Children Less Likely To Graduate than Their Parents
Kids are less likely to earn a high school diploma than their parents were, according to a report issued by the Education Trust Advocacy Group. Experts say the United States is the world’s only industrialized country where this generational flip-flop is occurring.
“The U.S. is stagnating while other industrialized countries are surpassing us,” says Anna Habash, the report’s author. “That is going to have a dramatic impact on our ability to compete.”
About a fourth of all U.S. kids drop out of high school. Even with schools being pushed to boost their students’ standardized test scores, more than half of states don’t require schools to improve their graduation rates. Those that do sometimes just require a 0.1 percent improvement each year. That means it’ll take nearly a century for North Carolina—now awarding diplomas to 72 percent of its students—to reach its goal of an 80 percent graduation rate. (Associated Press)
Internet Boosts Bonds with Friends, Family
About a third of Internet users say the Internet has boosted their social connections “a lot,” according to a recent study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, and 23 percent say it’s helped their intrafamily communication. The Web’s biggest proponents, of course, are youth between the ages of 18-29. Nearly half said the Internet had boosted their personal connections a lot. (InformationWeek)
