- Mar 12, 2003
- 2,038
- 23
- 81
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_exclu...-white-working-class-is-alienated-pessimistic
"Almost no one noticed, but around George W. Bush's reelection in 2004, the nation crossed a demographic milestone.
From Revolutionary days through 2004, a majority of Americans fit two criteria. They were white. And they concluded their education before obtaining a four-year college degree. In the American mosaic, that vast white working class was the largest piece, from the yeoman farmer to the welder on the assembly line. Even as late as the 1990 census, whites without a college degree represented more than three-fifths of adults.
But as the country grew more diverse and better educated, the white working-class share of the adult population slipped to just under 50 percent in the Census Bureau's 2005 American Community Survey. That number has since fallen below 48 percent.
The demographic eclipse of the white working class is likely an irreversible trend as the United States reconfigures itself yet again as a "world nation" reinvigorated by rising education levels and kaleidoscopic diversity. That emerging America will create opportunities (such as the links that our new immigrants will provide to emerging markets around the globe) and face challenges (including improving high school and college graduation rates for the minority young people who will provide tomorrow's workforce)."
Bottom of the article is more insightful, considering how the article tries to remain PC.
"By contrast, although it is difficult to precisely quantify, the sense of being eclipsed demographically is almost certainly compounding the white working class's fear of losing ground economically. That huge bloc of Americans increasingly feels itself left behind—and lacks faith that either government or business cares much about its plight. Under these pressures, noncollege whites are now experiencing rates of out-of-wedlock birth and single parenthood approaching the levels that triggered worries about the black family a generation ago. Alarm bells should be ringing now about the social and economic trends in the battered white working class and the piercing cry of distress rising from this latest survey."
My 2c is, the US's future is bleak. Education is worse today that it used to be. Anyone can receive a "paper" education these days, and it shows. The US peaked in the 60's as far as high SAT scores go, our average SAT score today is not even close to what it was then...But yes, more people have been to school. The quality at our schools suck though.
Work ? We outsource so much of it now. The economy is drab. And
as far as "handouts" go, if you are White you have a uphill battle on trying to get help compared to a minority. Guess I can be counted as one of the pessimistic white people.
"Almost no one noticed, but around George W. Bush's reelection in 2004, the nation crossed a demographic milestone.
From Revolutionary days through 2004, a majority of Americans fit two criteria. They were white. And they concluded their education before obtaining a four-year college degree. In the American mosaic, that vast white working class was the largest piece, from the yeoman farmer to the welder on the assembly line. Even as late as the 1990 census, whites without a college degree represented more than three-fifths of adults.
But as the country grew more diverse and better educated, the white working-class share of the adult population slipped to just under 50 percent in the Census Bureau's 2005 American Community Survey. That number has since fallen below 48 percent.
The demographic eclipse of the white working class is likely an irreversible trend as the United States reconfigures itself yet again as a "world nation" reinvigorated by rising education levels and kaleidoscopic diversity. That emerging America will create opportunities (such as the links that our new immigrants will provide to emerging markets around the globe) and face challenges (including improving high school and college graduation rates for the minority young people who will provide tomorrow's workforce)."
Bottom of the article is more insightful, considering how the article tries to remain PC.
"By contrast, although it is difficult to precisely quantify, the sense of being eclipsed demographically is almost certainly compounding the white working class's fear of losing ground economically. That huge bloc of Americans increasingly feels itself left behind—and lacks faith that either government or business cares much about its plight. Under these pressures, noncollege whites are now experiencing rates of out-of-wedlock birth and single parenthood approaching the levels that triggered worries about the black family a generation ago. Alarm bells should be ringing now about the social and economic trends in the battered white working class and the piercing cry of distress rising from this latest survey."
My 2c is, the US's future is bleak. Education is worse today that it used to be. Anyone can receive a "paper" education these days, and it shows. The US peaked in the 60's as far as high SAT scores go, our average SAT score today is not even close to what it was then...But yes, more people have been to school. The quality at our schools suck though.
Work ? We outsource so much of it now. The economy is drab. And
as far as "handouts" go, if you are White you have a uphill battle on trying to get help compared to a minority. Guess I can be counted as one of the pessimistic white people.
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