|
|
|
| Rebuilding a child-friendly America The Boston Globe, Op-Ed by Lou Casagrande, January 24, 2009 One of the ways the United States can regain the respect of the world is to reaffirm our respect for our children. Over the past 25 years, our reputation as a child-friendly society has continued to decline. From infant mortality to childhood diseases, from school readiness to high school graduation rates, the nation continues to fall in the rankings of the developed nations. Even in developing countries, there is a sense that their children are happier, more cared for, and safer than American children. The ideal American childhood of great schools, wonderful playgrounds, and safe streets has not disappeared, of course. It survives in the privileged communities that ring every American city. And providing a full childhood is the goal of every parent who juggles a weekly schedule of enriching experiences for their children. Yet, it is an undeniable consequence of the growing gap between rich and poor that too many American children live in disadvantaged environments with more stress than amenities. Childhood poverty is defined not only in terms of family income and education, but also by the more insidious fact that their childhood environments - the places where poor kids play and learn - have deteriorated to a level of shameful neglect. To regain world respect, therefore, the nation needs to demonstrate a renewed respect for all children. We need to invest in opportunities for individual children, and in the social and physical infrastructure of American childhood itself. These are not separate agendas as some policy makers think. They are one agenda. Kids cannot see a bright future from a basement day-care center. They cannot feel special in a school that is not special. They cannot feel safe in a park that is not safe. Children take life literally. President Obama has the chance to bring together "the different strands of American society" and leverage growing support for early-childhood initiatives. He wants a Presidential Early Learning Council. He promises $10 billion for new programs, including a quadrupling of the financing for Head Start. He also wants to recruit a new generation of teachers and to mobilize young people in an expanded national service corps. These ideas and commitments will help poor children and create new jobs - a twofer that is needed. But he shouldn't stop with early education. This moment begs for a deeper, more systematic policy that references all aspects of American childhood. Obama needs to be a parent-in-chief. He can advance and integrate policies that connect home, neighborhood, and school. He can make sure children are not treated as clients served by a maze of agencies and bureaucracies. He can spread his arms wide enough to ensure for our children a safer and better world. My hope is that Obama acknowledges the inequities that divide the social and physical worlds of America's children, and that he recognizes that we are all impoverished by such realities. As he further defines this new era of responsibility, he should ask, "How can we rebuild a child-friendly America? How do we together, as parents, educators, architects, business people, and legislators, build a new landscape for our children - a landscape with new 'green' schools that will show our children how to live more lightly on the Earth, with new community centers and clubhouses and gyms where healthier, safer, and smarter children will gain confidence and respect for themselves and others?" Let us improve the environments in which we raise our children, so that we may all be lifted. If an American president once promised to put a man on the moon, why shouldn't we now promise our children the moon, for all the world to see. Lou Casagrande is president and CEO of the Boston Children's Museum. |
 |
©Strategies for Children | Early Education for All. All rights reserved.