tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4953365761357041577.post4617516060813790554..comments2024-02-14T04:40:46.512-08:00Comments on ABC-CLIO Blog: Author Interview: William Jeynes on Character Education and Prayer in SchoolsABC-CLIOhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14986377337720555190noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4953365761357041577.post-84841509303322334532011-12-30T14:44:59.440-08:002011-12-30T14:44:59.440-08:00Absurd. Did Jeynes grow up in an alternate univers...Absurd. Did Jeynes grow up in an alternate universe? In the sixties, students were brutalized by teachers. Gangs were everywhere, but tended to be underprivileged whites instead of underprivileged ethnic minorities.<br /><br />Jeynes "data" stops in the eighties! Since then, crime rates have been falling precipitously. So does that mean Jeynes cause irrelevant? We did it with better opportunities and a fairer system, instead of prayer? <br /><br />If we're just going to speculate with crappy data, then there's a dozen reasons outside of seeking supernatural intervention.<br /><br />Although nobody predicted the striking decline in crime during the 1990s, in hindsight theories explaining it abound. Some give credit to the increased availability of legal abortion in the 1970s, resulting in fewer children born to teenage, unwed and poor mothers: precisely the sorts of children who commit crimes at high rates during adolescence. <br /><br />There is also the waning of violence associated with the crack market, and the increased incarceration rate, which keeps more criminals off the street for longer (though at tremendous cost).<br /><br />Although these factors explain the drop since the late 1980s, they do not explain the sharp drop in the past two years. For that the National Consortium on Violence Research, posits an “Obama effect”, in which the election of America’s first black president inspires a significant number of young black men away from violence. And indeed between 2008 and 2009, the numbers of blacks arrested for murder and robbery each declined by over 2%, though this theory has more narrative than evidentiary appeal.<br /><br />Another theory concerns lead. Exposure to lead in childhood has been linked to aggression and criminal behaviour in adults. Jessica Wolpaw Reyes, an economist at Amherst College, argues that the decline in American children’s exposure to lead since it was phased out of gasoline in the 1970s and removed almost entirely by 1985, accounts for much of the decline in violent crime in the 1990s. It may account for even more, as more of America’s unleaded children enter adolescence and their early 20s. <br /><br />And then there are those perennial bogeymen, video games and the internet, affordable forms of entertainment that keep people inside, and away from real crime and drugs.<br /><br />Jeynes is also suffering from what I call "generational character decline syndrome" It was best portrayed by Paul Lynde in "Bye Bye Birdie", 1964.<br /><br />Kids!<br />I don't know what's wrong with these kids today!<br />Kids!<br />Who can understand anything they say?<br />Kids!<br />They are so ridiculous and immature!<br />I don't see why anybody wants 'em!<br />Just you wait and see<br />Kids!<br />Kids! They are just impossible to control!<br />(Soon you'll be old enough to be)<br />Kids! With their awful clothes and their rock an' roll!<br />(Another teenage delinquent)<br />Why can't they be like you were,<br />Perfect in every way?<br />What's the matter with kids to--<br />Kids!<br />What the devil's wrong with these kids today?<br />Kids!<br />Who could guess the they would turn out that way!<br />Why can't they be like we were,<br />Perfect in every way?<br />What's the matter with kids?<br />What's the matter with kids?<br />What's the matter with kids today?<br /><br />BTW, any posited effect for character education was disproven years ago.<br />"Efficacy of Schoolwide Programs to Promote Social and Character Development and Reduce Problem Behavior in Elementary School Children" The Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. October 2010.Hifihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character_education#Issues_and_controversiesnoreply@blogger.com