The ancient African proverb “It takes a village to raise a child”, seems to be one of the most political and controversial issues in our modern world. In reading the article “It takes a village” by Hilary Rodham Clinton, I have fathomed how significant a prosperous society plays in well rounding the lives of our children. And also how intimate this topic occurs to be for others. In this essay I will provide evidence to coincide with my credence.
After much research on this topic I have learned there are numerous people who disagree with this aphorism. Many protest that attributing villages to aiding in raising children are credulous, when in fact children are raised by their own families. I have read several blogs from infuriated parents, who believe this mantra is a rhetoric way to imply that all families are incapable of taking care of their own children. Some parents fault caregivers, who are incapable of properly providing for their children to subjecting their families to institutionalized children. They believe even defining the word “community” is challenging, and believing in this statement is abdicating our freedom to parent our own children.
On April 8, 2014, a Tulane University professor and MSNBC host, Melissa Harris-Perry, advertised an ad called “Lean Forward.” In the promotional advertisement Professor Harris-Perry, said “We have never invested as much in public education as we should have because we’ve always had kind of a private notion of children. Your kid is your and totally your responsibility. We haven’t had a very collective notion of “These are our children.” So part of it is we have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents or kids belong to their families and recognize t...
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..., each person provides a child with knowledge, understanding and compassion. These are crucial influences for our children to succeed.
Works Cited
said “We have never invested as much in public education as we should have because we’ve always had kind of a private notion of children. Your kid is your and totally your responsibility. We haven’t had a very collective notion of “These are our children.” So part of it is we have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents or kids belong to their families and recognize that kids belong to whole communities. Once it’s everyone’s responsibility and not just the households, then we start making better investments.” After this ad aired it drew a lot of attention from critics and even earned notice from Sarah Palin, who commented “Apparently MSNBC doesn’t think your children belong to you.
The concerned camp believes that families are in decline due to the rapid changes that have happened in the past 25 years. Unprecedented levels of divorce, people having babies while not married, and also teenagers having babies have hurt families and quite possibly led into hunger. The concerned camp also believes that families have the most influence on the character and competence of children and adults (Bronfenbrenner, 1986). The concerned camp values parental commitment, marital fidelity, individual responsibility, and civic participation. They also believe that individualism overshadows or threatens these values. The concerned camp believes happiness is due to relatedness to others, investments in family, and commitments to the community. Evidence that supports the concerned camp is that many Americans are very concerned about the state of families and the well-being of children. They also believe that it is very important to be concerned about how the next generation is raised because they will be the future parents, workers, and citizens. They believe that our prosperity depends on investing in childrearing. In addition, the concerned camp...
To accomplish this, CDGM employed these student’s parents, which simultaneously provided economic opportunity and parental involvement. According to Sanders, employing parents fostered two results. She writes, “[first], parental involvement helped to build trust and respect between children and their families. Second, Head Start employment helped many parents to work their way out of poverty, ensuring that their children had brighter futures,” (2016, p. 37). In having a clear vision of what “good education” is and what the results of a “good education” should be, CDGM was able to expand their conception of what school can and should address.
When elementary school lunch room staffer Stacy Koltiska was forced to throw away a young boy’s lunch because he had a negative balance, she said she would never forget the look in the little boy’s eyes, and resigned from her job out of a moral obligation. Koltiska commented: ““There’s enough wealth in this world that no child should go hungry, especially in school. To me this is just wrong.” While many of us in this classroom may never have experienced being denied a school lunch, less fortunate students nationwide have, for a reason they had no control over. With national legislation being passed titled the ‘No Child Left Behind Act’ and the ‘Every Student Succeeds Act’, it’s easy to see the hypocrisy in simultaneously holding the ideas that,
...ames society. Shifting the responsibility of our children's upbringing and their future for lack of parental accountability is inexcusable. We need to take responsibility for the decisions in our lives and the lives of our children. "To thine own self be true".
