It Takes a Village (32 page)

 

Creating a framework for service
: In the last five years, we have seen an upsurge in volunteerism. Applications to Teach for America, which recruits graduates for underserved urban and rural areas, hit almost 19,000 this year, nearly triple the number in 2000; in 2006, the Peace Corps took 7,810 volunteers—the largest number in thirty years—from more than 11,500 applicants in 2005, up more than 20 percent over the year 2000; and AmeriCorps*VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America), which pairs young people with nonprofit organizations, has had a 50 percent jump in applicants since 2004. (Beth Walton, “Volunteer Rates Hit Record Numbers,”
USA Today,
July 7, 2006, nat. ed., p. 1a.) This year, I introduced legislation to create and fund a U.S. Public Service Academy modeled after the nation's military service academies. The school would provide an education to 5,000 undergraduates, and graduates would be required to work five years in public service.

 

It may be that women will achieve
: A Radcliffe survey conducted in 2000 found that more than 70 percent of men under forty said they would give up pay to spend more time with their families, and 82 percent said family comes first. (Radcliffe Public Policy Center,
Life's Work: Generational Attitudes Toward Work and Life Integration,
2000.) According to new research by Professor Suzanne Bianchi for the Russell Sage Foundation, the time married fathers spend on child care had more than doubled since 1965, from 2.6 hours a week to 6.5 hours. (Robert Pear, "Married and Single Parents Spending More Time With Children, Study Finds,"
New York Times,
October 17, 2006.)

 

Child care facilities for infants and toddlers:
A 2006 study of Quebec's universal child-care system found that children under five in full-time center-based care showed greater rates of aggression, anxiety, and developmental delay. (Michael Baker, Jonathan Gruber, and Kevin Milligan, “Universal Childcare, Maternal Labor Supply, and Family Well-Being,” National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper No. 11832, June 2006). However, studies of Abecedarian and other high-quality, intensive early learning programs have demonstrated dramatic positive results for low-income children. (See Heckman et al. above, in note for p. 50.) Unfortunately, high-quality day care isn't available to everyone—nationally known pediatric specialists T. Berry Brazelton and Stanley Greenspan estimate that only 10 percent of American children had access to truly high-quality day care—and many parents can't afford to stay home to take care of their children. (T. Berry Brazelton and Stanley I. Greenspan,
The Irreducible Needs of Children,
2000, p. xiii, from a 1995 University of Colorado study.) I proposed the Choices in Childcare Act to allow lower-income parents who receive government support for child care to use the subsidies to defray the cost of caring for their young children themselves.

 

Education is fundamental to our country's future
: The standards and accountability movement has grown dramatically over the last decade. The No Child Left Behind Act became law, and it has laid bare the problems in many of our poorest, worst-performing schools. We can no longer say that we didn't know that these schools were failing some of our most vulnerable kids. To improve the quality of education, we need to improve instruction in the classroom. Nationwide, two million teachers will leave teaching over the next decade. New York City already loses 30 percent more math teachers and 22 percent more science teachers than it certifies every year. In 2001, I proposed the National Teacher Corps, which brings teachers into the classroom, and a new initiative that would provide more schools with strong principals. Both became law.

 

Children themselves report:
A 2004 study for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development found that teens who watch a lot of television with sexual content are more likely to initiate intercourse in the following year. This was true for girls and boys, regardless of race. Overexposure to highly sexed television made kids act older—twelve-year-olds behaved like fourteen-year-olds. (Rebecca L. Collins et al., “Watching Sex on Television Predicts Adolescent Initiation of Sexual Behavior,”
Pediatrics, vol.
114 (2004) pp. 280–89.) Another study published in the journal
Pediatrics
showed that boys and girls, across all races and economic groups, who listened to sexually degrading lyrics were more likely to start sexual experimentation sooner. (Steven C. Martino et al., “Exposure to Degrading Versus Nondegrading Music Lyrics and Sexual Behavior,”
Pediatrics,
vol. 118(2006), pp. 430–41.) While this research is critical, there are still more questions about the effects of media on our children, especially young children. I've introduced CAMRA—the Children and Media Research Advancement Act. The bill, which recently passed the Senate, coordinates and funds new federal research on the effects of viewing and using electronic media, including television, computers, video games, and the Internet, on children's cognitive, social, physical, and psychological development.

