours that TV is on each day in average American home: 7 hours and 29 minutes. Time teens spend watching the tube each day: 3 hours. [Consumer Reports]
WASHINGTON POST, May 9: Children in two-parent households spend more time with their moms and dads than kids did 20 years ago, contrary to the popular belief that the rise in dual-income families has created a culture of parenting by cell phone and day care. The new research by the University of Michigan showed that children spent four to six more hours per week with their parents in 1997 than they did in 1981. The increase was noted whether both parents worked or the mother stayed at home -- a finding likely to raise the spirits of guilt-ridden working parents battered with each new unfavorable report from the day-care front. The gains recorded were significant: In 1997, children ages 3 to 12 spent about 31 hours a week with their mothers and 23 with their fathers -- gains of six and four hours, respectively, over 1981. In dual-career families, parents -- especially dads -- still managed to increase the amount of time spent with their children, the Michigan researchers found: Fathers spent six more hours a week with their kids in 1997, for a total of 23 hours; and mothers' time rose by four hours, to 27 a week.
Number of students who could lose their college loans because of a law that prohibits aid to students convicted of drug offenses: 34,000
Number of students who could lose their college loans because of prior rape, burglary, or murder convictions: 0
Classroom teachers as a percent of all public school personnel: 52%
[Education Intelligence Agency]According to 2000 U.S. Census Bureau data, the median income for a high school dropout is $12,478, compared with $20,889 for a high school graduate. A college degree doubles the median salary to $40,826. Thirty years ago, a high school diploma wasn't necessarily a prerequisite for a middle-class life. With higher-paying manufacturing and factory jobs relatively plentiful, dropouts could still average $23,000 a year (in today's dollars), according to a 1996 Brown University study. [Washington Times]
2000 - Percent of high schoolers who say they have lied to teachers in past year: 92%
- Percent of high schoolers who say they have lied to parents in past year: 78%
- Percent of high schoolers who say they cheated on an exam in past year: 71%
- Percent of high schoolers who say they hit someone in anger in past year: 68%
- Percent of high schoolers who say they have stolen from a store in past year: 35%
- Percent of high schoolers who say they have been drunk in school in past year: 15%- Percent of acts of violence at an anonymous university that were committed by school athletes: 20% Percent of school that were members of a sports team: less than 2%
- Number of college athletes subjected to hazing according to the NCAA: 8 out of 10.[Casco Bay Weekly]Percent of videos that are selected by a child without parental involvement: 2%
Percent of parents who restrict choice of videos: 90%
Percent of music purchased by a child without parental involvement: 34%
Percent of parents who restrict choice of videos: 72%
Percent of games that are selected by a child without parental involvement: 29%
Percent of parents who restrict choice of games: 68% [Federal Trade Commission report, buried in the appendix and unearthed by Nick Gillespie of Reason Magazine]-- Percent of Americans 16-21 who could name either the Democratic or Republican presidential candidate: 64-66%
-- Percent of Americans 16-21 who could name either the Democratic or Republican vice-presidential candidate: 20-24%
-- Percent of Americans 16-21 who get most of their political information from TV: 48% Newspapers: 15%
-- Percent of Americans 18-24 who voted in 1972: 49%
-- Percent of Americans 18-24 who voted in 1996: 32%[Close Up Foundation & American Express Foundation]
-- 66% of high school graduates went to college in 1998, up from 49 percent in the early '70s.
-- Nearly one in four 17-year-olds reads below grade level.
-- Almost 1 in 3 who enters college needs remedial classes before he can handle basic freshman courses.
-- Nearly 60 percent of America's public high schoolers go to a school with 1,000 or more students.[US NEWS & WORLD REPORT]- Percent of American schools connected to the Internet: 95%
- Percent of teachers using the Internet in the classroom: 30% [Washington Post]Four of the USA's 106 historically black colleges and universities are majority-white, according to the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education.The white population at all historically black schools climbed 16% from 1990 to 1998.
-- Countries with the highest teenage birthrates: Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, United States.
-- Countries with the highest teenage abortion rates: Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Romania, Russia, United States
-- Countries with the lowest teenage birthrates: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden
-- Countries with the lowest teenage abortion rates: Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain.WASHINGTON TIMES: Many of these [low teen abortion rate] countries have adopted a 'safe sex or no sex' approach and strongly promote contraceptives, such as condoms and the pill, researchers note. This "pragmatic European approach to teen-age sexual activity" is a 'central factor' for why rates have been falling more rapidly in Europe than in the United States.
THE FACTS
ABOUT SCHOOL VIOLENCE
REPORT ON SCHOOL VIOLENCE
BY THE CENTER ON JUVENILES & CRIMINAL JUSTICE1999
Number of students suspended each year: 1.5 million [NPR]
Changes in habits
of children 3-12 1981-1997
-- Time spent playing: down 25%
-- Time spend in school, organized post-school programs and child care: up 8 hours a week
-- Among playing organized team sports: almost doubled to four hours and 20 minutes a week
-- Time spent going to movies and sport events: up fivefold to three hours a week.
-- Time spent eating meals: down an hour a week
-- Time spend sitting and talking to someone at home: down 50% of one-half hour a week. -- Time spent on household chores, mostly accompanying parents on errands and shopping trips: 3.5 hours a week
-- Time spent watching television: down almost two hours a week.
-- Time spent reading: no change at one hour a week
-- Time spent studying: up 50% to two hours a week
-- Time spent directly involved with children by mothers who work compared to those at home full-time: 3 hours a week less.[The University of Michigan study examined time diaries kept by 2,200 children and their parents in 1981 and 1997] TORONTO STAR
--Percent of black students in schools where more than half of students are minorities:
1968-69: 77%
1980-81: 63%
1996-97: 69%--Percent of latino students in schools where more than half of students were minorities:
1968-69: 55%
1996-97: 75% [Orlando Patterson in the New York Times]
