The growing Latinization of the American population is taking off, fueled by birth rates so high that by 2025 Hispanics will be 25 percent of all high school graduates, according to the Pew Research Center.
At the same time, the percentage of white high school grads is expected to drop by a third, from 73 percent of the graduating class in 1995 to 51 percent in 2025, likely near or the end of the white majority in schools.
“Apart from its size, the high school class of 2025 will also look different from today’s incoming college freshmen. Immigration and births of second-generation immigrants are likely to drive up the shares of Hispanic and Asian students,” said the latest population survey.
“Over the past two decades, the share of students graduating from public high schools who are white and non-Hispanic has declined dramatically – from 73 percent in 1995 to 57 percent in 2012, according to the most recent data available. In that time period the shares that are Hispanic and Asian have grown,” said Pew, adding that “this trend will continue, with the public high school graduating class of 2025 being barely majority white.”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
