Census: U.S. Will Be Older, More Diverse

The Census Bureau sums up one of the nation's most significant trends very neatly today: "An Older and More Diverse Nation by Midcentury ." There will be a lot of more of us, too, with the U.S. population projected to hit 400 million by 2039.

Minorities, who are now about a third of the total population, will become the majority of Americans in 2042. And by 2030 one in five Americans will be age 65 or older.

It's hard to think of a public issue that won't be affected by this change. But here are two to start with:

If you've paid any attention at all to the debate over the nation's long-term fiscal health, then you already know that the aging of the baby boomers is a major reason why Medicare, Social Security and our skyrocketing national debt are major concerns. But that's only one of the issues we're facing.

This census report really goes to the heart of one of the nation's most persistent problems: the education achievement gap between white and minority students. The achievement gap's unacceptable now, and it'll be even more devastating when minorities make up most of the workforce. Public Agenda's surveys find that minority parents and students put a high value on education – but they're much more dissatisfied with their schools . Three in 10 black youngsters report very serious levels of disruption and unrest in their schools – not just "somewhat serious," but "very serious." Black students are twice as likely as white students to say that schools not getting enough money is a very serious problem in their community.

The educational system may also have to do more to prepare the nation's teachers for a more diverse student body. In our Lessons Learned survey of first-year teachers, we found three-quarters said their training had covered teaching a diverse group of students – but only four in 10 said that it helped them "a lot ."