(CA) Nearly Half of Blacks, Latinos Drop Out, School Study Shows

[sonicx]

Nearly half of the Latino and African American students who should have graduated from California high schools in 2002 failed to complete their education, according to a Harvard University report released Wednesday.

In the Los Angeles Unified School District, the situation was even worse, with just 39% of Latinos and 47% of African Americans graduating, compared with 67% of whites and 77% of Asians.

The report concluded that the public remains largely unaware of the true extent of the problem because the state uses "misleading and inaccurate" methods to report dropout and graduation rates.

snip

The exodus of tens of thousands of students before 12th grade is exacting significant social and economic costs through higher unemployment, increased crime and billions of dollars in lost revenue, according to the report by researchers from Harvard, Johns Hopkins, UCLA and UC Santa Barbara, among others.

snip

Statewide, just 57% of African Americans and 60% of Latinos graduated in 2002, compared with 78% of whites and 84% of Asians, the report said.

more = http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-me-graduate24mar24,1,7964669.story?coll=la-home-home&ctrack=2&cset=true

[FloridaPat]

1. As a nation, we should be embarassed to have any of those numbers

less than 100%. Says a lot about education in this country. Now that their shipping all the programming jobs overseas, we don't need people going to college for that. Let's, see, manufacturing jobs going overseas - no need for engineers. Electronic stuff made overseas - again no need for engingeers.

[vpigrad]

2. Forced would be a better word to use around here

The blacks are usually asked to leave.

[ulysses]

5. not just there. n/t

[roguevalley]

3. this is how nations die.

[starwolf]

4. this is no surprise to anyone who has lived in the greater LA area

In CA schools are paid by state for the number of students that have attending each day. They want more, not less students to feed the machine. That true numbers are not being reported is more than reasonable given the nature of the funding system. As always, follow the $.

LAUSD has been melting down for years. Only the political power of its unions and other politicos who benefit from it have kept it propped up all these years. Its a dinosaur that needs to be broken up into a more manageable size so there can be true local control and focus on the needs of the student, not the needs of the machine.

[SoCalDem]

6. And this is surprising because????

Let's suppose you are a 16 year guy with a single-parent (Mom) household..Lets assume there are more than a couple of kids.. If Mom has a job, you can be assured that she does not make much money.

A child raised like that (especially a male child) will learn early on, that HE/SHE is unlikely to ever get to college. If Mom is not a native English-speaker, and has a limited education, there's not going to be a lot of homework help, and no money for tutors.

Teen years are "instant gratification" years, and without a LOT of parental interference, the peer group holds more interest than family desires.

So a teen at 16 with C's (or worse) and a spotty attendance recors will often opt out and try to get a job.. To someone with little or no family income, even a minimum wage job sounds pretty good. They do not realize that it's a "poverty-trap" until it's too late.

Young marriages and parenting is a cultural norm in that community, so before they know it, they are 19 with 3 kids, and they are stuck for life.. There are ALWAYS success stories, but they are NOT the norm..

[Barkley]

7. Well I guess we know who the military will be recruiting for Iraq.

But if you don't complete H.S. are you eligible to join the military?

...hmmm maybe then its California prisons where these kids will be heading?

[JI7]

8. Proposition 13

hurt schools ,especially schools in minority and lower income areas.