Do the UN Millennium Project Goals have some relevance to our quest to achieve the vision for America 2.0?
Let's take a look...
1) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
According to moneynews.com by using the world bank definition applied to developing countries, the national poverty center found the number of households living on less than $2 per person, per day increased to 1.46 million households in 2011 from 636,000 in 1996.
Our poverty rate is increasing.
2) Achieve Universal Primary Education
According to studentsfirst.org one out of three students in students scored "below basic" on the 2009 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) reading Test. Among them 49% came from low-income students, additionally 67% of all US fourth graders scored "below proficient", they simply aren't reading at their grade level.
US students rank 25th in the world in math performance. The five above us Spain, Norway, Luxembourg, Hungary, & the Slovak Republic. The top five overall are Finland, Korea, Netherlands, Switzerland, & Canada.
According to Education Week the average math and reading scores for 17-year-olds in NEAP tests have remained stagnant sine the 1970's. According to the journal fourth and eighth grade reading scores "have barely budged since 1992"
Our education system is in need of reform
3) Promote gender equality and empower women
Time Magazine last year proclaimed women are overtaking men as the breadwinners. Time says "The figures in the magazine show a shift in earning power that makes it seem as if gender inequality is a thing of the past" "Almost 40% of wives make more money than their husbands…Women today make up almost 60% of U.S. college students and earn the majority of doctorates and master’s degrees…In the majority of U.S. metro areas, single, childless women in their 20s make more per dollar than their male peers"
However, I found the stats deceiving so I dug deeper...
- Women earn a median weekly wage only 81% of a man's
- Woman as managers have only risen from 35% to 38% in the last 20 years
- In 2011, women only ran 12 of the Fortune 500 companies
- In 2010, women made up 31.5% of all lawyers but only 19.5% were partners in law firms
- Men outnumber women at a rate of 73% vs. 27% in all sectors for science and engineering as of 2009
- Only 17 women hold senate seats out of 100
- Canada, England, Germany have all had women as presidents, The US never has
We still have a ways to go in gender equality in the US
4/5. Reduce Child Mortality
From the Huffington Post
Some scary realities here, you would think as the leading industrialized nation in the world and the expense of health care these numbers would be lower.
We can do better!
6. Combat Malaria, HIV/AIDS, and other diseases
According to the CDC:
More than 1.1 million people in the United States are living with HIV infection, and almost 1 in 5 (18.1%) are unaware of their infection
Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM1), particularly young black/African American MSM, are most seriously affected by HIV.
By race, blacks/African Americans face the most severe burden of HIV
We still have a way to go in the prevention, treatment, and eradication of HIV/AIDS in the US
The last 2 sustaining the environment and global partnership I will tackle in another article. These are some interesting figures to spark the conversation the formation of our vision for America 2.0...
