As if on Queue…
Thank you, Amy, for that enlightening piece yesterday. There is an article in today’s Journal Star about the Kids Count 2008 Report on Nebraska that came out this morning. The report’s findings indicate that while overall Nebraska ranks pretty well nationally in categories like graduation rates, poverty and crime, minorities still lag far behind their Caucasian counterparts. You can read the full report for yourself here. Some of the pertinent points include the following:
- The wealthiest 10% of U.S. school districts spend nearly 10
times more than the poorest 10%. - While 61% of qualified White high school graduates enter college,
only 44% of similarly qualified Hispanic graduates and 28% of
similarly qualified Black high school graduates enter college. - African American home buyers encountered discrimination in
17% of their efforts to purchase homes and Hispanic home
buyers experienced discrimination at a rate of 20%.
Where is Ward Connerly to correct that last one? I’ll admit that most of my knowledge on this subject comes from several Jonathan Kozol books (personal favorites are The Shame of the Nation and Savage Inequalities) and the research I did for my high school We The People team on funding inequalities in education that arose in the Supreme Court case, San Antonio Independent School District vs. Rodriguez, in 1978, where the Burger court ruled that education was not a fundamental right.
Whatever your opinion on the subject, this talk is good, but like Amy said, action is better. Once we’re educated on the subject it’s time to do something about it. Mentoring and volunteering are the best options, but at a minimum we can all write. The beginning of the Kids Count report lists all the contact information you need.
Update: The report was also covered in the World-Herald here.
