Out-of-wedlock births

In the U.S, 53 percent of births to women under 30 are now out-of-wedlock, but college graduates are still marrying before having children. One consideration that powerfully affected my college educated peers, both women and men, was the expectation that they could and would build a professional future. Laying the foundation for that future, and the accompanying financial stability and lifestyle, would be far more difficult with children in the picture. Not impossible, but far more difficult. I imagine that, even today, having a child would be unthinkable for most serious, full-time college students.

Comments

[Heisenberg's Eyes]

Yes, there was an article in our local newsrag yesterday regarding this matter: CULTURE SHIFT: SINGLE MOMS A NEW NORMAL. I suppose normal is a state of mind at a certain point in time. Perhaps this is some sort of rebellion among women who are sick and tired of settling for shiftless;beligerent men in their lives. Or maybe the behavior goes even deeper: maybe they want children but do not wish to be burdened with men of any stripe?

Or, finally,are they content to collect HHS Federal Assistance checks that can accrue from the extra mouths they have to feed? This seems to be true in at least some cases. Normality was the theme for Philosophy Talk's broadcast today. It may be enlightening to see what sorts of comments that generates. Stay tuned...

[fred lapides]

When Sen Monihan wrote about this condition among Blacks, he was considered racist and harsh...but now the same applies to whites and it is horrible!

[Minder]

@Heisenberg's Eyes: What an odd comment. Your entire frame is why women don't want male partners for child raising.

All of the impoverished single mothers I know and work with want male partners, indeed, have wanted them so desperately they have sometimes clung to men who were physically abusive, financially exploitative, drug addicted, and/or generally lousy partners and co-parents. Heaven knows, they're willing to settle.

It would seem a lot of women are having children out of wedlock because they can't find men to marry them. It's bad enough to realize one is going to die a spinster; it should come as no surprise that many women, faced with that realization, decline also to forgo their calling to have children. I suppose many reasonably conclude it's better children out of wedlock than never getting to have children at all.

If you want to know why women are having children without husbands, look to the men who are opting out of marriage and fatherhood in great numbers.

[Heisenberg's Eyes]

@Minder: I worked in a social services agency for the last ten years of my gainful employment, so I have heard all the reasons, excuses and doctrinal platitudes surrounding this issue. I am sorry. But I remain unmoved by them. Yes, I'm a cynic, but I came by that through long experience.

I might be wrong, but the structure and content of your comment appear to come from someone who works or has worked in public assistance programs. Given an economic choice, I would never have entered that arena. My state government employer gave me no such choice.

Your comments have merit. But that fact notwithstanding, I stand by my odd comment.

Warmest Regards,
Heisenberg.