75% of U.S. Children are Ineligible for Military Service, Reasons Ranging from Health, Drugs, Criminal Records & Lack of Education. 23% fail Basic Entrance Exams Into U.S. Military; 73% of blacks, 53% of Hispanics and 29% of white children are born OUT of Wedlock!
By Marc Chamot
We’re losing our KIDS! It’s American Nightmares that won’t go away; this country is deteriorating right in front of our EYES folks. It's NOT all teachers' fault, it's TIME we get tougher with inept parents, they've got to take some responsibilities for their kids and for this disaster.
According to recent USA Today’s editorials, unwed births keep climbing, and the kids are not all right
“What's the matter with kids today? A great deal more than you might realize.
One-third is overweight or obese. Nearly a third drop out or can't finish high school in four years. All told, 75% are in such a poor state that they are ineligible for military service for reasons ranging from health to drugs to criminal records to lack of education.
Last month came bad news about the rest: 23% of those who try to enlist fail the basic entrance exam.
Dismayed military leaders and education reformers are quick to blame failing schools, and they're right. But there's a deeper issue in play as well — one that gets far too little attention.
In 2009, 41% of children born in the USA were born to unmarried mothers (up from 5% a half-century ago). That includes 73% of non-Hispanic black children, 53% of Hispanic children and 29% of non-Hispanic white children. Those are not misprints.
Some children of unmarried parents, of course, turn out just fine, particularly if the parents are economically secure or in committed, long-term relationships, or if the single parent is particularly strong and motivated. And as married parents will tell you, wedlock does not guarantee untroubled kids.
Even so, evidence is overwhelming that children of single mothers — particularly teen mothers — suffer disproportionately high poverty rates, impaired development and low school performance.
A long-term study by researchers from Princeton and Columbia universities who've followed the lives of 5,000 children, born to married and never-married mothers in 20 urban centers, is the latest to reach that conclusion, and it sheds light on the reasons.
A large majority of the never-married mothers had close relationships with a partner when their child was born. But by the time the child was 5, most of the fathers were gone and the child had little contact with him. As many of the mothers went on to new relationships, the children were hampered by repeated transitions that did more harm to their development.
These "fragile families" are not a new phenomenon. In 1965, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, then a Labor Department official and later a prominent senator, rang alarm bells when unmarried births in the black community were nearing 24%. (The rate among white mothers was about 3% then.) But his paper on the subject ignited a furor, particularly among fellow liberals and civil rights leaders, who charged him with racism and blaming the victim.
Today, the 1965 numbers look quaint. Yet despite the soaring statistics, the problem never gets the profile it deserves.
Many on the right focus on marriage as the answer, and surely that is a big part of it. Single-parent success stories aside, reduced commitment is no virtue. On the left, the tendency is to see poverty as the villain, and just as surely, fighting its causes is also part of the answer. So is improving schools.
But so far, no one's answers seem to be working. Even as school programs have cut into teen pregnancy rates, more babies are being born to unmarried women in their 20s. In 2009, for the first time since the Census began tallying marriages, the proportion of never-married Americans ages 25 through 34 exceeded those who had been married.
There are no easy ways to reverse these trends. Anything that promotes stability in children's lives can help. But this much is clear: When 41% of babies born in the USA have unwed parents and most children reach adulthood with serious problems, more attention must be paid.”
“Sad, but true: Most young adults in the U.S. cannot qualify for military service, and one major reason lies with our troubled educational system.
Approximately three of every ten high school students fail to graduate on time with a diploma, according to the latest research cited by Education Week. Even more alarming, a recent Education Trust report shows that among high school graduates, 23% seeking to enlist cannot pass the military's basic exam for reading, math and problem-solving.
While there are other disqualifying factors for military service — such as being overweight or having a criminal record — a poor education could be the biggest obstacle of them all.
From a national security perspective, the situation is so serious that nearly 200 retired generals and admirals are calling on Congress to consider major educational reform, with a special emphasis on increased investments in high-quality early education.
Why early education? Because research shows that these high-quality programs are the most cost-effective way to provide children with the skills they need to succeed in school and later in life. Getting a positive, early start can help at-risk kids, many from single-parent households, overcome obstacles such as high dropout rates and teenage pregnancies.
Two examples:
•A continuing long-term University of North Carolina study, started in 1972, found that at-risk children who participated in an early education program were two-and-a-half times more likely to be attending a four-year college at age 21 than those who did not participate.
•A similar study by the HighScope Educational Research Foundation found that at-risk children in a Michigan preschool program were 44% more likely to graduate from high school than those not attending. Every dollar invested produced up to $16 in savings over the long term, largely from lower corrections costs and savings in education.
In taking up education reform, Congress should support a shift away from the traditional K-through-12 approach toward a system that incorporates high-quality early learning so children are ready to learn when they enter kindergarten.
Otherwise, our dropout crisis could well become a national security crisis.”
1 comments:
Hey great report Marc Chamot, this one really hits home. I am one of many displaced uneducated Americans coming from a broken home. I notice that I have a hard time concentrating in class and that I have trouble retaining what I read. The sad part is I have two children 18 and 26 out of wed lock myself . I don't know were the oldest one is and the younger one has a two year old baby out of wed-lock and in her fifth year of high-school, and wouldn't piss on me if my guts was on fire.
So you can clearly see that I am part of this American tradgedy, and the legacy still lives on. I only hope and wish my grand-baby breaks the cycle of this national tradgedy.
theogjaybird
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