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U.S. fares poorly in child welfare survey

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"even though it spends more per child"

Most of the money is wasted.

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USA fares poorly in somethings ,so does EU.

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I suspect it might have soemthing to do with the way welfare is handled in the U.S.

In Japan, you have to provide receipts for what you spend your welfare money on, and you're only given enough to keep from being homeless and starving, right? In the U.S., people are handed checks and that's it. The more children they have, the more forms they fill out, the more money they get. As you can imagine, too much is spent on drugs.

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i'm sure those protesters shouting about "ObamaCare" would like to see even less money spent on child welfare/healthcare. ObamaCares! TheyDon't!

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What was that policy called again "No Child Left Behind"? I just cannot seem to remember who was in office when that one came down the pike.

Seriously, as the so-called leader of the free world, the US should try to do better.

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Most of the money is wasted.

Spot on. Either wasted in the system or by the parents receiving it.

Seriously, as the so-called leader of the free world, the US should try to do better.

Nah, cut em loose and see who comes out on top. My family was mostly refugees and we turned out fine.

“The parents in Europe aren’t as poor. They have universal health care, and it’s understood that you have access to health care without recrimination. ... They have children when they’re ready,”

You see, that works in small hemogenenous countries with smaller populations. Those people tend to work together as a community more than in the states. If they pull half the things they have in Europe they would be abused to no end. You say free day care, I see hundreds of children left for extended periods every day, not because the parents have jobs, but because they don't want to deal with them. To make anything function in the U.S it must be weathered against the very worst kinds of people and frankly most social systems aren't geared for the kind of scrutiny that the U.S's time tested and polished neer-do-wells can throw against them.

“A lot of kids born in our country are accidents,” he said. “Young women need to learn to wait to finish their education, not have a kid at 18 or 19. And it is these poor, unwed mothers having most of the babies in the U.S.”

What the heck? I've been saying the same dang thing for years and I get called a chauvinist! And I don't even mention the unwed part. Dad always said to wait till I was set in life, if I couldn't wait I was to use a condom, if I wouldn't use a condom I wasn't to go crying to Dad when the I got an order for child support. So far no summons to a family court hearing so I guess I'm not a contributor to this particular problem...as far as I know.

But Britain is plagued by high underage drinking and teenage pregnancy rates. British teen drunkenness, as measured by the number of 13 and 15-year-olds having been drunk at least twice, topped the charts at 33%, far above the OECD average of 20% and the 12% rate recorded in the U.S.

Huh...well I'm not sure whether to be happy about the U.S having such a comparitivly low rate or to feign supprise at the idea of British teens dipping into the liquor cabinet.

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I guess 'No Child Left Behind' was an absolute failure in every sense of the word.

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"Some European countries have public preschools and day cares, for example."

THE SOCIALISTS! Imagine, putting society first, and giving infants and kids free schooling and health care! They should be thrown out because the parents can't afford it, and denied insurance by the private 'death panel' insurance companies. :)

“The parents in Europe aren’t as poor. They have universal health care, and it’s understood that you have access to health care without recrimination. ... They have children when they’re ready,”

No more need be said.

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In Japan, you have to provide receipts for what you spend your welfare money on, and you're only given enough to keep from being homeless and starving" Believe it or not, they used to do that. For some reason, it was stopped. A once dated a lady who had a kid and was collecting welfare, but also ran a business and was hardly in need of assistance. When it came party time, she'd used food stamps to purchase meat for bbq's and rum!

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Imagine, putting society first, and giving infants and kids free schooling and health care!" The problem you don't have in other countries smith is "who" has do the paying? I don't know about Canada, but the US politicians are good at coming up with novel ideas, but they sure as heck are terrible about reaching into their own pockets.

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Surely whats of more relevance is how Japan fares in this report?

"Japan spends less than the OECD average on children at each stage of childhood, The Japanese spending shortfall is especially pronounced for children under age 6, being less than one third of the spending committed to children between the ages of 6 and 17 years."

"...the relatively high proportion of Japanese children – about one in twenty – that lack a key set of educational possessions such as a quiet study space, a computer, or textbooks. Japan is the fourth worst performer on this indicator across the OECD, better only than Greece, Turkey and Mexico"

"One third of all Japanese children grow up in households disturbed by noise pollution. This is high compared to the OECD average of one in four children."

"Based on international evidence, the OECD concludes that Japan should spend considerably more on younger children to ensure all get a good start in life. Equally, the Japanese government should ensure that current higher rates of spending on older children are more effective in meeting the needs of the disadvantaged among them."

