Policy aimed at promoting economic opportunity
for poor children must be framed within three
stark realities. First, many poor children come
from families that do not give them the kind of
support that middle-class children get from their
families. Second, as a result, these children enter
kindergarten far behind their more advantaged
peers and, on average, never catch up and even
fall further behind. Third, in addition to the
education deficit, poor children are more likely
to make bad decisions that lead them to drop
out of school, become teen parents, join gangs
and break the law.In addition to the thousands of
local and national programs that aim to help young
people avoid these life-altering problems, we should
figure out more ways to convince young people that
their decisions will greatly influence whether they
avoid poverty and enter the middle class. Let politicians, schoolteachers and administrators, community leaders, ministers and parents drill into children the message
that in a free society, they enter adulthood with three
major responsibilities: at least finish high school, get
a full-time job and wait until age 21 to get married and have children.
Our research shows that of American adults who
followed these three simple rules, only about 2 percent are in poverty and nearly 75 percent have joined the middle
class (defined as earning around $55,000 or more per
year). There are surely influences other than these
principles at play, but following them guides a young
adult away from poverty and toward the middle class.
Consider an example. Today, more than 40 percent of American children, including more than 70 percent of
black children and 50 percent of Hispanic children, are
born outside marriage. This unprecedented rate of
nonmarital births, combined with the nation’s high
divorce rate, means that around half of children will
spend part of their childhood—and for a considerable
number of these all of their childhood — in a
single-parent family. As hard as single parents try to
give their children a healthy home environment, children in female-headed families are four or more times as
likely as children from married-couple families to live in poverty. In turn, poverty is associated with a wide
range of negative outcomes in children, including school dropout and out-of-wedlock births.
It is sometimes said that Americans are turning their
back on the marriage culture. The high divorce rate,
soaring nonmarital birth rate and consequent rise of
single-parent families are certainly weakening marriage as an institution. But look again and discover that
college-educated women have high marriage rates,
low nonmarital birthrates, and low divorce rates.
The marriage culture seems to be alive and well for
those with a college degree. These families usually
not only have enough money to afford good schools
for their children, but they also provide a stable family environment that allows children to flourish.
The recent attacks by Planned Parenthood on Michael Bloomberg, New York City’s mayor, for launching a
campaign designed to inform teenagers of the
consequences of teen pregnancy provides a good
example of how many in our society face the effects of nonmarital births on teen mothers and their children. In one of the campaign posters, a baby with tears rolling down
his face says: “I’m twice as likely not to graduate high
school because you had me as a teen.” Another shows
a girl saying to her mom: “Chances are he won’t stay
with you. What happens to me?” Planned Parenthood criticized the ads, displayed in the subway and bus
shelters, for ignoring racial and economic factors that contribute to teen pregnancy. Other critics say the ads stigmatize teen parents and their children.
Granted, most teen moms are from low-income
families and face a number of barriers to success.
Along comes Bloomberg with a direct message to
get the attention of teenage girls and warn them
not to make their situation worse and to think more
about their future. If the mother wants to improve her
future by continuing her education, being a teenage
parent is precisely the wrong way to do it. As for
blaming the victim, no one is blaming the baby—yet
the baby will also bear long-term consequences.
Teenagers are capable of understanding principles
and of using them to help make decisions. Anyone who delivers messages to teens about the consequences of decisions that could affect them and others for many
years should be praised not criticized.
Bloomberg should next launch a public campaign about
the value of marriage to adults, children and society.
There will be at least as many critics of this message
as the message that young people should avoid teen pregnancy. Good. The bigger the controversy, the more
the media will cover the debate, and the more the
nation will have the opportunity to reflect on what is at stake. I am confident that most Americans will conclude that organizations like Planned Parenthood have it wrong,and Bloomberg has it right.
