The Center of the American Experiment published a?report,?Fragmented Families and?Splintered Classes,?that addresses?growing class divisions?in America. The report asked thirty-six writers ? including Brad Wilcox and yours truly ? to respond to the following questions:
- How might abridged mobility and starker class divisions play out for lower-income and minority men, women, and, in particular, children?? What will it mean for their prospects?
- What about the commonweal itself?? In what centrifugal ways might all this play out in the nation?? In Minnesota?
- And getting to the core, what can be done to reduce out-of-wedlock births and divorce measurably in the first place?
Here is the essay that Brad and I wrote, in which we suggest that in order to?stop the splintering of classes,??we will need? to improve?and in some cases, revive?institutions that serve the 70? percent of non-college-educated Americans, particularly those that?direct them toward steady work, thrift, and marital commitment.?
I haven?t read the full report yet, but according to the prologue by Mitch Pearlstein, it includes contributions from a philosophically and politically diverse group of people. I look forward to reading it.
On a related note, one of the things that Brad and I did not mention in our essay are early childhood education programs,?which are touted by some people as essential for strengthening?low-income families. I confess I?ve never really given that much thought to these programs ??but perhaps I should. There?s an early childhood education center just a two minute walk from Amber and I?s home here in Maytown, which provides preschool, daycare, and Head Start programs. Amber and I just talked to young married couple with three children that love it because it?allows their?children?(all under the?age of 4?) a head start in eduaction, and it gives the parents flexibility?to work. I recall David Brooks?writing one time that early childhood education programs have proven results. If anyone knows of these studies,?I?d be interested in?looking at them.
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Source: http://familyscholars.org/2012/10/12/symposium-fragmented-families-and-splintered-classes/
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