首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
The Nanny State By the time they get to school, it’s too late. The realisation that neglectful parenting in a child’s earlie
The Nanny State By the time they get to school, it’s too late. The realisation that neglectful parenting in a child’s earlie
admin
2010-06-01
46
问题
The Nanny State
By the time they get to school, it’s too late. The realisation that neglectful parenting in a child’s earliest years can ruin its chances for life is shaping a new, expensive and interventionist approach to families in Britain. The government has increased spending on financial support to children by 64%, to £ 24 billion( $ 41 billion), since Labour came to power in 1997. In the latest splurge, it announced an extra£ I billion for childcare, advice for struggling parents and cash benefits.
Intervention in infancy is increasingly popular in America and in Europe, among all shades of opinion. Most leftwingers accept that bad parenting is not only about poverty; most conservatives accept that working mothers are not its sole cause.
Disadvantage is clearly passed on early, and not just through the genes. There is evidence that, by the time they get to school, many dim two-year-olds from good homes have overtaken bright children from bad ones. Being read to, played with, properly fed and cuddled all hugely increase the likelihood of success in later life. Conversely, bad parenting increases the risk of everything from dropping out of school to illness, and eventually jail.
The problems are working out what to do and then making it happen. The British approach, under file overall title of Sure Start, has several strands. One, aimed at 400,000 children in the poorest fifth of the country, is, in effect, supplemental parenting: free places in high-quality nurseries and creches, coupled with energetic advice-giving, a new network of children’s centres, and home visits from volunteers. Then there is the general expansion of nursery’ education. Already every four-yearold has the right to 2hours of state-financed nursery care a day. In 2004 that will include three-year-olds.
Third is the plan to cut child poverty by a quarter by next year, and "end" it in 2020. But poverty, like cruelty, is hard to define. The government’s definition, based on 60% of the median income, is a shifting target: as earnings rise, so does poverty. Moreover, not all cash-strapped parents are bad at raising children.
Nonetheless, the government has energetically raised family benefits and tax credits. The poorest 20% of families with children, it says, will be £ 2,900 a year better off in real terms than before Labour took power in 1997. For single-earners with two or more children, policies are even more redistributive.
The money and effort that have gone into improving life for Britain’s infants are the government’s proudest boast—especially as other public-service reforms are looking increasingly tattered and battered. But problems lurk behind the determination. For a start, these policies are net necessarily compatible. Generous benefits distort the labour market and may encourage feckless behaviour. Frank Field, an iconoclastic Labour MP, notes that benefits for single mothers penalise those in stable relationships, which are clearly associated with good parenting.
Encouraging mothers of young children to find jobs is another good thing: it benefits both them and the family budget. But if it means their children are dumped in front of the telly at a cheap childminder, the kids may be worse off than if they were at hone with mum.
The government’s unwillingness to pass judgment on bad parents also weakens this approach. The rhetoric around Sure Start is swathed with waffle about "inclusivity" and being "non-judgmental". "I don’t have the right to call someone a bad parent," says Jane Cole, a senior Sure Start adviser. Don’t blame parents, she says, but society. But studies of similar intervention in early childhood in America show it works best when programmes clearly tell parents what to do and why.
Sure Start has almost nothing to say about the benefits of reading aloud, or the perils of too mnch television. According to a sceptic close to the scheme, there is too much about boosting parents’ self-esteem and too little attention to making a real difference to children’s lives.
That leads on to the biggest question of all: whether this sort of intervention works. The statistical evidence from well-established programmes in America is at best mixed: the chihtren in greatest need tend to benefit least. A big study duc out in 2006 will answer the question definitively, but Krista Kafer of the Heritage Foundation, an American think-tank, fears that "all it really does is make us feel better as a society". Scandinavian countries have spent heavily on infants for decades, and the inheritance of disadvantage seems to have decreased—though it is difficult to prove that the two are connected. The British government’s splurge on children is based on the hope that they are.
Sure Start has almost nothing to say about the benefits of reading aloud.
选项
A、Y
B、N
C、NG
答案
A
解析
判断的依据在第十段首句。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/goN7777K
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
GallaudetUniversitycurrentlydoesnotallowstudentstokeeppetsintheirdormrooms.Exceptionsaremadeonlyforservicean
SomepeoplelikewatchingTVathome,andothersmaylovehiking.ButIlikebeingatabookshop.Timespentinabookshopcanb
Theopportunitycostsofchoosingajobareespeciallyimportanttocollegestudents.Thereisakindoftriangularrelationship
A、Therewasashortageofarchitects.B、Theyincludedplansforanelaboratehouse.C、Builderscouldnotworkwithoutone.D、The
A、BecauseitistheearliestEnglishtextbook.B、Becauseitindicatesthehighstandardofprintqualityatthattime.C、Because
A、In1904.B、In1905.C、In1914.D、In1915.A此题为时间题。文中明确指出“thebookwaspossiblypublishedin1904orbefore”,A选项最为接近。
A、Tocomplainaboutschool.B、Toexplainworkinghours.C、Torequesthelpinfindingbooks.D、Tosetatimetomeetagain.D
Americansocietyisnotnap-friendly.Infact,there’sevena【B1】______againstadmittingweneedsleep.Nobodywantstobecaugh
A、Theyneedcareandaffection.B、Theyarefondofround-the-worldtrips.C、Theyaremostlyfrombrokenfamilies.D、Theyarelik
A、Noalcoholisallowedinthehospital.B、Nosmokingisallowedinthehospital.C、Thepatientshouldwakeupat6:30inthemo
随机试题
民法中的平等原则是指【】
采用频数分布直方图分析工程质量波动情况时,如果出现孤岛型分布,说明()。
按照《房屋建筑与装饰工程消耗量定额》TY01-31—2015的规定,基础沟槽底宽7.1m,槽长25m,槽深为0.4m,则应执行()定额子目。
关于职业生涯锚特点的陈述,正确的有()。
为最大程度提高资金效益、简化结存手续,银行应根据()等规定管理旅行社质量保证金。
党的七届二中全会提出了两个务必的要求,即()。
在管理实践中,我们应学会通过调查研究管理的规律,提高标准水平,采用先进的管理技术,不断提高管理效率。这体现了管理学的()。
科学家在实验室对老鼠进行了实验,使老鼠饮食所含的热量比通常少30~50%,但维持生命的蛋白质、脂肪、维生素和无机盐不减少。结果,被实验的老鼠比同岁正常饮食的老鼠重量轻得多,寿命也都延长了。可见,限制热量是延缓衰老的主要方法之一。研究还表明,限制热量不必从童
大量研究表明,心理表象可以提高记忆。下表是此类研究的一个结果。根据该结果,是否可以得出心理表象影响记忆力的结论?
Directions:ThefollowingparagraphsaregiveninawrongorderforQuestions41-45,youarerequiredtoreorganizetheseparagr
最新回复
(
0
)