Glancing at the several piles of clutter on my desk, variously labeled as “Exposing the Achievement Gap and Its Consequences,” I am tempted to rename this series, “Notes from a Cluttered Mind.”
“Putting socks on the octopus” may be the most accurate summary of where we are in our persistent search for closing the achievement gap in a data-saturated landscape. Now for a definition: the “achievement gap” has been variously described as the persistent disparity of educational measures, such as test scores, drop-out rates, high school completion, and college enrollment, among different ethnic groups. The U.S. Department of Education describes the achievement gap as “the difference in academic performance between different ethnic groups.” The racial factor is an overwhelming concern.
A jolt of energy has just been ignited, throughout various alliances, with the announcement of former Mayor R.T. Rybak’s new job. He is assigned to lead “Generation Next”—a group of leaders drawn from the cream of Minnesota’s movers and shakers—to a solution to the vexing problems of the achievement gap. The recent announcement that almost half of our children are not ready for kindergarten puts a sense of urgency to the task.
Perhaps the first chore will be to review the 500 initiatives that have been recorded in their pursuit of a positive future for all Minnesota children.
Now comes the demographic challenge. We are facing very large cohorts of an aging population in various stages of retirement. At the head are Baby Boomers who are living longer than preceding generations. Here is the despairing factor: a falling birth rate. Who will care for the accumulated generations of the elderly? Perhaps the old Beatles’ song for the Baby Boomer generation captures the demographic crisis succinctly. Encourage anyone over 60 to pick up and cuddle an infant, and then hum this tune: “Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m 64?” . . . 74 . . . 104?
Now we can turn to the Child Welfare scholars who study the well-being and the temperament of maturing children. The assessment that carries an ominous message is this: “. . . has an impaired capacity for friendship and intimacy.” Should we be concerned if, in the dwindling population of caregivers, there is a large cohort who do not have the capacity for “friendship and intimacy,” the basis of “caring”?
The very early years of a child’s life is the foundation for young adults to acquire warmth, a comfort with intimate connections, and a caring attitude. In sum, this is the indispensable component of the relationship between generations.
Now, we should consider the political agenda for the elderly: pay attention to the early years of a child’s life; maintain a searchlight for the well-being of infants and toddlers. The early recognition of a problematic child begins here.