TAKING SIDES: Clashing Views in Childhood and Society, Seventh Edition
UNIT 1 Infancy
Issue 1. Is Institutional Child Care Beneficial to Children? YES: Greg Parks, from "The High/Scope Perry Preschool Project," Juvenile Justice Bulletin (October 2000) NO: T. Berry Brazelton and Stanley I. Greenspan, from The Irreducible Needs of Children (Perseus, 2000)
Greg Parks, an intern program specialist at the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, details the results of the Perry Preschool Project. Parks contends that evaluations of the program show significant benefits in adulthood for the children who attended the preschool. Pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton and Stanley I. Greenspan, clinical professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at George Washington University Medical School, question the practice by many families of placing their children into the institutional settings of child-care centers.
Issue 2. Does Maternal Employment Have Negative Effects on Children’s Development? YES: Wen-Jui Han, Jane Waldfogel, and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, from "The Effects of Early Maternal Employment on Later Cognitive and Behavioral Outcomes," Journal of Marriage and Family (February 2001) NO: Thomas M. Vander Ven, Francis T. Cullen, Mark A. Carrozza, and John Paul Wright, from "Home Alone: The Impact of Maternal Employment on Delinquency," Social Problems (May 2001)
University professors and researchers Wen-Jui Han, Jane Waldfogel, and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn from Columbia University conclude that maternal employment in the first year of a child’s life has a significant negative effect on verbal ability at age 3 or 4 and lowered math achievement when children were 7 to 8. When ethnicity was controlled for, these negative effects were found for white children, but not for African-American children. University professors and researchers Thomas M. Vander Ven, Francis T. Cullen, Mark A. Carrozza, and John Paul Wright found that mother’s employment in the first year of the baby’s life had no effect on child delinquency when the child got older.
Issue 3. Should Scientists Be Allowed to Clone Children? YES: Kyla Dunn, from "Cloning Trevor," The Atlantic Monthly (June 2002) NO: Robert A. Weinberg, from "Of Clones and Clowns," The Atlantic Monthly (June 2002)
Kyla Dunn, a former biotech researcher and now a reporter for PBS and CBS, details the six months that she spent with scientists inside the labs of Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), a group openly pursuing human cloning for medical purposes. Dunn outlines what the group hopes to accomplish through cloning, why the group believes that cloning is the best way to accomplish these goals, and the political and monetary trials that ACT faces. Robert A. Weinberg, a member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and a biology professor at MIT, offers his concerns about what he calls the "cloning circus." Weinberg discusses the damage that many cloning groups have been doing to serious research and the impending dangers of reproductive cloning.
Issue 4. Do Federal Laws Make Transracial Adoptions More Commonplace? New! YES: Ezra E. H. Griffith and Rachel L. Bergeron, from "Cultural Stereotypes Die Hard," The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (vol. 34, no. 3, 2006) New! NO: Elizabeth Bartholet, from "Commentary: Cultural Stereotypes Can and Do Die," The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (vol. 34, no. 3, 2006); Diane H. Schetky, from “Commentary: Transracial Adoption—Changing Trends and Attitudes,” The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (vol.34, no. 3, 2006)
Ezra E.H. Griffith and Rachael L. Bergeron, formerly professors at Harvard Law School, suggest that there is a cultural preference for race matching in adoptions. As a result, federal statutory attempts to omit race as a factor in child placement decisions have not been effective. Elizabeth Bartholet, the Morris Wasserstein Professor of Law and faculty director of the Child Advocacy Program at the Harvard Law School, and Diane Schetky, clinical professor of psychiatry at the Maine Medical Center, state that the current law is clear and effective in prohibiting adoptions based on race. They suggest that in the future, the need for legislation in this area will diminish even further.
UNIT 2 Early Childhood
Issue 5. Is Spanking Detrimental to Children? YES: Elizabeth Thompson Gershoff, from "Corporal Punishment by Parents and Associated Child Behaviors and Experiences: A Meta-Analytic and Theoretical Review," Psychological Bulletin (vol. 128, no. 4, 2002) NO: Diana Baumrind, Philip A. Cowan, and Robert E. Larzelere, from "Ordinary Physical Punishment: Is It Harmful? Comment on Gershoff (2002),” Psychological Bulletin (vol. 128, no. 4, 2002)
Columbia University researcher Elizabeth Thompson Gershoff analyzed results from 88 studies and concluded that corporal punishment negatively affected children’s behavior. Among the 10 negative outcomes were increased child aggression, decreased quality of the parent-child relationship, and increased risk of abusing a child or spouse in adulthood. Diana Baumrind and Philip A. Cowan, researchers from the University of California-Berkeley, and Robert E. Larzelere, from the Nebraska Medical Center, refuted Gershoff’s findings by questioning her definition of corporal punishment and analysis techniques of the 88 studies. They feel mild spankings, when appropriately administered, are useful in shaping children’s behavior.
