Diversity in American Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Diversity in American Society - Essay Example This racial group originated from North, South America, and Central America, and maintained tribal affiliation or community attachment. About 0.8 million American Indians and Alaska Natives live on reservations or other trust lands. 57 percent of American Indian and Alaska Natives live in metropolitan areas, a lowest metropolitan percentage of any racial group. (AI/AN profile)). However, despite the gains of population and self-determination rights the AI/AN remains one of the poorest ethnic group. This is also an important reason for lower educational attainment and high rates of school dropouts. In the present essay, the programs to aid the community in these two important issues have been addressed. In the US census 2000, American Indian and Alaska Native alone or in combination with one or more races made up 1.5 percent of the total population. American Indian and Alaska Native alone represented 0.9 percent of the population. It was 110 percent increase in the total population of AI/AN while 26 percent increase in the population of AI/AN alone from 1990. The highest number of these people was in California followed by Oklahoma. The 19% of the population of Alaska had AI/AN followed by Oklahoma and New Mexico with 11% each. The Median household income for American Indians and Alaska Natives, based on a 1998/2000 average is $31,799 . ... The Population of AI/AN alone has 49.7% males and 50.3% females. In the same population the natives are 94.6% while foreign-borns are only 5.4%. Of the foreign born population 30.6% are naturalized citizen while 69.4% are not a citizen. (US census, 2000) Snipp (2005) reports that the poverty rate for American Indians and Alaska Natives, based on a 1998/2000 average is 25.9%. This rate was not statistically different from the rates for African Americans and Hispanics, but was higher than those for non-Hispanic Whites, Asians and Pacific Islanders. The median age of the total American Indian and Alaska Native population is 28.7 years. For people who report their race as American Indian and Alaska Native only, the median age is 28.0, suggesting that this group is somewhat younger. In contrast, the median age of the U.S. is 38.4 years. About 34 percent of the total American Indian and Alaska Native population is under age 18, compared with only 23 percent of the white population. The relatively young age structure of the AI/AN population reflects in part the population's high fertility rates compared with most other racial and ethnic groups. PART- 2 Important Community Issues 1. EDUCATION 1.1 School Attendance and Educational Attainment American Indians and Alaska Natives have not fared well by this measure. They have historically been one of the least-educated groups in the nation, About 93% of multiracial and 92% of single racial AI/AN children of 15-17 age group are enrolled in school. The 7-8% teens not enrolled in school require attention Snipp (2005). The census 2000 also indicates that in the age group of 18-24, 64.1 % AI/AN alone and 71.3% AI/AN in combination with one or more races

To what extent is there a gap between sociological and cultural Essay

To what extent is there a gap between sociological and cultural studies of youth can these ever be bridged - Essay Example The United Nations (UNESCO) officially‘†¦ defines youth as people between the ages of 15 and 24 years inclusive’ (op. cit.). The popular view of youth as the period of rebelliousness is contrasted with childhood as one of acceptance of adult norms, and adulthood as the period of consolidation and conservatism. In Western societies it has been observed that increasingly, the years of childhood appear to shrink while the period of youth gets extended as the adoption of an adult identity becomes ever more delayed. Today young children are exposed to adult concerns through mass media and lose their childhood innocence much earlier than in previous epochs ‘There was now a sense that the end of childhood is happening quicker, and that the period of youth goes on longer‘(Report of the Workshop on Global Youth Media Culture -2004). The World Bank has concluded that on the whole, today’s youth (in industrially developed countries) as compared to their parents at a similar age, are: ‘†¦more likely †¦to be unemployed, ‘†¦ more likely than their parents to be living at home, †¦more likely †¦to be in full time education or training, †¦ less likely to be married’, and†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢less likely to have (had) their first child’ (h ttp://www.worldbank.org/devoutreach/spring02/article.asp.id=156). Human beings unlike other species in the animal kingdom do not merely live out their biological lifespan in a state of nature. Over millennia, they have built up civilizations with distinct cultures. Culture is all that which is transmitted from generation to generation in terms of language, norms, customs, practices, values and behaviours, which are essential to establish one‘s place in society as a contributing member. With scientific and technological advances in the West, resulting in the dominance of powerful multinational purveyors of popular culture such as