 

Whether, and under what circumstances, the violence people see on television:
A 2005 study by researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine showed that playing violent video games triggers unusual brain activity among kids who are most vulnerable to aggression and misbehavior. (Vincent P. Matthews et al., “Media Violence Exposure and Frontal Lobe Activation Measured by Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Aggressive and Nonaggressive Adolescents,”
Journal of Computer Assisted Tomography,
vol. 29, no. 9 (2005), pp. 287–92.) Violent video games are getting into the hands of our kids at younger and younger ages. The National Institute on Media and the Family's 2003 study found that 50 percent of boys between the ages of seven and fourteen successfully purchased M-rated video games (games appropriate only for people aged seventeen or older), and an astonishing 87 percent of boys play M-rated games. Furthermore, nearly a quarter of retailers in the study don't even understand the ratings they are supposed to enforce, and only half of the stores train employees in the use of the ratings. (David Walsh, et al., “Eighth Annual MediaWise Video Game Report Card,”
National Institute on Media and the Family,
vol. 8 [December 2003].) Yet, video game makers continue to push the envelope. A year ago, the makers of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, sold a game containing graphic pornography that anyone could unlock with instructions widely available on the Internet. I called attention to these games, and because of the public outrage that followed, they were pulled off store shelves.

 

But spurred on by cultural messages:
James McNeal, the nation's most influential estimator of the size of the children's market, believes that the amount of advertising and marketing dollars directed at children rose more than one hundred times between 1983 and 2004. (Juliet Schor,
Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture,
2005 [paperback], p. 21). Too many kids are getting the message that our worth is measured by what we can buy. A recent national survey found that more than a third of all children aged nine to fourteen would rather spend time buying things than doing almost anything else, more than a third “really like kids that have special games or clothes,” more than half agree that “when you grow up, the more money you have, the happier you are,” and 62 percent say that “the only kind of job I want when I grow up is one that gets me a lot of money.” (Marvin E. Goldberg et al., “Understanding Materialism Among Youth,”
Journal of Consumer Psychology,
vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 278–88.)

 

Even workers' jobs may be sacrificed:
Today, our globalized economy has seen an increase in the number of jobs outsourced to other countries. Goldman Sachs has estimated that 400,000 to 600,000 professional services jobs (or about 2–3 percent of employment in that sector) were offshored in the first years of the decade. (Andrew Tilton, “The ‘Giant Sucking Sound' Is Fading,”
Goldman Sachs US Economics Analyst,
March 19, 2004.) Goldman estimates that another 6 million jobs could be lost over the following ten years. (Andrew Tilton, “Offshoring: Where Have All the Jobs Gone?,”
Goldman Sachs US Economics Analyst,
September 19, 2003.) Former Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Blinder projects that 42 million jobs, or 25–35 percent of all services could be outsourced in the next several decades. (Alan S. Blinder, “Offshoring: The Next Industrial Revolution,”
Foreign Affairs
, March-April 2006.)

 

There are additional actions we can take
: The last minimum-wage increase was in 1996, when Congress and the president raised it to $5.15 an hour. However, the impact of the 1996–97 increase has been eroded by inflation. (Economic Policy Institute,
Minimum Wage: EPI Issue Guide
, August 2006.) Adjusting for inflation, the minimum wage is at its lowest point in fifty years. (Center for Economic and Policy Research,
Federal Minimum Wage at Lowest Point in 50 Years
, June 19, 2006.) While minimum-wage workers have not had a single raise, Congress has given itself $31,600 in pay raises. In the Senate, I've proposed blocking Congress from giving itself another pay raise until it lifts wages for workers.

