Education, the Family and a Healthy Society

Eric Cochling, VP of Public Policy

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."

--Thomas Jefferson to Charles Yancey, 1816.

Despite the passage of nearly 200 years, Thomas Jefferson’s wisdom is as relevant today as it was in his time. A free society surely cannot exist in the absence of an educated citizenry.

But why is this true?

Education plays a pivotal role in a complex series of interactions that lead a person to be able to form and sustain a healthy family and, therefore, to be more likely to be an engaged member of society.

Education and the Health of the Family

Research (and common sense) shows that a key to avoiding or escaping poverty is obtaining a quality education. Since poverty contributes to higher rates of divorce and out of wedlock births, education is an extremely important element of the formation of stable and healthy families. This relationship between education, poverty and healthy families is reinforced by the often cited quote from Dr. William Galston (Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy under President Clinton) who said:

You need only do three things in this country to avoid poverty - finish high school, marry before having a child, and marry after the age of 20. Only 8 percent of the families who do this are poor; 79 percent of those who fail to do this are poor.

As Galston implies, education is not only a key to avoiding poverty but it is one of the key steps in the creation of the institution (the family) that increases a person’s ability to avoid poverty. And, to complete the relationship between education, poverty and the family, it is important to know that it is the intact family that is most likely to produce educated adults.

On the education front, the picture in Georgia is not encouraging. In a study of graduation rates from 2005, Georgia ranked as the 6th worst state in the nation (just slightly better than the District of Columbia) with 42% of students failing to graduate on time. For African-American students, the study found that less than 50% graduated on time. Another study by the United Health Foundation ranked Georgia as 48th among the states for graduation rates in 2007.

Given these statistics, it is clear that large numbers of Georgia’s students are getting the first step in Galston’s “recipe for avoiding poverty” wrong. And, given what we know about poverty and family formation, it is clear that a large number of these students will either fail to form a family or will find it very difficult to keep their families together. One of the results of these failures (of education and family formation) is the creation of a cycle of poverty and broken homes that is very difficult to reverse. Another outcome of these failures is a society that does not function as our Founders envisioned and our democracy demands.

For more information about the role of education in the health of the family, see the following:

 “Why We Don’t Marry”

by James Q. Wilson

http://www.city-journal.org/html/12_1_why_we.html

 “Fragile Families, Welfare Reform and Marriage”

by Sara McLanahan, Irwin Garfinkel, and Ronald B. Mincy

http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/files/rc/papers/2001/12childrenfamilies_mclanahan/pb10.pdf

 “Diplomas Count 2008: School to College”

Education Week

http://www.edweek.org/ew/toc/2008/06/05/index.html

 “America’s Health Rankings”

United Health Foundation

http://www.unitedhealthfoundation.org/ahr2007/states/georgia.html

Eric Cochling is Vice President of Public Policy at the Center for an Educated Georgia. He can be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 Read part two of this commentary.