We have low-performing schools and are trying to raise test scores. But it's difficult for kids to learn when they come to school hungry. A recent study by Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse found that adolescents in rural America are much more likely than their peers in urban centers to have used drugs. Eighth-graders in rural America are 104 percent more likely than those in big cities to have used amphetamines, including methamphetamines, and 50 percent more likely to have used cocaine. People may not realize it, but 30 percent of California's students live in rural areas.
Rural areas have large minority populations and latchkey kids.
They are invisible. People just aren't aware of the problems. The public may not realize how much poverty there is in rural areas because the poverty is so well hidden, say teachers. Chakerian gets emotional when describing the lifestyles of students in his classroom, most of whom are the children of Hispanic migrants who live in a depressed, low-income area. Later, Chakerian learned that, to afford the party, the family went without food for several days.