Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize winning economist , calls our nation “a beacon of failure,”
“The U.S., with its cherished image as a land of opportunity, should be an inspiring example of just and enlightened treatment of children. Instead, it is a beacon of failure,”
“Though an average American childhood may not be the worst in the world, the disparity between the country’s wealth and the condition of its children is unparalleled.”
Our childhood poverty rate is 19.9 percent, the highest among all developed countries, except Romania.
President Johnson’s “War On Poverty” offered hope; however the Republican Calvinist approach, “helping” the poor would only reinforce poverty, prevailed.
The Biden initiative, the American Rescue Plan reverses half a century of ignoring the “truly disadvantaged” and offers hope for abandoned Americans.
Nick Kristoff in the New York Times writes,
Today one of our saddest statistics is this: American children ages 1 to 19 CONTINUE READING: Is Canceling “High Stakes Testing” More Important than Halving Childhood Poverty? | Ed In The Apple