advertisement

Rick Holmes: Putting ‘Our Kids,' child poverty on the political agenda

Let's not talk about the presidential campaign, which is devolving into a mudfight that's only likely to get worse. Let's talk about something the candidates would all be talking about, if our politics weren't so weird: Our kids and their kids.

One out of three children in the U.S. lives in poverty, according to UNICEF, which ranks the U.S. 36th out of 41 developed countries. The child poverty rate hit its lowest point in 1969 and has drifted steadily higher since then — and it keeps going up.

In his 2015 Book "Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis," Robert D. Putnam examines the causes and results of that trend through the findings of social scientists and the life stories of young adults and their parents in a half-dozen American communities. In each place he finds a great and growing gap between the prospects of kids born to poor parents and those born to more wealthy ones.

Putnam starts in Port Clinton, Ohio, where he grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, the era of good times that has become a reference point for those who feel America has lost its greatness. New research confirmed his rosy recollections: Back then, Port Clinton was a place where dirt farmers and Main Street business owners went to the same churches, where their kids played on the same teams. Strong community institutions bridged the divide between economic classes, making it possible for the children of poor, uneducated parents to build better lives for themselves and their own children.

Fifty years later, Putnam returned to find a town where the rich are richer, the poor are poorer and they don't cross paths much. The "opportunity gap" has widened, robbing young people of the family and community resources needed for them to improve their lot in life, and the hope for a better future that is at the heart of the American Dream.

Putnam found the same dynamic playing out across the country: in Atlanta, Georgia; Orange County, California; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Bend, Oregon and Waltham, Massachusetts.

The causes are many, and they go well beyond the complaints about foreign trade we hear from the campaign trail: residential segregation based on income; the decline in marriage; more intensive parenting by well-educated adults, coupled with hands-off parenting at the other end of the income ladder; the loss of job opportunities; and the withering of community institutions.

The opportunity gap has widened as a result of some conscious decisions. The tough-on-crime laws enacted in the ‘80s and ‘90s, for instance, led to thousands of kids growing up without a father in their lives. School districts started charging students to participate in sports and extracurricular activities, excluding low-income kids from institutions that traditionally had a leveling effect.

The impact of child poverty is cumulative, with lower expectations and greater social alienation passed from generation to generation. Putnam found a marked difference between the classes in engagement in community affairs and politics, which breeds another vicious cycle: Poor people don't vote or volunteer in political campaigns — let alone donate to candidates — so their voices aren't heard by the elected leaders who could provide the programs and resources to help them improve their lives.

Which brings us back, sadly, to the presidential campaign.

Putnam's book, along with a growing library of research on these issues from various political perspectives, would make a great topic for a presidential debate. But Donald Trump isn't much of a reader, and he shows no signs of having thought through what it was that made America great back in the good old days of the post-WWII boom, let alone what specific programs could help turn things around for America's children.

Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, has thought about it quite a bit. Asked recently by Ezra Klein on his policy-oriented podcast what books she would recommend, Clinton suggested Putnam's "Our Kids." It shows how America has become a place where "winners and losers are pre-ordained at an early age," she said. "That's a book that people should read, right now."

The situation facing America's kids is not hopeless. There are lots of ideas for bridging the opportunity gap, and programs that have shown great promise. I can't help but wonder what could be achieved if, after decades of showering political attention on "job creators," America focused instead on building better lives for our neediest kids.

— Rick Holmes writes for GateHouse Media and the MetroWest Daily News. He can be reached at rholmes@wickedlocal.com. Like him on Facebook at Holmes & Co, and follow him @HolmesAndCo.