The Coddling of the American Mind
Page 37
34. WFSB Staff. (2014, July 9). Bristol mother charged with leaving child unattended in car. Eyewitness News 3. Retrieved from http://wfsb.com/story/25982048/bristol-mother-charged-with-leaving-child-unattendd-in-care. (For more stories like this, visit https://letgrow.org/blog)
35. Skenazy, L. (2016, June 17) “16 is the appropriate age to allow children to be outside by themselves”—New Albany, Ohio, police chief. Free-Range Kids. Retrieved from http://www.freerangekids.com/16-is-the-appropriate-age-to-allow-children-to-be-outside-by-themselves-new-albany-ohio-police-chief
36. Lareau (2011), p. 3.
37. Putnam (2015), p. 117.
38. Putnam (2015), p. 117.
39. DeLoache et al. (2010).
40. The website for the research project is hosted by the Centers for Disease Control, at http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/acestudy
41. Putnam (2015), p.112.
42. Chetty, Friedman, Saez, Turner, & Yagen (2017). See a summary of that paper in this infographic: Some colleges have more students from the top 1 percent than the bottom 60. Find yours. (2017, January 18). The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/18/upshot/some-colleges-have-more-students-from-the-top-1-percent-than-the-bottom-60.html
43. L. Skenazy (personal communication, May 4, 2017).
Chapter 9: The Decline of Play
1. LaFreniere (2011).
2. LaFreniere (2011), p. 479, asserts that “[i]n games involving chasing, children seem to prefer the fleeing position (e.g., in the game of tag and in all games modeled after tag, the preferred position is to be chased), which suggests that such play has more to do with our legacy as prey than our legacy as hunters.”
3. LaFreniere (2011), p. 465. See also: Sandseter & Kennair (2011). See also: Gray, P. (2014, April 7). Risky play: Why children love it and need it. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201404/risky-play-why-children-love-it-and-need-it
4. Einon, Morgan, & Kibbler (1978). See also: Hol, Berg, Ree, & Spruijt (1999) for another experimental study with rat pups, and see Mustoe, Taylor, Birnie, Huffman, & French (2014) for a correlational study with marmosets. See a review of this literature in Gray (in press).
5. Black, Jones, Nelson, & Greenough (1998).
6. Johnson & Newport (1989). For a review of the famous case of the feral child “Genie,” see Curtiss (1977). For deaf children things work the same way, with signs. Spoken words are not essential, but communication with others is.
7. This, at least, is the argument made by many researchers who study play, including Gray (in press), LaFreniere (2011), and Sandseter & Kennair (2011). We note that there is no direct experimental proof of this strong version of the claim—that play deprivation in childhood will alter adult personality. Controlled experiments such as the ones we described with rat pups can never be done with humans. In the rest of this chapter, we show why we think the claim is plausible and likely to be true.
8. Gray (2011). See also: Gray (in press).
9. Sandseter & Kennair (2011), p. 275.
10. Gray (2011), p. 444.
11. Singer, Singer, D’Agostino, & DeLong (2009), cited in Gray (2011).
12. Hirsh-Pasek, Golinkoff, Berk, & Singer (2009).
13. Gray (2011), p. 456.
14. Hofferth & Sandberg (2001), cited in Gray (2011).
15. As shown by mediation analyses in Twenge et al. (2018), which found that all forms of screen time are associated with negative mental health outcomes. Peter Gray, however, takes a more positive view of social interaction mediated by screens. He believes that it is real social interaction, and that multiplayer video games are a form of play. He also notes that online social interaction has the advantage of occurring, typically, without any adult supervision. He agrees, however, that online interaction lacks the benefits of vigorous physical play and that some forms of online interaction may turn out to be harmful to mental health. P. Gray (personal communication, February 8, 2018).
