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Kids Education Challenge Grows With Age
A new report from the Census Bureau confirms a long standing cliché – that kids growing up in single parent families generally do not perform as well in school as kids who grow up in a traditional two-parent family environment. But the gap isn’t substantial, at least as far as divorced families are concerned. In fact, the challenge of keeping teenagers on track in school is by far greater.
I am not sure how you feel about those people who feel sorry for your single parent situation, with that consisting tone that life in a traditional family is so much more beneficial for all of those involved. I’ll admit any day that the challenge of being a single dad (or single mom for that matter) can be overwhelming, but I would not want to miss the experience I am making and the experience and opportunities I can provide my children.
So when I had news about the Census Bureau’s latest A Child’s Day: 2006 (PDF download) report, which claims to list indicators of a “child’s well being”, in my email, I just knew what I’d be in for. Maybe I am a bit pessimistic, but you just know that you will be given a reality check that your children live, based on average population numbers, at a disadvantage when compared to children that live with married parents. And, for the most part, that was what the report delivered, but there were a few surprises as well, if you care to dig a bit deeper into those numbers.
The sobering news first. Resident single parents apparently have not as much interaction with their children at any age than married parents, which was a bit of a surprise to me. 51.6% of separated, divorced or widowed (sdw from here on) parents claim to have a high interaction with their kids (6 – 17 years old), the percentage for never married (nm) single parents was 49.2%, while 57.3% of married parents say they interact often with their children. The number is as high as 60.8% for parents of 6-11 year old children and as low as 47.3% for sdw parents of 12-17 year old children.
Also, sdw and nm parent children are not performing as well in school than married children. The survey among more than 47 million children showed than 82.9% of children in married families are academically on track, 81.1% of sdw parents children and 78.2% of nm parent children. Statistically, the 5.7% gap between the highest and lowest number is substantial and should be much more of a concern to the government than it is right now.
However it is noteworthy that while 87.2% of 6-11 year old children in married families are on track, while only 80.8% (a 6.4 point drop) of 12-17 year old children in such an environment are keeping up with expectations. In sdw families, that number also drops, from 85.4% to 78.0% (a 7.4 point drop) and from 85.0% to 70.2% (a 14.8 point drop) in nm single parent environments. Conceivably, any parent environment appears to be providing a great education environment for younger children and any parent faces a challenge of keeping kids on track when they get older. So, as a single parent you should be proud of being able to provide nearly the same learning environment for your kids as married parents do.
You are not given enough credit for that achievement.
