Ethnic Diversity...LA vs Orange County

[James T]

Originally Posted by LALady

Not true. Lots of Somalians, Russians, Armenians moving here. LA will be less white and less black. Actually Armenians are considered caucasian. But it will still be diverse.

If you combine all Somali, Russian, and Armenian migrations and birthrates, they don't come close to matching those of "Latinos". Los Angeles will be majority "Latino" in the near future.

[ness]

Originally Posted by James T

If you combine all Somali, Russian, and Armenian migrations and birthrates, they don't come close to matching those of "Latinos". Los Angeles will be majority "Latino" in the near future.

Los Angeles will be at least 50% Hispanic in the next few years based on the current rate of growth for that group. There are positives and negatives to this. Its just something to be aware of. Certain areas will have a higher concentration of certain ethnic groups....as is the case with most places. We have friends that have had problems with schooling for their little one b/c two public schools they have tried were taught a lot in Spanish due to the mainly Hispanic makeup of the classroom. I guess it was good for language exposure, but their little girl felt lost for many of the lessons. This is the makeup of our school district as per greatschools.com. It is illuminating as to the lack of diversity. I love diversity and would love for more groups to have a strong presence. I do feel strongly, though, that English should be the primary language used in a school setting, with additional languages offered as electives. A proper grasp of the English language is an important foundation for all students.

Student Ethnicity
Source: CA Dept. of Education, 2005-2006
Ethnicity This District State Average
Hispanic or Latino 54% 48%
White, not Hispanic 26% 30%
African American, not Hispanic 11% 8%
Multiple or No Response 3% 2%
Asian 3% 8%
Filipino 2% 3%
American Indian or Alaska Native <1% <1%
Pacific Islander <1% <1%

[Chinolala]

Interesting. Here's the latest data on the Chicago public system:
Student Racial Breakdown

• 48.6% African-American
• 37.6% Latino
• 8.1% White
• 3.2% Asian/Pacific Islander
• 2.4% Multi-Racial
• 0.1% Native American

The differences between your school district and Chicago's is interesting. We have a much higher African American student population and a much smaller White student population. You have a higher % of Hispanics. Chicago's population is 40% African American but by in large, it's stil a pretty segregated city and the majority of African Americans live on the West and South sides.

Unfortunately, until the Chicago public schools get better, many whites will continue sending their kids to Catholic schools. This is a shame because you pay about $8,000-$15,000 a year in real estate taxes which fund our public schools and then you're shelling out another $4,000 a year for Catholic grammar school. If your kids are really smart, they can test to get into a Chicago public school for gifted students, but there aren't enough schools for these kids so it's on the lottery system. Your number gets picked or it doesn't. Catholic highschools here cost about $8,000 a year so education can be really expensive or lame at best, at the public schools.