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Why Our Children Are at Risk
| Article
# : |
20688 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
Date : |
9 / 1992 |
2,139 Words |
| Author
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Wade F. Horn
Wade F. Horn is an affiliate scholar of the Institute for
American Values in New York City. He lives in Gaithersburg,
Maryland. |
We were all appalled by the scenes on our television sets of the mayhem, wanton destruction, and utter lawlessness that took place during the recent rioting in Los Angeles. We all realize that the trial verdict was not the cause of these riots--it was the occasion. The causes lie much deeper: in the poverty, in the drugs, in the breakdown of the nuclear family, in the sense of helplessness and in the lack of purpose that many in our inner cities feel. And it would be easy to conclude, after witnessing the weeklong television coverage of the violence and unrest in Los Angeles, that our nation is at war with itself and that our nation's children are in jeopardy.
But such a conclusion would not only be alarmist, it would be untrue. The fact is that most American children are doing quite well.
At least that is a major finding of the National Commission on Children, on which I served as a member. It concluded that "most American children are healthy, happy, and secure. They belong to warm, loving families. For them, life is filled with the joys of childhood--growing, exploring, learning, and dreaming--and tomorrow is full of hope and promise."
There are, nevertheless, too many children--not all, not most, but certainly too many--who are at risk, whose chances for success are seriously endangered. We know, for example, that every day:
·2,500 children are born out of wedlock;
·700 low birth weight babies are born;
·1,35,000 children bring a gun to school;
·7,700 teenagers become sexually active;
·1,100 teenagers have abortions;
·600 teenagers get syphilis or gonorrhea; and
·6 teenagers commit suicide.
After acknowledging that some children are, indeed, at risk of poor developmental outcomes, we must then ask why.
Some factors that place children at risk are clearly beyond the
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