16. Hofferth & Sandberg (2001).
17. See review in Shumaker, H. (2016, March 5). Homework is wrecking our kids: The research is clear, let’s ban elementary homework. Salon. Retrieved from https://www.salon.com/2016/03/05/homework_is_wrecking_our_kids_the_research_is_clear_lets_ban_elementary_homework. See also: Marzano, R., & Pickering, D. (2007, March). Special topic: The case for and against homework. Educational Leadership, 64(6), 74–79. Retrieved from https://www.lincnet.org/cms/lib05/MA01001239/Centricity/Domain/108/Homework.pdf. See also: Cooper, Lindsay, Nye, & Greathouse (1998). See also: Cooper, Civey Robinson, & Patall (2006). See also: Cooper, Steenbergen-Hu, & Dent (2012).
18. “In the last 20 years, homework has increased only in the lower grade levels, and this increase is associated with neutral (and sometimes negative) effects on student achievement.” National Education Association. (n.d.). Research spotlight on homework. Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/tools/16938.htm
19. L. Skenazy (personal communication, January 23, 2018).
20. Clements (2004), cited in Gray (2011).
21. Whitley, C. (2011, August 1). Is your child ready for first grade: 1979 edition. ChicagoNow. Retrieved from http://www.chicagonow.com/little-kids-big-city/2011/08/is-your-child-ready-for-first-grade-1979-edition. (We thank Erika Chistakis for pointing it out to us.)
22. Whitley (2011); see n. 21.
23. St. Theresa’s Catholic School (Austin, TX). (2012, January). Expectations for incoming first graders. Retrieved from https://www.st-theresa.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/1st_Expectations.pdf
24. E. Christakis (personal communication, October 21, 2017).
25. Christakis (2016).
26. Gopnik, A. (2011, March 16). Why preschool shouldn’t be like school: New research shows that teaching kids more and more, at ever-younger ages, may backfire. Slate. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2011/03/why_preschool_shouldnt_be_like_school.html. See also: Gray, P. (2015, May 5). Early academic training produces long-term harm. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201505/early-academic-training-produces-long-term-harm
27. Bassok, Latham, & Rorem (2016).
28. Common Core State Standards Initiative. (n.d.). Introduction to Common Core. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/introduction
29. Common Core State Standards Initiative. (n.d.). English language arts standards » Reading: Foundational skills » Kindergarten. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RF/K
30. E. Christakis (personal communication, June 2, 2017).
31. “Ironically, when today’s kindergarten and first-grade teachers are asked to name the school-readiness skills most important for preschoolers to master, they invariably still rank social and emotional skills, such as being able to take turns or listen to a friend, above pre-academic skills, such as number and letter identification. But parents often see things very differently.” Christakis (2016), p. 7.
32. Pew Research Center. (2015, December 17). Parenting in America: Children’s extracurricular activities. Retrieved from http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/12/17/5-childrens-extracurricular-activities
33. Mose (2016).
34. Scholarship America. (2011, August 25). Make your extracurricular activities pay off. U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved from https://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/the-scholarship-coach/2011/08/25/make-your-extracurricular-activities-pay-off
35. Princeton Review. (n.d.). 14 summer activities to boost your college application. Retrieved from https://www.princetonreview.com/college-advice/summer-activities-for-college-applications
36. Yale University Office of Institutional Research. (2016, November 30). Summary of Yale College admissions class of 1986 to class of 2020. Retrieved from https://oir.yale.edu/sites/default/files/w033_fresh_admissions.pdf
37. Deresiewicz (2015), p. 39.
38. J. Lythcott-Haims (personal communication, May 26, 2017). As Lenore Skenazy put it, these parents “are stalked by the twin fears that their children will be kidnapped . . . or not get into Harvard.” L. Skenazy (personal communication, January 23, 2018).
