Family "Fragmentation," Economic Disparity, and Catholic Schools

In a column on the front-page of the Sunday editorial section of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Mitch Pearlstein of the Center of the American Experiment writes about the “fragmentation” of American families as “the explanation for economic disparity that we too readily sweep under the rug.”

The statistics for Hennepin County, which is Minneapolis and its suburbs, are deeply depressing: 18.3 percent of white children are born out of wedlock (which is hardly reassuring), while 84.3 percent of African-American children are born to a single parent.  To be a black child in Minneapolis living with both parents is truly to be a minority.  How ineffably sad!  And the social science research confirms how powerful is the negative impact on economic progress, individual opportunity, educational gains, future marriage prospects for children, etc.  As Pearlstein says:

Simply put, so long as fragmentation rates remain as huge as they are, enormous numbers of children will keep doing inadequately in school (and, as a result, in economic life) –- no matter how much money we spend, no matter how boldly politicians lead and no matter how passionately teachers teach.

What can we do?  We of course need to address the decline of marriage, which is not helped by the ongoing depreciation of marriage into an expression of self-fulfillment for adults rather than as a stable home for a mother and father in which to raise children.  The Catholic Church must maintain its moral stance on marriage, while somehow making that teaching more present and practically meaningful to a new generation living in a moral-cultural abyss.  The outrageous statistics of family broken-ness may provide a starting place for the discussion.  The current sad state of affairs is a testament to the dangers that follow radical changes in fundamental social structure, which began in the 1960s but continue today.  The Catholic message is an answer to that crisis.

In the meantime, how do we help those who are trapped in the cycle of family fragmentation, that is, children who grow up without two parents and who too often are left without the educational benefits and discipline and healthy attitudes that adhere to children growing up in a stable and unbroken family?  Spending more money on welfare programs or public schools or this or that social experiment hasn’t been working and certainly cannot do all of the work.

Pearlstein says the answer is educational choice.  And I read him as focusing less on the academic quality of private schools than on the different culture and community that a private school can foster, supplying the very things that at-risk children need.  The research confirms that private school options for children from single parent homes bears fruit by making progress and maturity into adulthood sustainable over the years:

I asked this principal of a Catholic elementary school in the Twin Cities what her institution's mission was. “To manifest God’s love in every child,” she said, or words close to that.  As educational mission statements go, this was one of the briefest yet meatiest ever drafted.

We on the Mirror of Justice have posted regularly about the importance of our Catholic schools and why we as Catholics should support them.  Creating opportunities and building a support system for those at risk by family fragmentation is one more reason to maintain and strengthen our Catholic schools.