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The Question hit the nail on the head. That type of stuff does work in small nations with small populations. The US, however is the third most populous nation on the planet. 300 million and growing rapidly. The US's entire system is gonna have to be completely torn down and built back up again to fit its needs.

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Yanks please sort out your own country before civilizing the rest of the world.

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In America the people pay for their kids daycare and dont have them put in to a nanystate daycare where they will undoubtably be taught their values.

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Yanks please sort out your own country before civilizing the rest of the world." Well, it sure would have been nice if you Anglos all over thought of that before you stepped on the rest of us.

Moderator: Back on topic please.

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Props to the editor for posting this, and trying to play a small part in keeping Obama's reform of our health care system a priority.

Too bad the native J-media refuses to report on all of the Japanese who who travel to the US to get transplant surgery for their children, or any of the range of medical procedures they can't seem to get done here.

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Hworta: "In America the people pay for their kids daycare and dont have them put in to a nanystate daycare..."

And clearly the results have been all for the better... there's been no child left behind the Turks, Mexico, and Slovakia. The rest of the OECD countries have 'left behind' the US in the dust (including what you call 'nanny states'). So what does that say about your system?

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Careful.No Child Left Behind was about education,not daycare or health care, and Ted Kennedy was crucial to crafting the bill.

"infant mortality in the U.S. is the fourth-worst in the OECD after Mexico, Turkey and Slovakia. American "

I used to like seeing articles like this cos it put the bush administration in a bad light but since we have had a Democratic Congress for almost 3 years now, folks need to know that the truth is the US has stricter definitions of "newborn." Basically,the US follows the World Health Organization (WHO) definition for the condition: "all babies showing any signs of life, such as muscle activity, a gasp for breath or a heartbeat, should be included as a live birth." Many other countries do not.Some European nations for example do not count the deaths of babies thirty centimeters or shorter.

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Ted Kennedy was crucial to crafting the bill.

Indeed he was. You leave out the important fact that it was no where near funded to the degree Kennedy had asked for. But, you wouldn't be you if you didn't leave the important parts out.

Anyhoo... Many of you in Japan are probably looking at American education from the same perspective I did until moving back to the states. Trust me, things have changed.

My kids go to a public school that is ranked as being in the top 30% statewide.

They have no school books. My kids have no school books. The teachers have a few and use those to make copies to give to the kids. The parents are asked to provide copier paper, notebook paper, scissors, notebooks, pens, pencils and erasers. Not for their child, but for the school's use, because the schools are so underfunded. Weekly the schools send letters begging for money for things like music stands and gym equipment.

The school lunches consist mostly of frozen pizzas, macaroni and cheese and hamburgers. Rarely is fresh fruit on the menu and salads are unheard of. The only fruits and vegetables offered are canned, which simply don't taste as good as fresh fruits and veggies.

And then...they cut recess and gym class to focus more time on teaching to the test, while wondering why the kids are obese and have high cholesterol in their teens.

Our kids, fortunately, are used to bentos and so they eat far healthier foods than their classmates and we keep them active in clubs and at home, because so many of their classmates are obese.

Honestly, it's a mess.

Conversely, when I grew up, we had gym class daily. We had recess daily (45 minutes, versus the 15 my kids now get). We had BOOKS!

And most importantly, we had parents who grumbled about paying so much in taxes, but understood, it was for their children and therefore a wise investment.

Now, even though American's tax rates are lower, they complain more about their taxes, to the point of getting in their car, that they know won't spontaneouly explode due to government regulations, driving that car on a government paved road that is relatively free of congestion due to government funded street lights, to get to a community center or assembly hall that they can get for free because tax money is keeping it open, in order to teabag each other and complain that the government needs to get their hands off their medicare.

You wonder why America is so bizarre? Look what many of us are up against! It's like they can't see the forest through the trees.

Taka

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Wow.That's a truly engrossing post,taka13.It must suck to live in whatever red state it is you chose to move to.Blue states,like the one I am from, go all out on education.Ever seen a map of how the states vote?Red states uniformly vote repub. You know,on account of the poor education they get.

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Taka313: "You wonder why America is so bizarre?"

For cryin' out loud, could you please refrain from dissing our country on this site?

America is not bizarre, your posts are bizarre.

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America always does badly in this kind of thing: rights of women, rights of children, civil rights, life expectancy, education, health, incarcaration rates ... is anyone even mildly surprised?

