The recession may be over because the media is spending a lot of time lately analyzing its impact on the country, including two stories in the last several days about how it has affected families and early education.
At the Huffington Post, one story talks about the need to invest in early learning now, even though state and federal budgets are tight, because the economic downturn has already impacted school readiness and will drag down the national economy.
A declining U.S. economy leads directly to poorer school performance and lower school readiness. The FCD (The Foundation for Child Development) report points to recent history as a guide, pinpointing the two recessions of 1981-82 and 1990-91 as the key culprits for drops in reading and math scores during subsequent time periods, the mid-1980's and mid-1990's. – “The Children of the Great Recession.” Huffington Post. 8/6/10.
On Sunday, The New York Times Magazine ran a column, “Home Economics: What the Great Recession has really done to family life,” which takes a critical view of analysis that suggests the economic downturn has had a major positive influence on the U.S. family.
The author, Judith Warner, highlights findings of shorter maternity leaves, large percentages of unemployed people saying the recession has strained family life, major losses of wealth among middle-class families and reports of parents working longer hours.
That the Great Recession could then bring hope for a major recalibration — a resetting of all the clocks — is not surprising. Unfortunately, though, it’s not happening in any meaningful way. The poor are getting poorer, and the rich, despite stock-market setbacks, are still comparatively rich. The most devastating losses in household wealth over the past two years have been suffered by the middle class. And families are fraying at the seams. – “What the Great Recession has really done to family life.”
You can also check out The New York Times Motherlode blog’s take, and join its conversation about the intersection of families and the recession.