Photo: Sema Babacan
Peaktalk’s Pieter Dorsman spends two interesting posts on a UNICEF report ‘considering children’s well being in 21 industrial nations.’ In which countries are children best off? In what countries are children very happy and in what countries are they unhappy? Good news for the Netherlands and Sweden:
1. Netherlands 2. Sweden 3. Denmark 4. Finland 5. Spain 6. Switzerland 7. Norway 8. Italy 9. Republic of Ireland 10. Belgium 11. Germany 12. Canada 13. Greece 14. Poland 15. Czech Republic 16. France 17. Portugal 18. Austria 19. Hungary 20. United States 21. United Kingdom
That’s right. Children are best off, according to this UNICEF report, in the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark and worst off in the United States and the United Kingdom.
So… what causes British children to be so unhappy? From the BBC article linked to above:
Professor Jonathan Bradshaw, from York University, one of the report’s authors, put the UK’s poor ratings down to long term under-investment and a “dog-eat-dog” society.
“In a society which is very unequal, with high levels of poverty, it leads on to what children think about themselves and their lives. That’s really what’s at the heart of this,” he said.
The Telegraph tries to connect the dods as well:
It says there is statistical evidence to link growing up in single-parent families and step-families with a greater risk of dropping out of school, leaving home early, poorer health, low skills, and low pay.
The Brits aren’t exactly happy that their children are so unhappy, and decide that it’s time for action:
Drawing on 40 separate indicators, it attempts to measure and compare child well-being in six areas: material well-being, health and safety, education, peer and family relationships, behaviours and risks, and young people’s own subjective sense of well-being. Bob Reitemeier, the chief executive of The Children’s Society, a charity, said today: “We cannot ignore these shocking findings. Unicef’s report is a wake-up call to the fact that, despite being a rich country, the UK is failing children and young people in a number of crucial ways.”
Anastasia de Waal, the head of family and education at the think-tank Civitas, said: “That we rank so poorly as a rich welfare state is an indictment of Government policy. Underlying our poor record are serious social problems that New Labour isn’t addressing.”
Prof Sir Albert Aynsley-Green, the Children’s Commissioner for England, said: “The findings are disheartening but not surprising as they echo what children tell me on a daily basis.”
The shadow chancellor, George Osborne, said: “This report tells the truth about Gordon’s Brown’s Britain.”
Brown cannot possibly be a happy camper right now.
In his second post about the UNICEF report, Pieter links to this post by Ingrid Robeyns at Crooked Timber.
Although the UNICEF report confirms Ingrid’s own thoughts on this subject, she has two concerns:
First, Dutch children may be happy at schools, but what do they learn? In the UNICEF-study, the percentage of children who report “liking school a lot� is 34.4%, with only Norway (38.9%) and Austria (36,1%) doing better. Of course, the more children like going to school, the better – but schools should not be organised in such a way as to make it as fun as possible for students. This view that children can be considered to be autonomous and should have a good time, has only been reinforced by educational reforms in the last decades which have propagated the so-called “New Learning�, whereby children have been given more autonomy in deciding what to learn, and in learning to collect information and present information and opinions, rather than actually learning knowledge. Are French and German too difficult? Then why bother learning it, no-one forces you to do so. Why study history or geography if you can find all information in Wikipedia? In the Dutch debate, there is a consensus emerging that the educational reforms and this ‘New Learning’ have done more harm than good, and that children are increasingly lacking sufficient knowledge and skills in mathematics, sciences, and writing skills. In short, I think that these anti-hierarchical views on children’s education, whereby children are seen as equals to their parents and teachers, have harmed the children educational capital in the long run.
Second, the BBC reports Vangeert saying that “Dutch children almost rule the family.â€? This is not just in terms of voicing their will, but also in the time that they claim from their parents – that is, mainly their mothers. The Dutch child-centered culture puts enormous demands on parents (read: mothers). 93% of the Dutch population finds that the ideal working week of mothers with pre-school children is three days or less, whereas 84% finds that fathers should ideally work 4 or 5 days (Emancipatiemonitor 2006, p. 124). Parents (read: especially mothers) are expected to be actively involved in the schools of their kids, and good mothers bake the birthday cakes of their kids themselves. The fact that the rights of part-time workers are very well protected in the Netherlands probably is part of the explanation of why so many mothers work part time, and hence why children spend so much time with their parents…
It seems to me that in the Netherlands, the price of children’s well-being is being paid by the taxpayers, who are funding a rather generous system of welfare state provisions, and by mothers, who are cutting back on time in the labour market or on other activities in order to spend more time with their children. In so far as the latter is caused by fathers’ refusal to cut back on their working hours, or by strong motherhood ideology, this should be a concern. To me it is also no surprise that 20% of the women aged between 26 and 30 voluntarily choose not to have children (Emancipatiemonitor p. 30). In another survey among women aged between 27 and 42, 44% reported not to want children, and 72% believes that a demanding job cannot be combined with having children…
(Read Ingrid’s post in its entirety)
(Photo: Sema Babacan)
About that first concern: I share it. “New Learning” is absolutely horrible. When I was in high school, my school ‘experimented’ with my class: “tweede fase” – “second phase”… a new way of learning. More freedom, more choices, etc.
The most horrible mistake ever made in the history of the Dutch educational system. One should force high school students to study. Letting them do whatever it is they want to do (okay overdoing it a bit here) is not wise.
I’m in favor of going back to the old system: when one speaks to one’s teacher one says “sir” or “mrs”, etc. One doesn’t call one’s teacher “Michael” or “David or “Joe”.
Yes that was the old system: treating one’s teacher with respect.
In our current system, teachers are treates as friends. They’re like buddies. If a friend tells you to do something (or to get out), would you do it if you don’t want to? Of course not. Why should you? Your friend has no authority over you.
And so teachers losehave lost their authority.
Same goes for parents: this modern way of raising one’s children seems to be disastrous to me in the long run. Kids today are like little monsters. Screeming, shouting, demanding this and that from their parents. Instead of calling their parent “mom” or “dad”, they call them by their first name.
In other words: teachers and parents lose their authority. Both are becoming buddies.
We’re number one right now: that’s cool. That’s great. Lets now make sure that we stay number one. Lets now make sure that we improve ourselves / our society.
And America, what should America do? Any thoughts about that? Ingrid and I share some concerns regarding the Netherlands, but as it is our situation is quite good… the situation in America seems to be an entirely different affair.
Cross posted at my own blog.
PAST CONTRIBUTOR.