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Title: The War Against Parents by Cornel West, Sylvia Ann Hewlett ISBN: 0-395-95797-4 Publisher: Mariner Books Pub. Date: 01 May, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.33 (9 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Neither liberal nor conservative
Comment: This book walks a hazardous line, neither liberal nor conservative, and it infuriates some and baffles others who insist on familiar dichotomies.
There's a litmus test for prospective readers, however: if you think parents should be as politically powerful as the AARP, read this book, and anything written or edited by either Hewlett or West. If you think current disparities between the top and bottom deciles in socioeconomic status in the U.S are about right, don't.
Rating: 1
Summary: Parental Paranoia Running Rampant
Comment: This book operates on the premise that the government and corporations are intentionally victimizing people for their parental status and that parents should be a protected class.
This seems rather paranoid considering that multiple tax breaks are given for children and their needs, and family leave policies insure that parents receive the most comprehensive leave benefits of any group of workers.
The book also ignores how parents are treated as a special class by the government and workforce, receiving more support from those two institutions than their childless counterparts.
Strange book. I just don't buy into the author's victim mentality.
Rating: 3
Summary: Authors are better on problems than solutions
Comment: I agree with the first reviewer who said that the authors more accurately define parent's problems, than offer good solutions. Their answers are somewhat inconsistent. To their credit, these authors are liberals who point to a lot of the problems liberalism has spawned, and admit as much. But then, (perhaps predictably) many of their solutions are liberal (government interventionist, income redistributionist) solutions. For instance, they think parents don't spend enough time with their kids. The answer is to force employers to give parents flex time, for school days to be longer, and the government to provide day care. This makes sense? Employers must let employees off, but kids must be in school all day? Then the authors complain about high taxes. They say taxes should be lowered on working families. Who do they think is going to pay for lost work time, longer hours in inefficient schools, and day care? With their legislation, taxes would have to go up, obviously. College professors always think that business can magically supply everything on their wish lists though, (which is what their "Parent's Bill of Rights" is.) Another answer the authors suggest to bolster parent's economic security and solve parent's problems is that Congress should raise the minimum wage to $7 per hour. As an economist, Sylvia Ann Hewlett should know that the higher the minimum wage goes, the more jobs go overseas, and the more companies downsize, or try to automate. Professors rarely think like employers do though, only like employees. Then there are the cultural issues. The authors point to the destructive influences of a "poisonous popular culture", criticizing the numerous depictions on TV and in movies of sex, violence, and bad parents. They denounce the rampant individualism and sexual "liberation" that weakens the family. At the same time, they advocate abortion "rights," gay "rights", and demonstrate the theophobia (fear of religion) that so characterizes liberals. Religion happens to be the main force that encourages strong families and a higher quality culture. But then they concede that conservatives are right about a lot of their "family values" issues, and think divorce should be harder to obtain, the marriage penalty tax should be repealed, other taxes should be lowered on working families, TV watching should be limited, and the media should be cleaned up. I agree with these measures. An even more powerful solution for parents and society, in my opinion though, is legislation for a voucher system for K-12 education. This would really help families. It would make it possible for taxes to be lowered, because education would be delivered more effectively and less expensively. Individual schools would not be subject to government madates as to when they are open or closed. School schedules could be flexible, and more in tune with parent's work schedules. People like these authors could send their children to a "progressive" school, and people who want to could send their children to a religious school, or other kind of school. I think the right to send one's child to a school which is an extension of one's values should have been included in any "Parent's Bill of Rights." This book is an interesting book, and a spawn for discussion. But reader, beware--it is written by two baby-boomer professors, who are trying to have it both ways. They are trying to maintain their liberalism, even though they realize a lot of the faults with it, now that they are parents. It is understandable though--their jobs are dependent on the continuance of the welfare-state educational system.
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Title: Creating a Life: Professional Women and the Quest for Children by Sylvia Ann Hewlett ISBN: 0786867663 Publisher: Miramax Pub. Date: 10 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: The Assault on Parenthood: How Our Culture Undermines the Family by Dana Mack ISBN: 0684807742 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 01 May, 1997 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Taking Parenting Public : The Case for a New Social Movement by Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Nancy Rankin, Cornel West ISBN: 0742521117 Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield (Non NBN) Pub. Date: March, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work by Arlie Russell Hochschild ISBN: 0805066438 Publisher: Owl Books (NY) Pub. Date: 01 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: The Price of Motherhood: Why the Most Important Job in the World is Still the Least Valued by Ann Crittenden ISBN: 0805066195 Publisher: Owl Books (NY) Pub. Date: 01 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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