Issue 6. Are Fathers Really Necessary? YES: W. J. Doherty, Edward F. Kouneski, and Martha F. Erickson, from "Responsible Fathering: An Overview and Conceptual Framework," Journal of Marriage and the Family (May 1998) NO: Alexis J. Walker and Lori A. McGraw, from "Who Is Responsible for Responsible Fathering?" Journal of Marriage and the Family (May 2000)
Professor of family social science W. J. Doherty, psychologist Edward F. Kouneski, and Martha F. Erickson, director of the University of Minnesota’s Children, Youth and Family Consortium, explore the contextual influences on fathering and conclude that a quality marriage in the optimal context promotes responsible fathering. Professor of human development and family sciences Alexis J. Walker and Lori A. McGraw, 4-H program coordinator at Oregon State University, contend that there is no empirical evidence that children need active fathers in their lives.
Issue 7. Does Divorce Create Long-Term Negative Effects for Children? New! YES: Judith Wallerstein, Julia Lewis, and Sandra Blakeslee, from The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce (Hyperion, 2000) New! NO: E. Mavis Hetherington and John Kelly, from For Better or for Worse: Divorce Reconsidered (W. W. Norton, 2002)
Judith Wallerstein, Julia Lewis, and Sandra Blakeslee, authors of a long-term study on children of divorce, contend that children who experienced divorce carried the negative effects of post-divorce life into their adulthood. These children of divorce have difficulty developing trusting and intimate relationships with marriage partners. E. Mavis Hetherington, long-time researcher on children and divorce, and co-author John Kelly assert that children of divorce are mostly happy as adults. Although these children experienced unhappiness, they are able to develop normally and have successfully completed the tasks of young adulthood.
Issue 8. Is Viewing Television Violence Harmful for Children? New! YES: L. Rowell Huesmann, Jessica Moise-Titus, Cheryl-Lynn Podolski, and Leonard D. Eron, from "Longitudinal Relations between Children's Exposure to TV Violence and Their Aggressive and Violent Behavior in Young Adulthood," Developmental Psychology (March 2003) NO: Jib Fowles, from "The Whipping Boy," Reason (March 2001)
L. Rowell Huesmann, Jessica Moise-Titus, Cheryl-Lynn Podolski, and Leonard D. Eron, from the Research Center for Group Dynamics, Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, found that both males and females are more likely to develop violent behavior in adulthood as a result of watching violent TV shows in early childhood. Jib Fowles, a professor of communication at the University of Houston, asserts that although television violence has increased steadily, the violent crime rate has in fact decreased.
UNIT 3 Middle Childhood
Issue 9. Does Marriage Improve Living Standards for Children? YES: Wade F. Horn, from "Healthy Marriages Provide Numerous Benefits to Adults, Children, and Society," Insight on the News (March 18, 2002) NO: Stephanie Coontz and Nancy Folbre, from "Marriage, Poverty, and Public Policy: A Discussion Paper," The American Prospect Online http://www.prospect.org/webfeatures/2002/03/coontz-s-03-19.html (March 19, 2002)
Wade F. Horn, who heads the Marriage Initiative for President George W. Bush, asserts that marriage can remedy the ills of society, including family poverty and poor living standards for children. Stephanie Coontz, author and family advocate, and Nancy Folbre, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, contend that improving the living standards of children is a complicated issue, which needs to be approached from many different angles in order to make improvements.
Issue 10. Are Stepfamilies Inherently Problematic for Children? YES: David Popenoe, from "The Evolution of Marriage and the Problem of Stepfamilies," in Alan Booth and Judy Dunn, eds., Stepfamilies: Who Benefits? Who Does Not? (Lawrence Erlbaum, 1994) NO: Lawrence A. Kurdek, from "Remarriages and Stepfamilies Are Not Inherently Problematic," in Alan Booth and Judy Dunn eds., Stepfamilies: Who Benefits? Who Does Not? (Lawrence Erlbaum, 1994)
Professor of sociology David Popenoe contends that children from single-parent families and stepfamilies are more likely to have emotional problems and health problems and to do poorly in school than children from intact families with two biological parents. Psychologist Lawrence A. Kurdek maintains that multiple-divorce families, not stepfamilies, differ from two-parent families and that stepfamilies are not inherently problematic for children.
Issue 11. Is Television Viewing Responsible for the Rise in Childhood Obesity? YES: The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, from "The Role of Media in Childhood Obesity," Issue Brief (February 2004) NO: Center for Science in the Public Interest, from "Dispensing Junk: How School Vending Undermines Efforts to Feed Children Well," Report from Center for Science in the Public Interest (May 2004)
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a private non-profit foundation focusing on major health care issues facing the nation, cites research studies that show that the more children watch television, the more likely they will be overweight. They also contend that the rise in childhood obesity can be traced to the increased use of media. The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy organization on nutrition and health, views the high-calorie, non-nutritious foods found in school vending machines as the culprit in the rise in childhood obesity rates.
