Description: This is
a VOA Special English Education Report.
See text below
Text:
College enrollment has reached an all-time high in
the United States. About forty percent of all
eighteen- to twenty-four-year-olds -- or almost
eleven and a half million -- were in school in
October of last year. A new report says both numbers
are record highs.
Richard Fry at the Pew Research Center points to a
number of reasons. He says the number of young
adults who have finished high school is also now at
a record all-time high. Almost eighty-five percent
of America's young adults have finished high school.
Another reason for the enrollment increase: the
recession. The unemployment rate reached a
twenty-six year high in October. The economic
downturn has hit young adults especially hard.
Richard Fry says their job-holding rate is almost at
the lowest point in nearly fifty years.
In a poor job market, many people turn to higher
education, especially at two-year colleges. These
schools, known as community colleges, have had the
greatest enrollment increase. They offer
professional training and cost a lot less than
programs at four-year schools.
But experts say the recession has not cut enrollment
in four-year programs, even with their higher costs.
The Chronicle of Higher Education says at least
fifty-eight private colleges now charge fifty
thousand dollars or more a year.
Lately there have been accusations that some
private, competitive liberal arts colleges are
trying to avoid being seen as "too female." Critics
say that as a result these schools are
discriminating against women and admitting less
qualified men.
In August the United States Commission on Civil
Rights opened an investigation. Spokeswoman Lenore
Ostrowsky says the purpose is to identify if
discrimination is taking place in schools. But she
adds that there may be lots of reasons why more
women apply to colleges, and why colleges admit more
women.
The Census Bureau says fifty-four percent of full
time students at two- and four-year colleges last
year were female.
Federal law bars sex discrimination at any school
that receives federal money. Most schools do in one
way or another. However, the law does not bar sex
discrimination in admissions at private
undergraduate schools, only public ones.
The commission does not have enforcement powers, but
it can suggest changes in the law. A report could
take six months to a year.
And that's the VOA Special English Education Report.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
