Public education is under attack today from those who do not believe with John Adams that the "opportunities and advantages of education should be available in the various parts of the country, and among the different orders of the people." Adams specified that the provision of the "opportunities and advantages of education" is a public duty, not a source of private profit, and that those opportunities and advantages should be available to everyone, not only to the privileged, and everywhere, not just in wealthy suburbs.
In order to provide resources to those interested in improving educational opportunities for minority students, I have compiled data for Black and American Indian students in Minority Students and Public Education: Black and American Indian Students:
http://www.amazon.com/...
and data for Latino and Asian-American students in Minority Students and Public Education: Latino and Asian-American Students:
http://www.amazon.com/...
These resource books include demographic and educational data for each group for the nation as a whole and for each state. They also includes information by national origin or tribe, as applicable. There is district data for those districts with large numbers of each group of minority students. In most cases there are comparisons with data for White, non-Latino, students. Many of the tables offer data by gender. The information for Latino students includes English language usage and poverty data.
Readers may be interested to note that the Latino population is largely of Mexican and Central American origin in California, nearly entirely of Mexican origin in Arizona and Texas, and of a wide variety of national origins in the Eastern and Mid-Western states. There are certain large districts in California and Texas with hardly any non-Latino students.
The Asian-American population shows similar variations in geographical distribution, dominated in some areas, for example, by students of Chinese origin, in others by students of Asian Indian origin, and in a few places by students of Southeast Asian origin. There wide differences in educational achievement among these sub-groups and, in some instances, within sub-groups by geographical area.
The data presented here show that in general the opportunities for a good education vary with race, ethnicity and economic status. Educational opportunities for all students vary with location. The variation between states and school districts within states is striking, particularly for Black students.
These resource books are primarily intended to be of use to those in the general public interested in the education of minority students. Educators in schools, in local district offices and in state departments of education also may find them useful. They may serve as a convenient reference for journalists and policy makers.
The data is based on information from the U.S. Bureau of the Census and the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Education, state and local educational authorities.
As a matter of related interest, the following is a link to a recent interview with Milwaukee Public Radio about the school to prison pipeline:
http://wuwm.com/...