Fewer Army recruits have diplomas
As the war rages on in Iraq, casualties mount and fewer people sign up for military duty, the number of Army recruits with high school diplomas is diminishing, according to a report released Tuesday. The National Priorities Project, a research group that analyzes federal data, found that the U.S. Army is about 20 percentage points away from its target number of 90 percent of recruits who have a high school diploma, which it has failed to achieve since 2004. In the 2007 budget year, only 71 percent had earned diplomas, according to the project, which based its findings on statistics it obtained from the Defense Department through a Freedom of Information Act request. Military officials prefer that recruits have a high school diploma because studies show that graduates are more likely to finish an enlistment term, The Associated Press reports. Speaking to AP, Douglas Smith, spokesman for the Army Recruiting Command at Fort Knox, Ky., acknowledged that recruitment has been tough. He also pointed to what he described as an overall decline in high school graduation rates. Over the past seven years, he said, the armed services have had to hike the number of waivers and spike enlistment bonuses to fill its ranks. “Every soldier that we put in the Army is qualified,” Smith said. “We don’t put unqualified people in the Army, but it’s something we’re watching.”

Maryland’s student color line shifts
Maryland serves up a good reminder of why minority concerns are the nation’s concerns. Just take a look at its public school system, which just a few short years ago was majority White; it’s now composed mostly of people of color. While White residents still account for nearly 60 percent of the state’s population, they only comprise about 47 percent of this year’s student body. Now, it Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and “others” who make up the lion’s share of the school population, The Washington Post reports. And the speed and unexpected ways in which the demographic shift is occurring is stunning even the experts. For example, the Post reports, schools in Charles County, a rural, heavily White section of southern Maryland, is now mostly Black, while schools in largely Black neighboring community of Prince George’s County is now predominately Hispanic. Students of color “are going to represent the majority in this state and the majority in probably this country, and, therefore, I think there have to be exceptional efforts to ensure educational success for this population,” Nancy S. Grasmick, state superintendent of schools, told the Post. “We’re seeing more and more of this immigrant population really coming from circumstances of very significant poverty. Not only do they have the cultural and the language barriers to overcome, but they also have the economic barriers.”

Former “Teacher of the Year” is shot to death
A 36-year-old African-American man, who was once Atlanta’s “Teacher of the Year,” was shot to death Sunday in a Florida parking lot. Antonio Coleman was in Florida for an educational conference when he was killed, The St. Petersburg Times reported. For the latest, check out the full BET.com/News story here.

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