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Now, even though American's tax rates are lower, they complain more about their taxes, to the point of getting in their car, that they know won't spontaneouly explode due to government regulations, driving that car on a government paved road that is relatively free of congestion due to government funded street lights, to get to a community center or assembly hall that they can get for free because tax money is keeping it open, in order to teabag each other and complain that the government needs to get their hands off their medicare.

taka, you're starting to ramble. Americans have not and never will like taxes reguardless of the context or reasoning behind them. No matter what kind of the nice things Uncle Sam could get us we would much rather have the money instead (at least I would). We have a right to complain about anything even if it's for our own benefit and complain we shall.

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Blue states,like the one I am from, go all out on education.

Pfft, try living in Detroit, we're blue and its still as piss poor as ever. Heck the whole state is blue and it blows all around. Not just in education but the sanitation, the mismanaged mass transit, the poor snow cleaning, and the gawd awful roads. No way another Dem is getting elected at Governor, I'd rather have an independant but I'd settle for a Repub at this point.

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I have to agree with Taka on this one; the U.S. is failing miserably on many issues dealing with children - and education is at the top of the list. One of my sons is twelve; he gets text books. They never seem to open these, at least not for homework, but get gets them. We used to get tons of workbooks; neither child does. We used to have so many take home projects, papers and assignement to do that it seemed we were always at the town library. My oldest will be in 8th grade this year and I do not have to use all the fingers on one hand to count the projects or papers he has done as homework. They study all year in order to pass the testing the schools are mandated to give. This testing doesn't allow them to acheive a well-rounded education, but just work to pass the tests. Schools are underfunded, teachers underpaid and not motivated, and the cirriculum just plain stupid. Have many friends in Europe I've always thougth U.S. school systems to be horriby indadequate, and they haven't gotten better but rather worse.

So higher taxes Taka? Well, I would agree with that if they would go for education and re-alignging our school systems to what they should be to produce intelligent, well-rounded kids. I truly believe that education is the key to wiping out much of the problems of poverty, racism and social inequality. But I've yet to see any political party in power here in the states adequately address the issue. Taxes are raised and the money goes to something stupid like wasteful and unproductive social welfare programs or the numerous idiotic projects from the stimulus package.

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State, then city and local district governing bodies contribute through their budgeting roughly half of the financing a given school in the US will receive. I just can't believe any politically engaged, sentient American would choose a state, a district and a school where their kids wouldn't even have school books.Taka13's story is just too sad for words.

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seijichuudo: It's the situation that's sad, which Taka points out, and you clearly missed. Nothing new in the latter, though. Why you're preoccupied with attacking his posts and not the actual problem is the REAL baffling thing.

I almost agree with a couple of posters that the whole system needs to be torn down and rebuilt to fit the needs of the people; the problem is that when you point out those needs and intend to rebuild a system, the people start screeching about 'socialism' and 'evil' because they are ultimately afraid of change, when the current system has clearly failed. Money needs to be put back into education, and put back in EFFECTIVELY. Where can the money come from? I can think of a few war budgets that can be cut and pay for every single education up to and maybe even including post-secondary in a year.

sarge: "For cryin' out loud, could you please refrain from dissing our country on this site?"

Taka's an American, speaking about Americans, and so you can't play the 'foreign comment' card on this one. YOU usually don't, I know, but it must be all the more frustrating when it comes from first hand experience at home, and all the more difficult to deny. Anyway, if you don't want to hear anything negative about a thread with states the fact that the US is in the fourth worst position in OECD countries... well... you best just cover your eyes and click on the next thread.

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smith, it's not a question of money. It's a question of management which is what the U.S has a problem with, our government simply can't do anything properly so the people don't expect them to do so.

Taka's an American, speaking about Americans, and so you can't play the 'foreign comment' card on this one. YOU usually don't, I know, but it must be all the more frustrating when it comes from first hand experience at home, and all the more difficult to deny.

People in the states throw fits all the time. You don't get frustrated with them because you want to avoid addressing a problem, you get frustrated with them because it's annoying. The U.S system is the way it is because thats what the people of the U.S voted on, no system gets into place without the public voting into office the people who institute it. The system is lousy because our elected officials are lousey, always have been and always will be, I for one have come to accept this fact and would like nothing more than to see the privitization of every possible industry. That way if the industry screws up, they're only losing their own money and not mine.

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The "idocracy" prophecy will become reality. Everywhere...

