Council on Contemporary Families

CCF’s Weekly Media Round-up by Steve Mintz, March 31st, 2016

  1. At the End of Life, Too Few Words
  2. The Sexual Politics of 2016
  3. The rise of the ‘gentleman’s A’ and the GPA arms race
  4. Shut Up About Harvard
  5. The Way We Never Were
  6.  The Growth of Concentrated Poverty Since the Recession, in 3 Infographics
  7. The Way We Never Were
  8. The Death of Jeffrey Pendleton
  9. China to Survey Children Left Behind by Migrant Workers
  10. Colleges Beef Up Bureaucracies to Deal With Sexual Misconduct
  11. Russia Shows What Happens When Terrorists’ Families Are Targeted
  12. The Unsung Success of a Diabetes Prevention Program
  13. The rise of the ‘gentleman’s A’ and the GPA arms race
  14. The Way We Still Never Were: Another Quarter Century of Family Change and Diversity
  15. More Than 500,000 Americans Stand To Lose SNAP Benefits
  16. Human beings have broken the limits of life span. What’s next?
  17. The family values sham: Research shows that most of these ’90s fears were nonsense
  18. Here’s Why Tests Matter
  19. Teenagers Hardest
  20. 2015 was a terrible year for the common working man
  21. Late-Night Work Email: Blessing or Curse?
  22. Contractors and Temps Accounted for All of the Growth in Employment in the Last Decade
  23. Shut Up About Harvard
  24. The Future for Flint’s Children
  25. From ’80s latchkey kid to helicopter parent today

 

  1. At the End of Life, Too Few Words

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/28/opinion/at-the-end-of-life-too-few-words.html

Readers recount their own experiences with family members who died.

 

  1. The Sexual Politics of 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/29/opinion/the-sexual-politics-of-2016.html

Underlying the current political campaign is a contest between two different ideals of masculinity.

 

  1. The rise of the ‘gentleman’s A’ and the GPA arms race

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-rise-of-the-gentlemans-a-and-the-gpa-arms-race/2016/03/28/05c9e966-f522-11e5-9804-537defcc3cf6_story.html?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_opinions

A’s are today the most commonly awarded grades in the U.S.

 

  1. Shut Up About Harvard

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/shut-up-about-harvard/

A focus on elite schools ignores the issues most college students face.

 

  1. The Way We Never Were

https://newrepublic.com/article/132001/way-never

People have been predicting the death of marriage for almost a century.

 

  1.  The Growth of Concentrated Poverty Since the Recession, in 3 Infographics

http://www.citylab.com/housing/2016/03/how-concentrated-poverty-has-risen-since-the-recession-in-3-infographics/475812/?utm_source=nl__link3_033116

A new analysis by the Brookings Institution shows increases in two-thirds of the largest U.S. metros.

 

  1. The Way We Never Were

https://newrepublic.com/article/132001/way-never

For much of the century, traditional “family values” have been more myth than reality.

 

  1. The Death of Jeffrey Pendleton

http://theatlantic.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=ed2d318978b7dc9b30b1f464f&id=cebe150534&e=c2ab0bc489

A homeless man was found dead in a jail cell in Manchester, New Hampshire. What killed him? The criminalization of poverty.

 

  1. China to Survey Children Left Behind by Migrant Workers

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/30/world/asia/china-left-behind-children-survey.html

Researchers say these children often suffer from anxiety and depression in the absence of their parents, and exhibit high rates of juvenile delinquency.

 

  1. Colleges Beef Up Bureaucracies to Deal With Sexual Misconduct

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/30/us/colleges-beef-up-bureaucracies-to-deal-with-sexual-misconduct.html

Campuses are spending millions on lawyers, case workers, advocates and other officials to help negotiate changing ideas and standards of sexual behavior.

 

  1. Russia Shows What Happens When Terrorists’ Families Are Targeted

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/30/world/europe/russia-chechnya-caucasus-terrorists-families.html

This is a tactic that Russia has pursued for decades.

