census essays

census essays The plan for the 2000 census will make an unprecendent effort to contact every living person living in the United States and will contact more people than in any previous census. With statistical methods for nonrespondents, the Census 2000 will be the most complete accounting of the U.S. population ever. Statistical Sampling should not be a partisan issue . It is an American issue. It's about making sure that every American really and literally counts. It's about gathering fair and accurate information that we absolutely have to have if we are going to determine who we are and what we have to do to prepare all our people for the 21st century. We do a census every 10 years. Even the first time, when Thomas Jefferson sent federal marshals on horseback, we relied on the system of going to the households to count these people (Riche 34). As the years continued on and the population grew, It began to be more time consuming and progressively more expensive. In 1970, we started counting people by mail. We asked that Americans fill out the census forms and then send them back for processing (Riche 34). This is the current method in use. We know that the census missed 8 million Americans living in inner-cities and in remote rural areas in 1990 (Clinton par.3 ). We also know that we double-counted 4 million Americans, many of whom had their own home (Riche 34). The census missed 482,738 in the state of Texas; 66,748 of them in Houston alone (Clinton par. 3). With the current method of the census, the problem are not getting solved. Congress concluded in 1990 that the census failed on two grounds: It cost too much and measured two few people (Riche 35). Inaccurate information causes some of the biggest problems. For example, the United way recieves generous grants for very wealthy individuals. If the census is inaccurate, then it has an indirect effect on private ...