Scholastic Update articles from January 1991

Scholastic Update archives from January 1991

Toward a new nation: the future of America lies in the growing number of minorities and new immigrants. (includes article on the language of identity)
January 11, 1991... THIS YOUNG GIRL, posing proudly with the U.S. flag, is the future of America. She was born in Haiti, a country in the Caribbean Sea. And, like millions of immigrants before her, she came to America in search of opportunity, equality, and...

America's changing population. (illustration)
January 11, 1991... DEMOGRAPHICS ARE SHIFTING... Minorities are becominq a greater portion of the U.S. population. Today a quarter of all Americans describe themselves as nonwhite or of Hispanic origin. By the middle of the 2]st century, demographers project that...

Coming to America. (experiences of a Polish immigrant and a Cambodian immigrant)
January 11, 1991... EVERYONE WANTS to come to America," says 17year-old Scarle Perez of the people in her native Dominican Republic. "They think it's easy to get rich. They all have these fantasies about America. " Indeed, America's promise of freedom and...

Help wanted: minorities and immigrants will be filling more jobs, but many are unprepared for the new economy.
January 11, 1991... RUBY SAAKE IS ON A MISsion. Several times a week, she visits New York City high schools, looking for students who want a career in business. The ones she finds have to be bright, motivated-and black, Hispanic, or Native American. Saake...

What's fair? (dispute over affirmative action)
January 11, 1991... AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IS perhaps the most explosive race-relations issue in the United States today. Many supporters of minority rights say affirmative action programsm-on which, among other things, involve special efforts to hire and promote...

Controversy in the classroom. (curriculum of inclusion, bilingual education)
January 11, 1991... NOWHERE ARE the changing demographics of America felt more acutely than in the classroom. Today, 20 percent of all elementary and secondary school students in the United States are members of minority groups. By the year 2000, experts predict...

The pop culture quiz.
January 11, 1991... Fact: There was once a time when you couldn't get a slice of pizza anywhere in the United States. We're not talking about the days when dinosours roomed the earth, but the days before Italian immigrants hit America's shores. Just as...

The world's shame. (child poverty & mortality)(includes information on the Convention on the Rights of the Child)
January 25, 1991... THE WORLD'S SHAME In the war-torn country of Mozambique, a group of soldiers raid a quiet farming village. They're not looking for food or money. They're looking for boys to serve in the army. They find two: ages 8 and 11. And as their...

Needless suffering. (death, disease & hunger among the world's children)
January 25, 1991... NEEDLESS SUFFERING DEATH The immediate cause of death is usually simple: One child dies from measles, another one dies from AIDS, a third dies from whooping cough. But the underlying causes of death are far more complex. To reduce...

A world of pain. (plight of children in Romania, Africa, and Thailand, and of child warriors)
January 25, 1991... A World of Pain Childhood should be a time of innocence, a sweet interlude between birth and the responsibilities of adulthood. They young are expected to play,. to learn, to feel life in every limb. But for millions of children around the...

Lost to the streets. (abandoned & homeless children)
January 25, 1991... LOST TO THE STREETS In the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte, thousands of impoverished families live in corrugated tin shantytowns, on hills that ring the city's central residential district. It was on one such hillside that 18-year-old...

The shortest lives: with all the riches in America, why do so many U.S. babies still die?
January 25, 1991... THE SHORTEST LIVES At age 16, Rhonda discovered that she was pregnant. Twenty-six miles from the nearest clinic and without transportation or money, she delayed going to a doctor until six months into her pregnancy. Less than a month...

Robbed of a childhood. (history of child labor in the U.S.)(includes article on child labor today, despite tough laws)
January 25, 1991... ROBBED OF A CHILDHOOD One summer morning in 1907, Patrick Kearney rose at 6 o'clock, as usual, to spend the day underground, strapped to a heavy iron cart, hauling coal in the dusty mines of Pennsylvania. As he went to work, Patrick didn't...

Teens helping kids. (big brothers & sisters at the Hephzibah Children's Association Shelter in Oak Park, Illinois)
January 25, 1991... TEENS HELPING KIDS Ten-year-old Audrey spreads open her worn photo album and flips through 10 years of different families. "That's my birth certificate," Audrey says, turning past a blurry photocopy. "That's my foster family. That's my...

You can make a difference: from volunteering overseas to running a bake sale, there are plenty of ways to help. (includes directory of organizations)
January 25, 1991... YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE In researching this issue of UPDATE, we spoke to dozens of experts from organizations like Save the Children and UNICEF. these relief organizations have decades of experience and spend millions of dollars each year...