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About 700,000 children in Mexico dropped out of school last year as recession-stricken families pushed kids to work, and a weak economic recovery will allow only slight improvement in the drop-out rate in 2010, a top education official said.
Mexico's economy suffered more than any other in Latin America last year, shrinking an estimated 7 percent due to a plunge in U.S. demand for Mexican exports such as cars.
The decline led to a 4 percent increase in the number of kids who left primary or middle school in 2009, said Juan de Dios Castro, who heads the nation's adult education program and keeps a close watch on drop—out rates.
"Poverty rose and that is a factor that makes our job more difficult," Castro told Reuters in an interview earlier this month.
Hindered by higher taxes and weak demand for its exports, Mexico's economy is seen only partially recovering this year. As a result, drop—out rates will not improve much, Castro said.
"There will be some improvement, but not significant," Castro said.
Mexicohas historically had high drop—out rates as poor families pull kids out of school to help put food on the table, and children often sell candy and crafts in the streets or work in restaurants.
The nation's drop—out problem is just the latest bad news for the long—term competitiveness of the Mexican economy. Mexico's politicians have resisted mending the country's tax, energy and labor laws for decades, leaving its economy behind countries such as Brazil and Chile.
Passage One
Russell Fazio, an Ohio State psychology professor who has studied interracial roommates there and at Indiana University, discovered an intriguing academic effect. In a study analyzing data on thousands of Ohio State freshmen who lived in dorms, he found that black freshmen who came to college with high standardized test scores earned better grades if they had a white roommate — even if the roommate's test scores were low. The roommate's race had no effect on the grades of white students or low—scoring black students. Perhaps, the study speculated, having a white roommate helps academically prepared black students adjust to a predominantly white university.
That same study found that randomly assigned interracial roommates at Ohio State broke up before the end of the quarter about twice as often as same—race roommates.
Because interracial roommate relationships are often problematic, Dr. Fazio said, many students would like to move out, but university housing policies may make it hard to leave.
"At Indiana University, where housing was not so tight, more interracial roommates split up," he said. "Here at Ohio State, where housing was tight, they were told to work it out. The most interesting thing we found was that if the relationship managed to continue for just 10 weeks, we could see an improvement in racial attitudes."
Dr. Fazio's Indiana study found that three times as many randomly assigned interracial roommates were no longer living together at the end of the semester, compared with white roommates. The interracial roommates spent less time together, and had fewer joint activities than the white pairs.
Question 26—29
26. What do we know about Russell Fazio ?
27. Who benefited from living with a white roommate according to Fazio's study?
28. What did the study find about randomly assigned interracial roommates at Ohio State University?
29. What did Dr. Fazio find interesting about interracial roommates who had lived together for 10 weeks?
