CNN has an article about a study done on fatherhood. The low-down: college grads tend to be more involved parents. What this really means is that the better your class position economically, the more likely you are to be more involved with your kids.
There's more in the study, and it doesn't really go into truly qualitative aspects of parenting but a clear line can be drawn between class and parenting. There are probably numerous reasons for this, but the implications are pretty clear to me: get as many people to college as possible. It's good for them, it's good for society, it's good for families.
College improves one's chances of a better income and, thus, better security. Maslow's pyramid works for social units as well as individuals and the higher up they go, the better off we all are. Sending everyone to college won't cure all of society's ills, but it certainly seems to give a booster shot. We really should make public education truly public from pre-k all the way through college.
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Oh dear me. The "S" word. Indeed, I am serious. Deadly serious. The American system is hardly socialistic - at least in the way you mean it. Would that it were. Maybe we would be healthier like our friends to the north:
Study: Americans sicker than Canadians
Co-author calls national health insurance a factor
http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/05/30/healthier.canadians.ap/index.html
In Health, Canada Tops US
Our neighbors to the north live longer and pay less for care.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0223-01.htm
Or Perhaps we would be better educated like most of Europe, and that's just keeping things Western.
But the point of the post was less about providing basic services to the citizens of the country (something which the market fails to do efficiently and justly I might add)and more about how class differences have a very real and dramatic impact on the lives of children and families.
We all have a very real interest in increasing the earning power and well-being of those around us. For the wealthy, basic necessities aren't a question and college is just what you do after prep-school. For the poor and middle class, tuition can be real barrier to entry into higher education.
Even if they can get in, many students are saddled with increasing debt as grants have continued to subside and loans increase. Completely subsidizing higher education would be a significant help to all Americans as money was no longer the gating factor of college entry.
I find it somewhat disheartening that there are people who find the prospect of fully subsidized education problematic, but fully subsidized industry OK (Haliburton, Lockheed Martin, the airline and auto bailouts...the list goes on) It would be a welcome experiment if the US had true socialism instead of the corporate kind it practices today.
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