39. Morrison, P. (2015, October 28). How “helicopter parenting” is ruining America’s children. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-morrison-lythcott-haims-20151028-column.html
40. A. Duckworth (personal communication, March 19, 2018).
41. Bruni, F. (2016, January 19). Rethinking college admissions. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/20/opinion/rethinking-college-admissions.html
42. Rosin, H. (2015, November 20). The Silicon Valley suicides. The Atlantic. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/12/the-silicon-valley-suicides/413140
43. Spencer, K. (2017, April 5). It takes a suburb: A town struggles to ease student stress. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/05/education/edlife/overachievers-student-stress-in-high-school-.html?_r=0
44. Farrell, A., McDevitt, J., & Austin, R. (2015). Youth risk behavior survey Lexington High School—2015 results: Executive summary. Retrieved from https://lps.lexingtonma.org/cms/lib2/MA01001631/Centricity/Domain/547/YRBSLHSExecSummary08Mar16.pdf. See also: Luthar & Latendresse (2005). See also: Chawla, I., & Njoo, L. (2016, July 21). CDC releases preliminary findings on Palo Alto suicide clusters. The Stanford Daily. Retrieved from https://www.stanforddaily.com/2016/07/21/cdc-releases-preliminary-findings-on-palo-alto-suicide-clusters
45. Chetty, Friedman, Saez, Turner, & Yagen (2017). See a summary of that paper in this infographic: Some colleges have more students from the top 1 percent than the bottom 60. Find yours. (2017, January 18). The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/18/upshot/some-colleges-have-more-students-from-the-top-1-percent-than-the-bottom-60.html
46. Quoted in Brody, J. E. (2015, January 19). Parenting advice from “America’s worst mom.” The New York Times. Retrieved from https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/19/advice-from-americas-worst-mom
47. Horwitz (2015).
48. Ostrom, E. (1990).
49. Ostrom, V. (1997).
50. Horwitz (2015), p. 10.
51. Iyengar & Krupenkin (2018).
52. Ortiz-Ospina, E., & Roser, M. (2017). Trust. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/trust
53. Horwitz (2015), p. 3.
54. We note that this advice is less needed for students from less privileged backgrounds, who are more likely to experience unfairness and “bad luck” as a normal part of life.
55. Reilly, K. (2017, July 5). “I wish you bad luck.” Read Supreme Court Justice John Roberts’s unconventional speech to his son’s graduating class. Time. Retrieved from http://time.com/4845150/chief-justice-john-roberts-commencement-speech-transcript
Chapter 10: The Bureaucracy of Safetyism
1. De Tocqueville (1839/2012), book 4, chapter 6.
2. FIRE letter to Northern Michigan University, August 25, 2016. (2016, September 19). Retrieved from https://www.thefire.org/fire-letter-to-northern-michigan-university-august-25-2016
3. THE “I CARE PROJECT”: Revise NMU Student Self-Destructive Behavior Policy. (n.d.). Change.org [Petition]. Retrieved from https://www.change.org/p/northern-michigan-university-the-i-care-project-revise-nmu-student-self-destructive-behavior-policy
4. Singal, J. (2016, September 22). A university threatened to punish students who discussed their suicidal thoughts with friends (Updated). The Cut. Retrieved from https://www.thecut.com/2016/09/a-school-is-threatening-to-punish-its-suicidal-students.html
Northern Michigan has since revised its policy; it no longer sends that letter, and by January 2016, it stopped prohibiting students from discussing self-harm with peers. See: Northern Michigan University. (2016). Northern Michigan University practice concerning self-destructive students changed January 2016. Retrieved from http://www.nmu.edu/mc/current-mental-health-communication
5. National Center for Educational Statistics (1993), p. 64.
6. Fast Facts: Back to School Statistics. (n.d.). National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372
7. Digest of Education Statistics. (2016). Tables 333.10 (Revenues of public institutions) and (333.40) (Revenues of private institutions). National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/current_tables.asp
8. Gross Domestic Product 2016. (2017, December 15). World Bank Development Indicators Database. Retrieved from https://databank.worldbank.org/data/download/GDP.pdf
9. Digest of Education Statistics. (2016). Table 333.90 (Endowments). National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d16/tables/dt16_333.90.asp?current=yes
10. Of the top twenty-five universities as listed by Times Higher Education, the percentage of international students ranges from 16% at the University of Michigan to 45% at Carnegie Mellon. World University Rankings 2018. Times Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2018/world-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats
11. World University Rankings 2018; see n. 10. Or perhaps it is nineteen of the top twenty-five. See also: Best Global Universities Rankings. (2018). U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved from https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/rankings
