Arbeitspapier
The American family in black and white: A post-racial strategy for improving skills to promote equality
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. Policy should prevent rather than remediate. Voluntary, culturally sensitive support for parenting is a politically and economically palatable strategy that addresses problems common to all racial and ethnic groups.
- Language
-
Englisch
- Bibliographic citation
-
Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 5495
- Classification
-
Wirtschaft
Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
- Subject
-
skill gap
racial inequality
early childhood intervention
Kinder
Familie
Soziale Lage
Intelligenz
Schule
Bildungsertrag
Ethnische Gruppe
Sozialpolitik
Bildungschancen
USA
- Event
-
Geistige Schöpfung
- (who)
-
Heckman, James J.
- Event
-
Veröffentlichung
- (who)
-
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
- (where)
-
Bonn
- (when)
-
2011
- Handle
- URN
-
urn:nbn:de:101:1-201104113680
- Last update
-
10.03.2025, 11:46 AM CET
Data provider
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. If you have any questions about the object, please contact the data provider.
Object type
- Arbeitspapier
Associated
- Heckman, James J.
- Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
Time of origin
- 2011