It's no secret that a higher percentage of urban dwellers have the means to attend college and earn degrees than do their rural counterparts, but two higher-education researchers in a rural state argue that rural Americans have an untapped wealth of knowledge just waiting to be tapped into, if only someone can find a way to help them take the leap to the next level. (Daily Yonder map; click on it for larger version)
Only 31 percent of rural adults aged 18 to 24 were enrolled in college in 2009, compared to more than 40 percent in urban and suburban areas, and only 17 percent of rural residents 25 and older had a college degree, Sarah Beasley and Neal Holly both of the West Virginia Higher
Education Policy Commission write for The Chronicle of Higher Education. They say the statistics aren't as alarming as the fact that policymakers aren't making a concerted effort to narrow the gap, and find ways to encourage, or help rural residents get educated.
"Rural students have lower college aspirations and are less likely to attend college than their urban and suburban counterparts, perhaps because, research shows, they are more likely to live in areas with no post-secondary institution, have little access to college information, and have parents who did not attend college," Beasley and Holly write. "Unlike students in more populated areas, rural students must often face the dilemma of choosing between going to college (and leaving their families) or staying in their communities."
(Daily Yonder table) Rural high schools are also facing cutbacks, have a larger percentage of students poverty than most urban schools, and some rural students face a lack of resources, such as the inability to get Internet in some rural areas, the researchers write. They say it also doesn't help that rural areas are often left out of national higher-education conversations. They call not simply for more federal spending in rural areas, but the same support that urban areas get when it comes to encouraging kids to go to college. (Read more)
"Rural students have lower college aspirations and are less likely to attend college than their urban and suburban counterparts, perhaps because, research shows, they are more likely to live in areas with no post-secondary institution, have little access to college information, and have parents who did not attend college," Beasley and Holly write. "Unlike students in more populated areas, rural students must often face the dilemma of choosing between going to college (and leaving their families) or staying in their communities."
No comments:
Post a Comment