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"Japan spends less than the OECD average on children at each stage of childhood, The Japanese spending shortfall is especially pronounced for children under age 6, being less than one third of the spending committed to children between the ages of 6 and 17 years."

the DPJ Manifest aims to address this problem and many japanese voted for Mr. Hatoyama's party for that reason. in the (good ol') U.S. of A, most people would prefer that this be swept under the rug. they're willing to go to war (literally/figuratively) with their own government to ensure that children who live below he poverty line never see anything vaguely resembling proper nutrition/healhcare or opportunities. this is why canadians (at least the ones i've met) want not to be mistaken for americans. among other reasons ... he he he wink

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"Japan spends less than the OECD average on children at each stage of childhood, The Japanese spending shortfall is especially pronounced for children under age 6, being less than one third of the spending committed to children between the ages of 6 and 17 years."

the DPJ Manifest aims to address this problem and many japanese voted for Mr. Hatoyama's party for that reason. in the (good ol') U.S. of A, most people would prefer that this be swept under the rug. they're willing to go to war (literally/figuratively) with their own government to ensure that children who live below he poverty line never see anything vaguely resembling proper nutrition/healhcare or opportunities. this is why canadians (at least the ones i've met) want not to be mistaken for americans. among other reasons ... he he he wink

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TheQuestion: I've gotta say I'm digging your posts on this thread far more than on any other I've seen you post on. Very clear, quite concise, and aside from you stating your personal preferences (ie. subjectivity, which is fine) I'd say pretty objective. I don't think privatizing everything would accomplish anything but the rich being privvy to everything and the poor being in the lower caste of the new system, but that's me.

Anyway, while I agree it's more a problem of management than money, there is still a problem of money due to management of total funds by the people at the top. More money needs to go into public education, period. People may or may not always screw it up in terms of managing, by why was it so much better managed in the past (hell, even 15 years ago) compared to now? How much does recess cost? I realize good food costs more than repackaged foods that the private contractors/schools agree on, so pass laws upgrading food standards in schools.

" The system is lousy because our elected officials are lousey, always have been and always will be..."

In turn because people make lousy votes. You vote for the morons and that makes you a moron -- particularly if you go by the saying, "There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."

Had to throw that last one in there as it ties in on so many levels. hahahaha. Anyway, cheers for the decent posts.

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In turn because people make lousy votes. You vote for the morons and that makes you a moron -- particularly if you go by the saying

Didn't say I voted for em. I vote for who I think would be best suited for the job reguardless of party affiliation...odly enough none of my picks have won election in more than a decade. But I guess them's the brakes.

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Look,which is more important?-teachers' unions across the nation delivering their votes to the Democratic Party (in exchange for certain favors,job security,etc) or the repub alternative where things like "accountability" and "market forces" are allowed?

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Tigermoth,

I DO favor higher taxes to go toward education and agree with you on its importance. I also favor things like increasing the fines given out to corporations that throw the moral compass out the window to further raise funds for education programs. Companies like halliburton and kbr who have killed U.S. Soldiers would face crippling fines. This morning I caught on the news that Pfizer was settled and was fined $2.3 billion in a fraud case. I would have tripled the fine. If that put Pfizer out of business, so be it. The free market folk tell me that the loss of jobs and revenue of Pfizer going under would be absorbed by other smaller pharma companies.

I would also raise money for education by holding defense contractors feet to the fire. We spend billions of dollars on products that never come in on time and on budget. The ratinale is, if we back out now, we get nothing. I would change that to, if it's not here on time and on budget, you don't get paid.

Unlike my boy, I'm looking for real accountability and don't need to put it in parenthesis as something new (well...it is to him) and special. It should be the norm.

Taka

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Pretty good post,taka13.I'm not the angry young man I once was but I am still down with the class war thing. Tripling the fine for Pfizer sounds like a goer.Have YOU ever thought of entering politics?As for the rest, I Don't know what halliburton has to do with teen pregnancy in America, but there must be a way to link them.Keep fightin the good fight.

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I think poking your nose in on family control is the wrong moves. More spending, well less taxes; upping family income would surely lead to money spent on ed., or maybe the parents arent inetersted, or each parent has their own thoughts on ed.? Do you think spending more on ed, or children would involve standards? Maybe its just passing monies off to medical arenas through this area-young children- versus-teens. What age you have a child has nothing to do with poverty? Please explain that rationale? I think America does not have the long familial, traditional if you will, to give support to families in a way that comes from communities, countries (with small areas). Exception being Australia and theyre so young they dont know what theyre headed for.... theyll be the next America. Of course the US medical system is a rip off, and thats if you have preference for medicine of European ways.

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