 

  1. The Unsung Success of a Diabetes Prevention Program

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/31/upshot/the-unsung-success-of-a-diabetes-prevention-program.html

Everyone wants a “major breakthrough,” but small-scale research efforts often make the biggest difference in the health of Americans.

 

  1. The rise of the ‘gentleman’s A’ and the GPA arms race

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-rise-of-the-gentlemans-a-and-the-gpa-arms-race/2016/03/28/05c9e966-f522-11e5-9804-537defcc3cf6_story.html?postshare=1381459215004789&tid=ss_tw

These findings raise questions not only about whether the United States has been watering down its educational standards — and hampering the ability of students to compete in the global marketplace in the process. They also lend credence to the perception that campuses leave their students coddled, pampered and unchallenged, awarding them trophies just for showing up.

 

  1. The Way We Still Never Were: Another Quarter Century of Family Change and Diversity

https://contemporaryfamilies.org/they-way-we-still-never-were-brief-report/

 

  1. More Than 500,000 Americans Stand To Lose SNAP Benefits

http://www.citylab.com/politics/2016/03/more-than-500000-americans-stand-to-lose-snap-benefits/475842/?utm_source=nl__link4_033016

On April 1, a federal provision tying food assistance to a work requirement will leave the unemployed poor in a lurch.

 

  1. Human beings have broken the limits of life span. What’s next?

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/future-development/posts/2016/03/23-life-expectancy-extention-koettl

Thanks to modern medicine, human beings are living longer than ever before. But a boundless human life span will require serious adjustments for our aging populations.

 

  1. The family values sham: Research shows that most of these ’90s fears were nonsense

http://www.salon.com/2016/03/30/the_family_values_sham_research_shows_that_most_of_these_90s_fears_were_nonsense/

Remember the hand-wringing about working mothers, super-predators, and the rest? Most of them were just fantasy

 

  1. Here’s Why Tests Matter

http://www.wsj.com/articles/heres-why-tests-matter-1459379670?mod=djemMER

The SAT is especially important. With grade inflation, report cards are basically meaningless.

 

From ’80s latchkey kid to helicopter parent today

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/30/health/the-80s-latchkey-kid-helicopter-parent/index.html

 

  1. Teenagers Hardest

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/29/upshot/schools-are-slow-to-learn-that-sleep-deprivation-hits-teenagers-hardest.html

Younger people need more sleep than adults, and they face antiquated school schedules.

 

  1. 2015 was a terrible year for the common working man

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/03/30/2015-was-a-terrible-year-for-the-common-working-man/?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_headlines

By one measure, last year saw a record-setting rise in wage inequality between men who earn the most and those whose earnings fall somewhere in the middle.

 

  1. Late-Night Work Email: Blessing or Curse?

http://www.wsj.com/articles/late-night-work-email-blessing-or-curse-1459275326?mod=djem10point

Flexible workplace policies now enable more of us to leave the office early, put the kids to bed and log on from home to finish our work. Some celebrate the option as a freedom. For others, it feels like an intrusion on their home life.

 

  1. Contractors and Temps Accounted for All of the Growth in Employment in the Last Decade

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/31/upshot/contractors-and-temps-accounted-for-all-of-the-growth-in-employment-in-the-last-decade.html

One result is that employers have succeeded at shifting much of the burden of providing social insurance onto workers.

 

  1. Shut Up About Harvard

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/shut-up-about-harvard/

It’s college admissions season, which means it’s time once again for the annual flood of stories that badly misrepresent what higher education looks like for most American students — and skew the public debate over everything from student debt to the purpose of college in the process.

 

  1. The Future for Flint’s Children

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/opinion/sunday/the-future-for-flints-children.html

Thousands drank lead-contaminated water and will require long-term medical and educational help.

 

  1. From ’80s latchkey kid to helicopter parent today

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/30/health/the-80s-latchkey-kid-helicopter-parent/index.html

×