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Diversity and education: the gathering storm
"INCOME OF U.S. WORKFORCE PROJECTED TO DECLINE IF
EDUCATION DOESN'T IMPROVE"
(from
highereducation.org)
"If
current trends continue, the proportion of workers with high school
diplomas and college degrees will decrease and the personal income of
Americans will decline over the next 15 years. Substantial increases in
those segments of America’s young population with the lowest level of
education, combined with the coming retirement of the baby boomers—the
most highly educated generation in U.S. history—are projected to lead to a
drop in the average level of education of the U.S. workforce over the next
two decades, unless states do a better job of raising the educational
level of all racial/ethnic groups."
www.highereducation.org/reports/pa_decline/decline-comparison.shtml
California Seeks to Stop the
Use Of Child Medical Interpreters
(from the NY
Times)
"Suffering from a variety of ailments but unable to communicate
with her doctor, Ker Moua, a Laotian refugee, recently enlisted her
12-year-old son as her medical interpreter.
The boy, Jue, was the
liaison between his mother, who speaks only Hmong, and the doctor who
diagnosed a prolapsed uterus, a result of bearing 14 children. Ms. Moua
began taking her medication in the doses her son described, but soon felt
so dizzy she could not get out of bed for two days. Jue had mistranslated
the doctor's orders, leading his mother to take the wrong
dosage."
To retrieve the full text of the
article, click on the following URL:
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70F17FE345B0C738FDDA90994DD404482
(note: a subscription to the NY Times is
required).
"China's Secret Plague"
(from Time
Asia)
Alice Park Kunming's article, "China's Secret Plague", highlights the efforts
of one American scientist who is working with the Chinese government to
deal with the country's growing AIDS crisis.
Here is the introductory paragraph of
the article, published in the
December 15, 2003 issue of Time Asia. It can be retrieved at:
http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/0,13673,501031215-557111,00.html
"They line the
dusty roads outside the tiny villages of China's Henan province, several
hours' drive from Beijing--mounds of dirt funneled into crudely shaped
cones, like a phalanx of earthen bamboo hats. To the uninitiated, they
look like a clever new way of turning over fields--an agricultural
innovation, perhaps, meant to increase crop yields. But the locals know
the truth. Buried under the pyramids, which now number in the thousands,
are their mothers and fathers, brothers, sisters and cousins, all victims
of AIDS. Like silent sentries, the dirt graves are a testament to China's
worst-kept secret".
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