 

Government has to do its part
: After this book was written, my husband and the Congress not only balanced the budget for the first time in a decade, but began to run federal budget surpluses. In 2000, the Congressional Budget Office projected federal budget surpluses for the foreseeable future. However, after 2000, our federal budget went from record surpluses to record deficits again. In 1996, our national debt was $5.2 trillion; as of September 2006, our national debt has reached $8.4 trillion. (1996 U.S. Treasury, “Historical Debt Outstanding,” 2006,
http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opd.htm
; U.S. Treasury, “The Debt to the Penny and Who Holds It,” 2006,
http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opd.htm.
) Today, every baby born in America starts life with $28,000 of our national debt—a birth tax that is higher than it has ever been in our nation's history. (House Budget Committee, “Your Share of the National Debt, 2006,” extrapolated from the number of households in: Carmen DeNavas-Walt, Bernadette D. Proctor, and Cheryl Hill Lee, U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Reports, P60–231,
Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005,
U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 2006; U.S. Treasury, “The Debt to the Penny and Who Holds It.”)

A&E Network

Abandoned in the Wasteland: Children, Television, and the First Amendment
(Minow and LeMay)

abduction, child

Abecedarian Project abortion

Cairo Document and

teenagers and

Abrahamson, Shirley

accidents:

automobile

household

Addams, Jane

adolescence,
see
teenagers

adoption

child's best interest in

foster care and

interracial

Adoption and Safe Families Act of

advertising

children targeted by

affirmative living

Africa

African Americans

in Abecedarian project

see also
race, racism

aggression

see also
violence

Agriculture Department, U.S.,

Algebra Project

Allen, Jennifer

Allstate

AMBER alerts

American Academy of Pediatrics,

American Bar Association

American Business Collaboration for Quality Dependent Care,

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

American Library Association

American Medical Association

American Psychological

Association

AmeriCorps

AmeriCorps*VISTA (Volunteers in

Service to America)

amygdala

Angelou, Maya

Annenberg Washington Program in

Communications Studies

Anti-Defamation League

“anxious class,”

Apollo, Nicole

Arkansas

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families

Arkansas Children's Hospital

Asian Americans

Asmara, Eritrea

Association of Booksellers for Children

AT&T

Atwater, Lee

Australia

Austria

authoritarian discipline

authoritative discipline

automobile accidents

Avance program

 

Baby Richard case

Baby Safety Shower How-To Kit,

Bangladesh

Bateson, Mary Catherine

Battered Child Syndrome

Beals, Diane

Bebout, Mike

Bebout, Ryan

bedtime rituals

Bell Curve, The
(Murray and Herrnstein)

Belle, Aunt

Ben & Jerry's

Bennett, William

Berger, David

Beth Israel Hospital (Boston),

Big Brothers

Big Sisters

Billings, Mont

Bill Nye, the Science Guy
(TV show)

Bill of Rights

Black History Month

Blinder, Alan

Blythe, William

Blythe, William Jefferson,
see

Clinton, Bill

Boyer, Ernest L

Boy Scouts

Boys Nation

Boys State

“Boy Who Cried Whale, The,”

Brady Bill of

brain

amygdala of

cognitive development and

as computer

emotional development and

neocortex of

synapses of

Brazelton, T. Berry

Breakey, Gail

breast-feeding

Bronfenbrenner, Urie

Brown, Ann

Bumpers, Betty

Burke, James

Bush, George

business

advertising and

child care as concern of

consumer culture of

corporate restructuring of

downsizing of

education and

enlightened practice of

free market system of

government and

inequality of incomes and

modern economy in

outsourcing and

parents and

tobacco industry and

Business Enterprise Trust

 

cable television

Cairo Document

Caldwell, Bettye

Califano, Joseph A., Jr

California

Call to Character, A
(Greer and Kohl)