Issue 12. Do Bilingual Education Programs Help Non-English-Speaking Children Succeed? YES: Stephen Krashen, from "Bilingual Education: Arguments for and (Bogus) Arguments Against," in James E. Alatis and Ai-Hui Tan, eds., Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics 1999 (Georgetown University Press, 2001) NO: Rosalie Pedalino Porter, from "The Case Against Bilingual Education," The Atlantic Monthly (May 1998)
Stephen Krashen, professor of education at the University of Southern California, contends that good bilingual education programs provide background knowledge of subject matter and literacy in the child’s native language. Then, the program provides English input using English as a second language technique along with sheltered subject matter teaching in English. Krashen argues against assertions that immersion is more successful than bilingual education. Rosalie Pedalino Porter, director for the Institute for Research in English Acquisition and Development (READ), states that bilingual education is a failed endeavor. Porter cites drop-out rates and parental sentiment as evidence as to why bilingual education should be discontinued.
Issue 13. Is Gay Adoption and Foster Parenting Healthy for Children? YES: National Adoption Information Clearinghouse, from "Gay and Lesbian Adoptive Parents: Resources for Professionals and Parents," Adoption Information Clearinghouse (April 2000) NO: Paul Cameron, from "Gay Foster Parents More Apt to Molest," Journal of the Family Research Institute (November 2002)
The National Adoption Information Clearinghouse (NAIC) presents facts regarding gay and lesbian adoptive parents. The NAIC gives current information on the background and laws regarding homosexual parenting, and confronts the issues and concerns many people have regarding homosexual adoption, including the idea that children are molested by homosexual parents. Dr. Paul Cameron, of the Family Research Institute, presents his case against allowing homosexuals to become parents—foster parents in particular. He mainly discusses case study information regarding the proclivity for homosexual parents to molest foster children.
Issue 14. Should the HPV Vaccination Be Mandatory for Girls in Later Childhood? New! YES: Cynthia Dailard, from "Achieving Universal Vaccination against Cervical Cancer in the United States," Guttmacher Policy Review (Fall 2006) NO: Roni Rabin, from "A New Vaccine for Girls, but Should It Be Compulsory?" The New York Times (July 18, 2006)
Cynthia Dailard, a senior public policy associate for the Alan Guttmacher Institute, suggests that the HPV vaccine be administered to females as a school entry requirement. She believes the vaccine is safe and effective and therefore should be universally administered to young girls. The best way to ensure the vaccine is available to these girls is by enacting state laws or policies requiring children to be vaccinated before school or day care enrollment. Roni Rabin, a columnist for The New York Times, objects to making the HPV vaccine mandatory for girls. She agrees that the vaccine is a significant development for the health and safety of our children. However, she does not believe every girl should be required to be vaccinated because the vaccine is costly and can be managed through current, less costly procedures such as Pap smears.
UNIT 4 Adolescence
Issue 15. Should Children Who Are at Risk for Abuse Remain with Their Families? YES: Lisa Kolb, from "Family Preservation in Missouri," Public Welfare (Spring 1993) NO: Mary-Lou Weisman, from "When Parents Are Not in the Best Interests of the Child," The Atlantic Monthly (July 1994)
Lisa Kolb, a public information specialist, asserts that the family preservation model is the best way to help families in crisis. Family preservation keeps all the family members together in the home while helping the family solve its problems. Freelance writer Mary-Lou Weisman argues that orphanages and out-of-home placements are necessary for children whose parents abuse or neglect them. She maintains that society has an obligation to take children away from parents who are doing serious harm to them and that some children have their only real family experience when living in an institutional setting.
Issue 16. Is Abstinence-Only Sex Education the Best Way to Teach about Sex? New! YES: Robert Rector, Melissa G. Pardue, and Shannan Martin, from "What Do Parents Want Taught in Sex Education Programs?" Backgrounder (January 28, 2004) NO: Advocates for Youth and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, from “Toward a Sexually Healthy America," SIECUS (2001)
Robert Rector, who is a research fellow for the Heritage Foundation, and Melissa G. Pardue and Shannan Martin, policy analysts for the Heritage Foundation, argue that comprehensive sex education approaches are misleading because they do little to promote abstinence. Under the auspices of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative organization based in Washington, D.C., they present the results of a poll they conducted that sought to measure parental support for ideas taught in “abstinence-only” and “comprehensive sex education” programs. Advocates for Youth and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) promote comprehensive education about sexuality and advocate for the right of individuals to make responsible sexual choices. SIECUS compares abstinence-only sex education to comprehensive sex education and finds shortcomings regarding abstinence-only programs.
Issue 17. Is the Internet a Safe Place for Teens to Explore? New! YES: Michele Fleming and Debra Rickwood, from "Teens in Cyberspace," Youth Studies Australia (vol. 23, no. 3, 2004) New! NO: Chang-Hoan Cho and Hongsik John Cheon, from "Children's Exposure to Negative Internet Content," Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media (December 2005)
Michele Fleming and Debra Rickwood, professors at the University of Canberra in Australia, contend that parents need to be vigilant about their teens surfing the Web, but that it is generally a safe place and that the prevalence of cyberpredators is overstated. Chang-Hoan Cho, assistant professor at the University of Florida, and Hongsik John Cheon, assistant professor at Frostburg State University, believe that the Web can be a dangerous place for teens to explore. They conducted a study that found that children are exposed to more negative Internet content than parents expect. Factors that reduced children’s exposure to negative Internet content included parental interaction and family cohesion.
