A program premiering on PBS SoCaL Monday night took its cameras to Long Beach to find out why Cambodians in the U.S. have low high school graduation rates and what is being done to reverse that in the American city with the highest Cambodian population.
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America by the Numbers is the show and “Pass or Fail in Cambodia Town” is the name of the episode that premiere at 7:30 p.m. on PBS SoCaL (which is Channel 50 from my provider). WORLD Channel and the Center for Asian American Media also host a live online screening and chat at 7 p.m.; join the conversation here: bit.ly/ABTN6_OVEE.
From the producers:
Asian Americans are the best-educated and highest-income ethnic group in the United States. They are often referred to as the “model minority,” suggesting that all Asians are successful in school and in life. But Southeast Asian Americans have some of the lowest high school completion rates in the nation. Visit Long Beach, California–the city with America's largest Cambodian community–to find out why this educational crisis is occurring and what people are doing about it.
The eight-part America By The Numbers, which is hosted by Maria Hinojosa, focuses on the demographic shifts taking place in the U.S., with a different “underreported” story “from every corner of the nation” being presented each episode.
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