I was recently asked to comment on what I thought the US's top challenges and inequities were. Here are my quick notes on that... this is really only a partial list, but interesting what came to my mind first...
Would be interested to hear what others think belong at the top of these lists...
Challenges:
U.S. losing global competitiveness: children in the US are not matching the academic advances of their international counterparts. Our education program is working on this, but I think that schools are only part of the solution. My personal feeling is that there is a co-occuring crisis of creativity in the US. The US built it's economy based on creative people. However, we've greatly reduced the creative outlets and opportunities for youth. Public dollars are completely gone here.
Adult job-skills/re-education: it doesn't seem like anyone has cracked the nut on re-educating adults to have different (better?) careers. Once you are out of the school system, there is no help for people to improve their chances. Almost no-one works on adult basic ed/literacy. Entire careers are disappearing (natural resource extraction) or are moving to where labor is cheaper (manufacturing, call centers, software development). Once you are behind, you can never catch up.
Growing culture of violence. We live in the most violent country on earth. As a specific example:
Child abuse and neglect. This is a growing epidemic. "epidemic" is a good word, since rigorous studies have show long term negative physical health outcomes, as well as the expected social and mental health deficits. Child abuse is also cyclical - those abused are more likely to abuse others. This leads to a potential geometric growth pattern. [but also could lead to a geometric pattern of decrease if something is done about it]
A failure to understand globalization and what it means for this country. There is great danger in a populace that does not understand the ramifications of globalization. It can result in misdirected anger and resentment; it can lead to aggressive and unhelpful foreign policy positions.
A culture of fear and a return to fundamentalism (speaking broadly, not just religiously [see for example, Carter]). These are coping strategies for people who feel like they lack control over their environment/lives.
Population mobility / lack of community: people move rapidly. Families get separated, so supports are not immediately available in a crisis. More people are spending time in doors. Children are not allowed to play outside. Neighbors no longer see a role for themselves in each others' lives. Lack of support leads to stressed out adults, which leads to abuse, neglect, poor health, depression, loss of work, etc. People living in more and more homogenous communities may be leading to a less tolerant and accepting population, leading to prejudice and bigotry.
No youth 'system' looking out for children/youth: especially for those kids who are struggling, there is no thoughtful, coordinated system to help them. Some of the systems we have probably actually hurt some kids. Resources are being wasted on ineffective solutions, and lost due to duplication of efforts or contradictory efforts by different systems players. Youth are VERY EASILY 'lost between the cracks' - and it is pretty much no one's job to even notice that they've fallen in the crack, much less try to proactively help them out. (there is also specific opportunity for reform inside the systems - child welfare, juv justice, education, substance abuse, etc)
Non-sustainable resource consumption. The US disproportionately consumes resources and contaminates global resources. If 'development' means that other countries consume as much as the US, the world is doomed (See Jared Diamond's Collapse). The US will have to manage it's resources better in the future (and preferably without destroying the environment).
Inequities:
[in random order]
1. access to quality health care (including mental health care)
2. access to quality educational opportunities
3. low-income children's access to caring adults / positive, attentive
role models (the wealthy can basically pay people to pay attention to
their kids)
4. access to hope (a positive vision of the future)
5. economic opportunity/access to capital
Some reasons behind the inequities:
Race-based inequities (sometimes conjoined with class, sometimes not). These are still huge in this country. Examples are disproportional minority confiment (juvenile and adult) and family asset size (the average white family has 20x the assets as the average african american family; lack of assets makes expensive emergencies...eg health problems, car repair, etc. ... catastrophic to family well-being). I believe there are race-based health disparities as well, althogh I'm less familiar with those. Education disparities of course as well.
Cycle of Poverty/intergenerational transfer of poverty: some families seem to get caught in a cycle of long term poverty. We did an analysis in Libraries many years about about communities with persistent poverty in the US. These are places with over 30% (?) of poeople in poverty over 4 consecutive decades. They are primarily rural. The issues of community development here are complex, but solveable with a long-term approach. A great book on this is called Worlds Apart.
Expensive urban environments: People working at minimum (and sometimes median) wage can not afford to live in the cities and communities in which they work.
Debt: we've encouraged many to take on significant debt. This limits future opportunities and access to capital/credit, and perpetuates poverty.
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