Caffeinated Thoughts

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Regardless of Income, Being Raised by a Married Couple is Better Posted: 23 Jul 2012 11:45 AM PDT Though many in our society will say differently, regardless of how much money a single parent makes, being raised by a married couple (meaning Mom and Dad, it's unfortunate that I have to add a qualifier).  W. Bradford Wilcox, a sociologist, wrote an article entitled "The Kids Are Not Really Alright" for Slate Magazine.  He wrote: Take two contemporary social problems: teenage pregnancy and the incarceration of young males. Research by Sara McLanahan at Princeton University suggests that boys are significantly more likely to end up in jail or prison by the time they turn 30 if they are raised by a single mother. Specifically, McLanahan and a colleague found that boys raised in a single-parent household were more than twice as likely to be incarcerated, compared with boys raised in an intact, married home, even after controlling for differences in parental income, education, race, and ethnicity. Research on young men suggests they are less likely to engage in delinquent or illegal behavior when they have the affection, attention, and monitoring of their own mother and father. But daughters depend on dads as well. One study by Bruce Ellis of the University of Arizona found that about one-third of girls whose fathers left the home before they turned 6 ended up pregnant as teenagers, compared with just 5 percent of girls whose fathers were there throughout their childhood. This dramatic divide was narrowed a bit when Ellis controlled for parents' socioeconomic background—but only by a few percentage points. The research on this topic suggests that girls raised by single mothers are less likely to be supervised, more likely to engage in early sex, and to end up pregnant compared with girls raised by their own married parents. It's true that poorer families are more likely to be headed by single mothers. But even factoring out class shows a clear difference. Research by the Economic Mobility Project at Pew suggests that children from intact families are also more likely to rise up the income ladder if they were raised in a low-income family, and less likely to fall into poverty if they were raised in a wealthy family. For instance, according to Pew's analysis, 54 percent of today's young adults who grew up in an intact two-parent home in the top-third of household income have remained in the top-third as adults, compared with just 37 percent of today's young adults who grew up in a wealthy (top-third) but divorced family. Why is this? Single mothers, even from wealthier families, have less time. They are less likely to be able to monitor their kids. They do not have a partner who can relieve them when they are tired or frustrated or angry with their kids. This isn't just a question of taking kids to the array of pampered extracurricular activities that many affluent, two-parent families turn to; it's about the ways in which two sets of hands, ears, and eyes generally make parenting easier. Kids need a mom and dad, which is why we must do all we can to celebrate, promote and protect marriage.  It simply makes families stronger. HT: Wintery Knight

Is Education Being Reduced to Farming Kids for Workforce Needs? Posted: 23 Jul 2012 05:45 AM PDT We don't know what the job market will look like five years from now, let alone 10-12 years in the future.  Who knows what kinds of jobs will be available.  There will likely be career fields that we couldn't even imagine.  On the flip side some jobs that are currently being done will be replaced by robots. Jupiter Images/Photos.com Above is a picture I shared on Truth in American Education's Facebook page.  It highlights a growing problem that seen in education today – assessing kids for workforce needs instead of encouraging their God-given abilities.  ACT in fact has developed a career test for third graders.  They plan to develop one for kindergarteners as well. A friend emailed me last night and she made a point that is germane to the point I made above, "Let’s try to predict the future, place kids on a one track education and hope we were right. God forbid they are wrong and no one needs little Johnny’s one dimensional set of skills."

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