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Category: General / Topics: Crime, Justice, Punishment Statistics

Report Cards

by Dan Seagren

Posted: November 14, 2010

If you are like me, I am happy that the era of report cards is in the past…

If you are like me, I am happy that the era of report cards is in the past. They served a purpose no doubt even though they struggled with the curve, pass or fail, A-F and Incomplete.

Every once in awhile, I go through my shrinking library (severely culled since retirement in 1995) looking for antiquated, unnecessary or redundant books. Some I have kept are of no absolute value to anyone but me because I knew the author, or it was an unforgettable book, or some other sentimental excuse for keeping it.

One book caught my attention. A 1994 Simon`& Schuster paperback by the well known William J. Bennett. It's title is long: The Index of Leading Cultural Indicators: Facts and Figures on the State of American Society. Hardly a generation ago but the back cover hinted at Bennett's Report card comparing 1960 with 1995.

Crime increased by 560%
Unmarried pregnant teenagers nearly doubled
Teen suicide up by 200%
Divorce up by 200% and marriage rate at an all-time low.

Here's what Bennett said about the cultural indicators in the American society.

  1. Crime: total amount, violent crime, juvenile crime, punishment and drug use.
  2. Family and children: illegitimate births, single-parent families, marriage, divorce, child poverty, welfare, abortion.
  3. Youth: Pathologies and Behavior: births to unmarried teenagers, unmarried teenage pregnancy and abortion rates, teenage suicide.
  4. Education: performance, spending, and school problems, achievement, spending, public schools.
  5. Popular Cultural and Religion: television, movies, music, church membership.

There was true concern then for teenagers whereby a commission addressed the problem with a report termed Code Blue. In 1940, teachers were asked to identify top problems in America's public schools. Here is what was reported: talking out of turn; chewing gum; making noise; running in the halls; cutting in line; dress code infractions; littering.

The same question was asked in 1990: drug abuse; alcohol abuse; pregnancy; suicide; rape; robbery; assault. If we were to raise the same questions in 2010, what kind of a response would you expect? Better or worse? The same? Totally different responses? Refusals to answer?

Why I kept this book I am not sure except maybe because of the author's reputation. And guess what? Seniors didn't really get graded per se. Were we lucky or what?



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Dan Seagren is an active retiree whose writings reflect his life as a Pastor, author of several books, and service as a Chaplain in a Covenant Retirement Community.

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Posted: November 14, 2010   Accessed 241 times

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