Despite a surge in violence and single-parent families, American teenagers are doing slightly better in school than their older brothers and sisters did, the Education Department said Tuesday in a statistical profile of the nation's youth.
But progress since the late 1970s has been slow, and many educators are concerned that current levels of achievement are not good enough to keep America competitive, the department said in the study "Youth Indicators 1993: Trends in the Well-Being of American Youth."The 153-page analysis, packed with charts and tables, painted a portrait of American youths just holding their own in classwork while having to cope increasingly with violent crime and the financial and psychological effects of being raised by only one parent.
"As these children grow up, they must deal with the reality of violence, AIDS, drugs, the sheer drag of poverty," Education Secretary Richard Riley said.
The report, in a snapshot of American youth, said high school sophomores overwhelmingly believe in the importance of work, family and friends, but only a third say they really feel good about themselves.
On the positive side, the study found that a much higher proportion of students are completing high school than in the 1950s and college attendance is at an all-time high.
In 1950, 53 percent of 25- to 29-year-olds had completed high school, and only 8 percent had graduated from college, the study said. By 1991, the figures had risen to 85 percent completing high school and 23 percent graduating from a four-year college.
"American youth are getting the message that you aren't born smart, you get smart by studying and stretching your mind," Riley said. "They are increasingly aware that being a high school dropout is the dead-end road to failure."
However, staying in school longer has stretched out the time before young people join the labor force. "And even when they have full-time jobs, young people's incomes have not kept pace with those of other age groups."
The report said science scores for 9- and 13-year-olds were about the same in 1990 as in 1970.