Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.trends From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: trends Tue, Jul 7 1992 Date: Tue, 7 Jul 92 05:13:30 EDT Message-ID: 07-07 0000 DECISIONLINE: Trends & Marketing USA TODAY Update July 7, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network WHITE KIDS HAVE COMPUTER EDGE: White students had much greater access to computers in schools in the 1980s than black or Hispanic kids, a trend that may hurt the minorites' chances at jobs in a computer-oriented society, a new study says. The Princeton University study found 60.9% of white students in grades kindergarten through eight had used computers in 1989, compared to 38.4% of blacks and 42.7% of Hispanics. (For more, see special Computers package below.) BIG BANKS COURT SMALL FIRMS: Bankers who have long ignored small companies suddenly are courting them. Many bankers say serving small business may be the key to future profits for an industry facing fierce competition for loans. Last month, Chemical Banking sent 600 bank officers on a one-day door-to-door blitz to drum up business at 1,750 New York companies with less than $1 million annual revenue. SMALL-BUSINESS PORTFOLIO WIDENS: At a time when most banks' loan portfolios are shrinking, 81% of banks that target small businesses expect their small-business loans to rise or stay the same this year, according to a survey by accountants Grant Thornton. One reason: After a recession, small businesses tend to start growing faster than do big companies. MORE TEACHERS ARE HAPPY: Teachers are happier with their jobs these days than at any time in the last 15 years, a new survey shows. More than half - 59% - of the teachers responding to a National Education Association poll of its members say they still would be teachers if they had to make the choice again. That's up from 49% in 1986, 46% in 1981. Only 22% say they would not teach again, down from 31% five years ago. CONVENTION COVERAGE DOWN: For the most complete coverage of next week's Democratic convention, don't count on network TV. Viewership for the political conventions has dropped every year since 1956, and the networks are taking that cue. This year, none of them are broadcasting more than two hours a day from the conventions. CNN, C-SPAN and PBS will fill the coverage void. VOICE DIALING TO BECOME STANDARD: AT&T has a new car phone that can understand voices. The AT&T Speaker-Trained Voice Recognizer, based on AT&T's DSP16A signal-processing chip, is activated by spoken keywords. AT&T says voice dialing will become a standard feature in cellular mobile phones. SHOWS PROMOTE DESIGNATED DRIVER: Since 1989, 140 prime-time shows have made some mention of designated drivers - sober folks who drive drinkers home. Jay Winsten, whose Harvard Alcohol Project has lobbied the TV industry to include designated driver mentions, says new federal figures indicate the publicity on TV has saved lives. TRAFFIC DEATHS DROP: Alcohol-related traffic deaths in 1991 dropped to 19,900 - a 15.8% decline since 1988. Figures also show more young people know about designated drivers and that more drinkers have been driven home by them. The figures suggest "the TV industry's support of the designated driver campaign has been one important contributing factor," Jay Winsten says. MESSAGE NOT GETTING THROUGH: Fewer than half of sexually active teens tell researchers they use condoms, which are least popular among teens who've had several partners. Studies of college women also show condom use goes down as a woman's number of partners goes up. Even among gay men condom use is not universal. If it was, San Francisco would not be predicting 650 new HIV infections among gay men this year. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON COMPUTERS: MORE STUDENTS USE COMPUTERS: Alan Krueger, assistant economics professor at Princeton University, looked at data from the Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Education and elsewhere to find more students have access to computers than they did in 1984, but the white-minority gap hasn't closed. In 1984, 38.5% of whites, 16.8% of blacks and 19.4% of Hispanics used computers in schools. COMPUTER USERS MORE MARKETABLE: Krueger says the implication for job prospects is serious. He and co-authors Michael Boozer and Shari Wolkon also looked at a study that followed students from school to the labor market in 1980 and 1986. Those exposed to computers in school were much more likely to obtain jobs in which computers were used - and which tend to pay more, Krueger says. NORTHEAST VERY SEGREGATED: Krueger's study also found that school segregation in the U.S. had increased. In 1989, 65.1% of blacks attended schools that were predominantly (more than 50%) minority, versus 62.9% in 1980. The Northeast now has the most segregated schools; the South has the least segregated - "a dramatic turnaround" Krueger says. (End of package.) Trends & Marketing Editor: Michele Coleman. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM