The article states that there is going to be a challege because Minnesota has one of the greatest gaps between white and minority grad rates. I have a suggestion: don't label, don't make exceptions, just TEACH if you haven't figured out that a brain is a brain stop teaching. We will make excuses and throw money at a problem that is not there. Sink or swim students, teach, teachers. Stop the labels and excuses.

I am so glad this is happening because I've always thought that I was missing something when all I saw were faces like my own. Now I know that I was!

Caucasian is the new minority. Now we know it's true. No more special "Exceptions" for anybody. No special groups, clubs, civil liberties unions etc etc..

The biggest group with diversity is children age five or less. Let's see the recession began back in 2007....that's five years ago.....because of it most responsible couples cut back on expenses and a large part of that is child rearing.

I think it is time to work toward stopping the use of the word minority. Take a white woman and put her in Bolivia. Does that make her a minority? Without trying to be naive and knowing that there are cultural differences, it seems to me that the next step for civil rights is to DROP the word minority and acknowledge some of the differences, but working more towards common humanity. The truth is, nobody is a minority and the word unfortunately gets tainted with implications that one is not as good as another. To me, both liberals and conservatives are guilty of misusing the word. White "Liberals" think they are so open minded but often keep "minorities" down with a condescending "aw poor them" attitude, and white "conservatives" too often put down "minorities" without ever getting to know them. (like they often do with gays)

augsburg54 - Wow, just wow.

ctually, nobody is a majority (nationwide). Bill G.

Actually, Minnesota has less immigration than ever- it is just that now they are mostly from foreign countries, where for at least 60 years from the 1920's thru the 1980's, MN immigration was from ND, SD, IA, and western WI. Those immigrants all spoke and read English, and were steeped in the American culture. It is far more expensive to assimilate the new immigrants, who are largely of different languages and cultures. Until we figure out how to keep a much larger percentage of our college graduates here, and away from the coasts, we will become steadily more challenged logistacally and financially with the task of educating the young. Bill G.

The claim that "the wave of diversity rolling through the state is expected to pose challenges and benefits for school districts" is true. But the main benefit posed is in keeping more teachers and school administrators employed, and able to plead that they need even more money. Let's look at this logically, putting aside whether we think diversity is a wonderful thing or not. One can't blame any organization for wanting to grow or at least maintain its "market share," rather than shrink and have to lay off employees -- school districts are no different than companies in this respect. It's generally true that fewer students means we need fewer teachers. Thus, school districts have been aligning themselves with nonprofits and other forces in our society to fill their classrooms with as many immigrants as possible. The problem is, what's good for a school district (or a business facing a dwindling customer base) is not necessarily good for society. Kids who may have just arrived on our shores last month and must deal with culture shock and struggling to learn English will inevitably cost more to educate. Yet they bring a school district the same amount in state aid -- unless we're willing to spend even more money for special programs. The decision by many local school districts to seek in various ways to bring in more kids from diverse backgrounds may or may not be a good strategy for them in the long run. But it's certainly not good for the taxpayers in any particular city or suburb. We need to have candid conversations about our schools, diversity, and the growing achievement gap, and acknowledging each side's self interest is an important part of such conversations.

augsburg54 -- I don't understand your logic...are you saying that because of the recession parents of children under 5 have put fewer resources into their education? Even if that were true, I'm not sure what that has to do with diversity or immigration, especially considering they represent a below-country avg. proportion of the population, AND they typically have less money than established Americans. It seems as if you were either blaming the recession on diversity, or parents of children under 5, or that child education is strictly tied to income (despite the fact that public schools are free to the public).....I'm lost!