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.
We do have to take into account that many immigrants coming here to make for a better life are uneducated, and they are no doubt included in the statistics. The much lower immigration rates of rich and well-educated northern European countries would therefore be expected to make the US fare poorly in comparison. So perhaps things aren’t as bad as they seem.
Sad, dittoburg, very sad.
I found this:
In the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) assessment, 1994-98:
The average composite literacy score of native-born adults in the U.S. was 284 (Level 3); the U.S. ranked 10th out of 17 high-income countries;
The average composite literacy score of foreign-born adults in the U.S. was 210 (Level 1); the U.S. ranked 16th out of 17 countries.
Montrose – I don’t think America ever claimed to be the most literate nation on earth, and I don’t think anyone ever thought it was. Technologically, advanced, free, rich, yes. But not most literate.
BRG, my complaint isn’t with people for whom English is a second language. I know English is one of the most difficult languages to learn, especially idiomatic American English. But many ESL people write in English waaaayyy better than native born Americans do.
My own forays into foreign languages give me a lot of respect for people who learn English as adults. I’d be amazing in several languages if it wasn’t for those pesky verbs and their annoying tenses and conjugations.
But American kids go through 12 years of English education, as well as, for some, higher education, and too many can’t put a decent thought down on paper, even after college. There is no excuse for not retaining the basic use of English grammar and sentence structure. Maybe I’m too much the product of an English teacher mother, but we are supposed to be the most advanced, most literate, nation on earth. I don’t think that’s in any way true.
While every improvement is good news we are shocked at the dismal high school graduations rates (even with forced graduation). 59% is a disgrace compared to the rest of the industrialized world..vraiement dommage!
MM if you think the English is bad just wait till you see the aptitude in math and science. We remember tutoring years ago in Harlem and there were 9th graders who barely knew the times table let alone manage to do long division. Triste!
MM – I’m taking your post personely 🙂
English is my 2nd language!
But I’ll still vote for it as QOTD, until you post something else.
I have to say, the literacy level in the comments here is by far, much better than many of the national sites I read, including most newspapers, and especially blogs like Huffington. The level of basic grammar in this country is atrocious. Most people write like English is their third language. If I was appointed Sec’y of Education, I’d spend a couple of days just reading the comments to every national and local newspaper, national magazines, like Time, etc, popular political and social blogs, and everwhere that people can vent their spleen. Then I’d implement massive programs in basic English grammar skills, and basic writing. It is truly scary. We, as a nation, write like third graders. Failing third graders, at that. It’s no wonder we aren’t successful in science and math, we can’t even express ourselves in our national tongue. This is a national problem, not just a NYC, or large city public school problem.
Do we need a “find the spelling, grammar and punctuation problems in this sentence thread” aka a ‘re-write thread’ for the likes of BRG, cmu, Biff and others! 🙂