Camden, N.J

Camel cigarettes

Cameron Gulbransen Kids and

Campfire Boys

Campfire Girls

CAMRA (Children and Media Research Advancement Act)

capitalism

Carnegie Corporation

Carnegie Council on Children

Carter, Rosalynn

Casey Journalism Center

Cassidy, Edith Valeria Grisham

Cassidy, James Eldridge

CBS

Census of

Center for Media and Public Affairs

Center for Substance Abuse Prevention

Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA)

Centers for Disease Control

Chaffee, John H

character building

discipline and,
see
discipline

gratitude and

protectiveness and

rites of passage and

role-playing and

sex education and

substance abuse and

teenagers and

“terrible twos” and

“character education,”

charter schools

Cherry, Diana

Cherry, John

Chevron

Chicago, Ill

Chicago, University of

Chicago Tribune,

child abuse

childbirth and pregnancy,
see
pregnancy and childbirth

child care

affordable

American attitudes toward

business community interest in

choice of

education and

federal role in

in France

for infants and toddlers

need for

as policy issue

quality of

Smart Start initiative and

state regulation of

variety of

workers in

workplace policy and

Child Care Action Campaign

Child Care and Development block grant

Child Development-Community Policing Program

child poverty

“childproofing,”

Children and Media Research

Advancement Act (CAMRA)

Children Now

Children's Defense Fund

logo of

Children's Letters to God

Children's Miracle Network

Children's Television Act of

Children's Television Workshop

Chile, University of

Choices in Childcare Act of

Christian Coalition

Christmas Carol, A
(Dickens)

church, community role of

Churchill, Winston

Citibank

City Year

Civilian Conservation Corps

“civil society,”

Civil War, U.S

Clean Air Act

Clean Water Act

Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland
Plain Dealer

Clinton, Bill:

balanced budget and

campaigning of

Chelsea's independence and

family background of

first term of

Mandela and

in role-playing game with Chelsea

Thanksgiving incident and

Clinton, Chelsea Victoria,

on Asia trip

birth and infancy of

child care for

Clinton marriage commitment and

coconut incident and

“eating phases” of

future of

independence of

on “Life insurance,”

play activities of

as politician's child

reading to

religious commitment of

“shovels” given to

Clinton, Hillary Rodham:

childhood of

in cookies-and-tea tempest

extended family of

as First Lady

religious background of

as senator

in White House first year

Clinton, Molly

Clinton, Roger

Clinton, Roger, Jr

Clinton, Virginia Kelley

Clinton Global Initiative

cold war

Coles, Robert

Columbia University

Columbus, Ohio

Comer, James
Coming of Age in Samoa
(Mead)

Commission on Violence and Youth

Committee on Media in Society

community:

childrearing role of

see also
Village

Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America

community clinic program

Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS)

“community policing,”

Composing a Life
(Bateson)

computers

Congress, U.S

Congressional Budget Office

Congressional Record,

Conroy, Pat

Constitution, U.S

First Amendment of

consumer culture

Consumer Product Safety Commission

contraception

Cook, Philip J

Cooper, Gary

Coopers Poynt

Cornell University

Corporation for National Service

crime:

grassroots approach to

gun control and

prevention of

violent

cummings, e. e

 

Damon, William

Darby, James, Jr

David (childhood friend)

Dawson, Geraldine

Delany, A. Elizabeth (Bessie)

Delany, Sarah (Sadie)

DeLoitte & Touche

Denmark

Des Moines, Iowa

diabetes

Dickens, Charles

Direct Student Loan program

discipline

education and

of gratitude

role-playing and

sex education and

substance abuse and

as “teaching,”

teens and

“terrible twos” and

Discovery channel

Disney channel

divorce

absence of father and

children affected by

“cooling off” period and

Friend of the Court system and

marriage preservation vs

no-fault

as public health issue

public nature of

domestic violence

downsizing

dress codes

Dr. José Fabella Memorial Hospital

drugs