This year's Horatio Alger report on the "State of Our Nation's Youth," paints a relatively optimistic portrait of students despite the world's malaise. Here are some highlights:
Students are optimistic about their own future and their own abilities, but have grown markedly less optimistic about the country's future.
Hope and optimism about the future of the country has declined 22 points in just five years from 75% in 2003 to 53% today. [I would guess this is on par with adult feelings about the future of our country as well]
Still they realize the role the election could play in shaping the future....
75% of students say they care who wins the presidential election.
The top issues for teens?
1. The economy/jobs (34%)
2. War in Iraq (31%)
3. Environment/global warming (28%)
4. Education (25%)
5. Health care (16%)
6. Terrorism & national security (13%)
7. Civil liberties & civil rights (11%)
8. Moral values (10%)
The vast majority of students say they are very confident (62%) or fairly confident (31%) about achieving their own goals in life [all that self esteem emphasis obviously paid off]
What would improve students' quality of education? The majority of students (38%) said more up-to-date technology. Second was better job training. [hello. wake up call to schools, teens want their education to be relevant to their future]
30% reported having been bullied online (vs. 54% offline). And only 16% said someone had intentionally posted something mean or hurtful about them on-line. [this reaffirms that it's an issue, but also puts it in perspective]
Their role models? Family's first at 57% (up 10 points from 2005). Entertainers and sports figures are both down from 2005 to 9% and 4% (entertainers dropped 2 points while sports figures dropped one)
Time spent online? There are different versions of these stats, but here's there's: Students spend a lot of time online, both for entertainment (85%) and for schoolwork (78%)...
You can download the full report here.
Still they realize the role the election could play in shaping the future....
The top issues for teens?
1. The economy/jobs (34%)
2. War in Iraq (31%)
3. Environment/global warming (28%)
4. Education (25%)
5. Health care (16%)
6. Terrorism & national security (13%)
7. Civil liberties & civil rights (11%)
8. Moral values (10%)
You can download the full report here.
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