The American Family in Black and White: A Post-Racial Strategy for Improving Skills to Promote Equality
36 Pages Posted: 7 Mar 2011 Last revised: 9 Jul 2023
There are 2 versions of this paper
The American Family in Black and White: A Post-Racial Strategy for Improving Skills to Promote Equality
Date Written: March 2011
Abstract
In contemporary America, racial gaps in achievement are primarily due to gaps in skills. Skill gaps emerge early before children enter school. Families are major producers of those skills. Inequality in performance in school is strongly linked to inequality in family environments. Schools do little to reduce or enlarge the gaps in skills that are present when children enter school. Parenting matters, and the true measure of child advantage and disadvantage is the quality of parenting received. A growing fraction of American children across all race and ethnic groups is being raised in dysfunctional families. Investment in the early lives of children in disadvantaged families will help close achievement gaps. America currently relies too much on schools and adolescent remediation strategies to solve problems that start in the preschool years. Prevention is likely to be more cost-effective than remediation. Voluntary, culturally sensitive support for parenting is a politically and economically palatable strategy that addresses problems common to all racial and ethnic groups.
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?
Recommended Papers
-
The Effects of Cognitive and Noncognitive Abilities on Labor Market Outcomes and Social Behavior
By James J. Heckman, Jora Stixrud, ...
-
The Technology of Skill Formation
By Flavio Cunha and James J. Heckman
-
The Technology of Skill Formation
By Flavio Cunha and James J. Heckman
-
Interpreting the Evidence on Life Cycle Skill Formation
By Flavio Cunha, James J. Heckman, ...
-
Interpreting the Evidence on Life Cycle Skill Formation
By Flavio Cunha, James J. Heckman, ...
-
Estimating the Technology of Cognitive and Noncognitive Skill Formation
By Flavio Cunha, James J. Heckman, ...
-
Estimating the Technology of Cognitive and Noncognitive Skill Formation
By Flavio Cunha, James J. Heckman, ...
-
The Economics and Psychology of Personality Traits
By Lex Borghans, Angela Duckworth, ...
-
The Economics and Psychology of Personality Traits
By Lex Borghans, Angela Duckworth, ...