Our Kids

The gap between the children of poor parents and the children of well off parents is widening.  This is the subject of the mostly bad news found in Robert Putnam’s latest book Our Kids. Putnam believes this gap has widened significantly since he grew up in the fifties.  A review in the New York Times summarizes his message:

A majority of rich kids still grow up with two parents. For poor kids that’s increasingly rare. Rich kids get almost 50 percent more nurturing time from their parents, when there used to be no class difference. Rich kids have a growing edge in access to good day care. The children of less ­educated parents “are increasingly entering the world as an unplanned surprise.”

Rich kids don’t just go to better schools. They have a growing edge in access to extracurricular activities — in part because many schools now charge to play sports. Rich families have always outspent the poor on activities like camp, but the spending gap has tripled. Rich and poor kids used to attend church at comparable rates. Now “this class gap, too, is growing.”

Putnam presents lots of statistics and studies, and he combines these with stories of real people.  Often, he compares an example from a poor family with a more well-off family.  Both the examples and the statistics are alarming.  He offers some reasons for this increasing gap and the final chapter suggests changes that may help though he says, “The problem is not simple, and it does not have a simple solution….My suggestions here are based on the best evidence currently available…We should look for cost-effectiveness…We must pursue a strategy of trial and error, learning from practical experience what works where."

This is a painful book, but I would like to see it read by many, especially people in positions to make changes.  My first action, after this review, is to suggest to my senators, my representative, and my mayor, that they read the book.  Because, as Putnam says, “…causal links and future projections remain uncertain, but…if we wait for perfect clarity, it will be too late.”