Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Mead Was Right


Margaret Mead said that although the mom's role in child rearing has many biological components, the dad's role is largely social. And if we break that mold, it will be hard to reconstruct. 

We took young pregnant girls out of their neighborhoods, where blacks following WWII were born 75% into two parent families, and put them in high rises to raise their sons and daughters without any dads nearby. They grew up with no gramps, no uncles, and not knowing how to parent as a male. It’s little wonder their resulting behavior resulted in being 35 times more likely to commit violent crime and 75% of black babies born to single moms and sperm donors.



I only quote black numbers because they are the most glaring. I know it’s not just a minority problem.

Another glaring menace is the danger to babies of live in boyfriends who are not their biological father.  As the new lion kills existing cubs in the pride, human males seem dangerous, too. 

Most nations had a more humane 'dole' for families down on their luck. For us, if the dad was out of work and mom secured a place in the Omaha projects in the 1960's, social workers and police during midnight raids chased the cheaters, AKA Dads, out.  At the time it seemed the right thing to do.  LBJ's war on poverty only funded single moms with Aid to Dependent Children and it became a way of life.

We are living with the results now. 

1 comment:

  1. Sociologists thought it prudent to move young single pregnant gals into housing like Cabrini Green. Isn't that enough to disqualify their version of history? Even last year, a social service agency wanted to buy an older apartment complex and fill it with single moms. In places like that, there is no chance of a gramps or an uncle or a wise older relative living with or near the gal to be a parent in the life of the child.
    At one time, it was not uncommon for the grandmother to raise the child as a sibling. It was only AFDC that decided to give them funds independent of the family and produce scores of millions of children who never knew their dad. That, in my opinion, is the crime of the century.

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