Brainiacs Take Brooklyn
Last week’s roundups of Brooklyn census data skipped over a couple of things, which the NY Daily News has picked up. Our high school and college graduation rates have swung up since that last count, eight years ago, as did the wealth of the average Brooklynite and the number of us who are employed. “The…
Last week’s roundups of Brooklyn census data skipped over a couple of things, which the NY Daily News has picked up. Our high school and college graduation rates have swung up since that last count, eight years ago, as did the wealth of the average Brooklynite and the number of us who are employed. “The number of 25-year-olds holding at least a high school diploma soared 17%, to 1.2 million, while those with at least a bachelor’s degree rose by 30%, to 438,568 people,” they write. Brooklyn public high schools’ four-year graduation rate rose to 59.8% in 2007, from 46.6% in 2000. The median income rose 27%, to $40,942. The numbers “proved what many had already known: Brooklyn was experiencing a renaissance.” The evidence, sited by one college professor: organic juice joints replacing bodegas, a sign of “rapid gentrification.” But the higher test scores might have more to do with an influx “higher-educated adults” from the Caribbean and Asia; the latter population increased by 21%. The neighborhoods where fortunes rose most dramatically? Cobble Hill, Park Slope and Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Youth Movement Fires Brooklyn Boro Gentrification [NY Daily News]
Photo by mccfamtracker.
Let me say this – when I first read how low the graduation rate was at NYC public schools I didn’t believe it, I thought it was a misprint.
That is something that really needs to be worked on.
Wine lover we sure have a completely different experience from you. We work with tons of Russian immigrants and almost all of them have a superior education to their American counter parts.
Who says there is not an underclass in Western Europe? Did you read that somewhere? You may be referring to the Scandinavian countries ( relatively tiny populations) of Norway, Denmark, & Sweden but even here there are enlarging underclasses. We have massive underclasses in France, Britain, Italy, and even Germany recently. However the standard of education in those countries make ours look paltry and in fact inferior. The level of science education in even the poor French suburbs are ahead of our kids here. We are sure the reasons are complex and multi-factorial but hopefully the new administration will emphasize education to ensure American competitiveness.
Lets not even mention Japan for “the horse has already left the barn” on that front.
Its interesting that you say that Wine Lover. I find English vocabulary in normal conversation to be quite limited in this country. I assumed it was a result of many immigrnats having to learn English, and the language being pared down to the necessities.
comparisons like this against other countries is nonsense. western european countries do not have our underclass. if you eliminate our underclass from these studies, i’m sure that we jump up the list.
i deal with tons of europeans everyday, and i really don’t find them to be better educated. they are for sure, more racist and severely more misogynistic. especially french men. that’s a different topic though!
“And with impending budget cuts that are sure to effect the education system…..the youth are screwed.”
Not necessarily. As I mentioned before, a child can learn in almost any school environment with the proper support. In almost any education scenario, parental involvement and the student’s desire to learn are the most important factors.
I think reading should be actively and heavily encouraged – it helps verbal skills, continually improves literacy, and opens the mind to new ideas.
Reading, littering and dog-poop scofflaws. That will be my platform when I run for mayor.
Okay, my above post makes absolutely no sense. I give up…..I hope I’ve spelled everything correctly.
MM – I was kidding. I wholeheartedly agree with you.
My father spoke 8 languages, my mother speaks 3, my sister 4 and is a foreign language teacher. I’ve barely mastered EnglishïŠ, as evident by my above posts with intentional spelling and grammatical errors.
I think the educational system in the US is lacking on many fronts. We need to address our short comings as a under educated nation. I don’t think enough funding is provided, and I almost believe we have to change the mindsets of the youth into believing that they need to be over achievers. The US is being left behind.
Due to my own poor literacy I just made a nonsense post which can’t explain the first statistic I provided……..