12. Kerr (1963).
13. “Universities’ executive, administrative, and managerial offices grew 15 percent during the recession, even as budgets were cut and tuition was increased.” Marcus, J. (2016, October 6). The reason behind colleges’ ballooning bureaucracies. The Atlantic. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/10/ballooning-bureaucracies-shrinking-checkbooks/503066
14. See, for example, Catropa, D., & Andrews, M. (2013, February 8). Bemoaning the corporatization of higher education. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/stratedgy/bemoaning-corporatization-higher-education
15. “Since 1975, according to a 2014 report from the American Association of University Professors, full-time administrative positions grew by 369 percent, whereas full-time tenure-track faculty grew by 23 percent and part-time faculty by 286 percent.” Braswell, S. (2016, April 24). The fightin’ administrators: The birth of a college bureaucracy. Point Taken. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/point-taken/blog/ozy-fightin-administrators-birth-college-bureaucracy. See also: Christensen, K. (2015, October 17). Is UC spending too little on teaching, too much on administration? Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-uc-spending-20151011-story.html
16. Campos, P. F. (2015, April 4). The real reason college tuition costs so much. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/opinion/sunday/the-real-reason-college-tuition-costs-so-much.html
17. Catropa & Andrews (2013); see n. 15. See also: Lewis (2007), pp. 4–5. See also: McArdle, M. (2015, August 13). Sheltered students go to college, avoid education. Bloomberg View. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2015-08-13/sheltered-students-go-to-college-avoid-education
18. Ginsberg (2011). Chapter 1, section “Shared Governance?” paragraphs 2–6.
19. Ginsberg (2011). Chapter 1, section “Professors and Administrators?” paragraph 16.
20. In one of the very few exceptions we know of, Oberlin president Marvin Krislov refused to accept a list of “non negotiable” demands. See Jaschik, S. (2016, January 21). Oberlin’s president says no. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/01/21/oberlins-president-refuses-negotiate-student-list-demands
21. Adler, E. (2018, March 15). Students think the
y can suppress speech because colleges treat them like customers. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://wapo.st/2phMwCB?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.75b5e44fa1d0
22. See figure 5 on page 11 of Desrochers, D. M., & Hurlburt, S. (2016, January). Trends in college spending: 2003–2013. American Institutes for Research. Delta Cost Project. Retrieved from https://www.deltacostproject.org/sites/default/files/products/15-4626%20Final01%20Delta%20Cost%20Project%20College%20Spending%2011131.406.P0.02.001%20....pdf
23. Carlson, S. (2013, January 28). What’s the payoff for the “country club” college? The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/buildings/whats-the-payoff-for-the-country-club-college/32477 [inactive]. See also: College Ranker. (n.d.). Colleges as country clubs: Today’s pampered college students. Retrieved from http://www.collegeranker.com/features/colleges-as-country-clubs. See also: Jacob, B., McCall, B. & Stange, K. M. (2013, January). College as country club: Do colleges cater to students’ preferences for consumption? National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved from http://www.nber.org/papers/w18745.pdf. Forbes poked fun at the practice by comparing colleges and country clubs to “Club Fed” minimum-security correctional facilities. Pierce, K. (2014, July 29). College, country club or prison? Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/special-report/2014/country-college-prion.html
24. A 2013 survey by NIRSA (formerly the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association) found ninety-two schools with pending recreation center projects totaling $1.7 billion. Cited in Rubin, C. (2014, September 19). Making a splash: College recreation now includes pool parties and river rides. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/21/fashion/college-recreation-now-includes-pool-parties-and-river-rides.html. See also: Koch, J. V. (2018, January 9). Opinion: No college kid needs a water park to study. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/09/opinion/trustees-tuition-lazy-rivers.html