Cox, a professional writer for the CQ Researcher, compiles information for and against homeschooling and its impact on fundamental American values. Her argument condemns homeschooling for threatening the American public school system. Cox states that public education is what enables democracy to work well as it levels the playing field allowing all both rich and poor opportunity to acquire an education. She also combats studies that show that home schooled parents are more likely to be involved in civic affairs with a conclusion from the Education Department that says, “We have reason to believe that the organizations and practices involved in private and home schooling, in themselves, tend to foster public participation in civic affairs” showing that there is not conclusive evidence that just home schooled parents are more involved. Cox addresses the fact that many parents are realizing the importance of their involvement in their children’s education, and that, “public education [is] the great equalizer in a democracy.” Without public education we cannot be equal. Cox knows that public schools are not perfect, but is an advocate for making them better for the good of
Although our school system is in need of change, the film did not consider the part parental involvement plays in education, a drawback of the film. Education spending in our country has more than doubled in recent decades, but children in most states have proficiency rates of only 20 or 30 percent in math and reading (Weber 6). One must wonder if, with all of this extra spending and consistently low test scores, the problem goes beyond the school system and into American families. After all, even with small class sizes, the amount of one-on-one attention is limited for each student. Isn’t it up to parents to push their children to succeed? Amy Chua, author of the book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother uses an almost militant form of parenting which – though highly controversial – demands nothing short of excellence from her children. While other children were allowed to ride their bikes or play video games with their friends, Chua demanded that her seven-year-old daughter practice t...
most affected by poverty are the future of this country, the children. “Young children are the
According to the Children's Defense Fund, 13.5 million children living in America today are poor, and 5.8 million of them are living in extreme poverty, with incomes below half the poverty line. The issues related to poverty -- from substandard housing and malnutrition, to inadequate health and child care services, to severe emotional stress and violence -- are complex and interconnected. Therefore, attempting to understand the problem and propose possible solutions appears to be an overwhelming task. Garbarino effectively provides a lens through which to view the social forces affecting childhood development. Aletha Huston, on the other hand, in her book Children in Poverty: Child Development and Public Policy, proposes a "child-centered" analysis, which focuses on the child's healthy development as "a goal in its own right," rather than as part of a larger social-economic context.
Thesis: We were all born into a place with income inequality, but we have the power to make sure our children aren't.
Horowitz article “Child Development and the PITS: Simple Questions, Complex Answers, and Developmental Theory” speaks about the expressed and unexpressed needs of parents, caregivers, and teachers to come across data and/or answers that demonstrate that there is a single-variable responsibility for developmental outcomes. As a result of such needs, the media overgeneralizes, exaggerates, and popularizes messages and advices. However, messages that encourage single-variable responsibility influence “good enough” advice and “seemingly” scientific rationale for the failure to educate. The message that Horowitz attempts to convey through this article is to counteract the idea of simple questions resulting in simple answers. She states “if we accept as a challenge the need to act with social responsibility then we must make sure that we do not use singe-variable words…as to give the impression that they constitute the simple answers to the simple questions asked by the Person in the Street lest we contribute to belief systems, that will inform social policies that seek to limit experience and opportunity and, ultimately, development” (Horowitz, 2000, p. 8). Horowitz message is that the greater the scientific data the obligation is to then integrate theoretical complexities; “a depiction of the constitutional, social, cultural, and economic sources of influence on development with respect to the nature of experience and in relation to the circumstan...
Children need structure. It is a parent’s job to instill structure and rules in their child. Although we need to raise independent children, the life skills taught to children are more important than any style of parenting. Teaching children unconditional love, time management and the proper attitudes, and skills, children grow up confident and feel loved.
...and self-regulation. Possibly the most important thing we can do is act as resources for the children. We have to try to ensure the success of the child and thus shape the future of mankind.
Another example of negative societal influence is shown through institutional discrimination when school administrators push a very bright student out of school due to her pregnancy, so that she can attend a “parenting school” to learn about baby care. This discrimination is performed with the justification of being best for all students with the assertion that “pregnancy is contagious,” but this effectively creates an environment that lowers their chances of graduating from high school (Smith, 1995).
Successful teachers develop the whole child by making integrated efforts to promote their student’s academic, social and emotional learning. Children need to be aware of themselves and others; make responsible decisions, and be ethical and respectful of the people around them.
I believe that a pediatrician should be an advocate for all children, and an educator who provides anticipatory guidance to help parents enjoy the process of raising thei...