Skip to main content

User account menu

  • Log in
  • Rss
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
Shopping cart 0
Cart

Search

Search
Home Press Register
  • Post
    • Post Dashboard
    • Leaderboard
    • Payment Settings
  • Home
    • Contact Us
    • FAQ
    • Monthly Website Statistics
    • Our History
    • Our Staff
    • Privacy Policy
    • Rack Locations
    • Submit News
  • Most Read
    • Most Read This Week
    • Most Read This Month
    • Most Read This Year
    • Most Read All Time
  • Most Recent
  • More News
    • Cartoons
    • Crime
    • Documents
    • Videos
    • Politics
    • Public Notices
  • Sports
  • E-Editions
    • Archives
    • Newspaper E-Edition
    • Magazine
    • Special Sections
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Comments
    • Editorials
    • Letters
    • Submit a Letter to the Editor
  • Advertising
    • Ad Rates
    • Ad Staff
  • Calendar
  • Obituaries
    • Submit an Obituary
  • Social
    • Anniversaries/Births
    • Engagements/Weddings
    • Features
    • Schools
    • Submit an Anniversary
    • Submit a Birth
    • Submit an Engagement
    • Submit a Wedding
    • Submit School News
  • Subscribe
  • State

Domain menu for Press Register (main)

  • Post
    • Post Dashboard
    • Leaderboard
    • Payment Settings
  • Home
    • Contact Us
    • FAQ
    • Monthly Website Statistics
    • Our History
    • Our Staff
    • Privacy Policy
    • Rack Locations
    • Submit News
  • Most Read
  • Most Recent
  • More News
    • Cartoons
    • Crime
    • Documents
    • Videos
    • Politics
    • Public Notices
  • Sports
  • E-Editions
    • Archives
    • Newspaper E-Edition
    • Magazine
    • Special Sections
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Comments
    • Editorials
    • Letters
    • Submit a Letter to the Editor
  • Advertising
  • Calendar
  • Obituaries
    • Submit an Obituary
  • Social
    • Anniversaries/Births
    • Engagements/Weddings
    • Features
    • Schools
    • Submit an Anniversary
    • Submit a Birth
    • Submit an Engagement
    • Submit a Wedding
    • Submit School News
  • Subscribe
  • State

WYATT EMMERICH: The elephant in the room

By Wyatt Emmerich , READ MORE > 1,168 Reads
On Thu, 10/17/2019 - 06:01 PM

One of the great pleasures of being in the news business is getting to know some of the great leaders in the community. Jackson’s Leland Speed is right up there on my list.

After founding two companies on the New York Stock Exchange, you would think Leland would take it easy, but he’s like the energizer bunny, going at a speed men half his age couldn’t maintain.

Leland has been instrumental in Jackson’s charter school movement. He walks the halls and knows the children by name. It’s incredible.

There are many people who think public education should be a government monopoly and that those supporting charter schools are anti-education. Nothing could be less true. Competition is the key ingredient to progress. Charter schools infuse a much-needed measure of competition into the educational system bureaucracy.

In the course of his work with charter schools serving disadvantaged students, Leland has stumbled headlong into what he refers to as “the elephant in the room.” In his opinion, it is the source of most of the problems facing our public schools and society at large. The elephant is the break-up of the nuclear family.

Root causes

There are so many big problems society faces, we sometimes forget to look at the root causes. This elephant is on a rampage and leaving a path of destruction in its wake.

The problem is widespread: One in four children live without a father in the home. The absence of a father correlates with a wide variety of bad things: four-times greater risk of poverty; seven-times greater risk of becoming pregnant as a teen; two-times greater risk of infant mortality; two-times more likely to drop out of high school; two-times higher risk of obesity and more likely to have behavioral problems, use drugs, go to prison and be abused.

There is nothing much good about single parenthood.

Last year, 40 percent of births were to unwed mothers. Fortunately, about half of these mothers are living with the father but are not legally married.

Don’t rush to blame the mothers. Without their willingness to face the financial hardship of raising a child alone, our country’s birthrate, already in decline, would plummet and our workforce would be decimated.

Even in Mississippi, the white birth rate is not enough to replace the population and in five more years the black birth rate will be as well. That’s scary. Mississippi is a religious rural state. If Mississippi can’t replace its population, imagine the birth rate trends of a big urban area like Denver or New York where the single lifestyle is dominant.

If there is anyone to blame, it’s the men. Our culture has lost the male morality of being a protector, provider and cornerstone of the family. I believe the decline in church-going and religious belief is part of this ominous trend. The rise of selfish focus on personal happiness and pleasure is destroying what is good and right in our society.

The blame on men is underscored by the fact that there are 10 million single-mother households and two million single-father households. That indicates that the women are the ones who are committed and tough it out by a five-to-one ratio. Ninety-two percent of the parents in prison are fathers.

Numerous studies have linked the rise in gangs as a product of fatherless households. Without a strong male figure in the house, young teenagers are not constrained. Many mothers simply don’t have the strength and understanding to deal with a young male surging with energy and testosterone.

Real men

The decline in fatherhood is a negative, vicious cycle. It is the example of a strong, dedicated, faithful father that gives a young man the image of what he is expected to grow up to be. Without a father figure, how are the young men expected to even know what being a father means? Our social and entertainment media increasingly portray fatherless homes as a norm, furthing eroding the cultural underpinning of our traditional family structure.

In the old days, a child was free labor. Children worked in the fields and did tasks around the house. A farm family with 10 children was an economic units with a built-in labor force.

In today’s modern society that model has turned on its head. Children are expensive. The federal government estimates it costs $250,000 or so to raise a child to 18, not including college. Other estimates are as high as a million dollars per child.

I’m not sure how we changed from a society where children worked to one in which they play (expensively) but this is driving men away from fatherhood and causing population decline.

The latest federal tax reforms doubled the child tax credit from $1,000 to $2,000. Europeans countries pay a cash stipend of $2 thousand to $4 thousand dollars for families with children.

Denmark’s government recently had an ad campaign “Do It For Denmark,” which gave a three-year supply of baby products for couples to go on vacation and conceive.

Russia declared every September 12 as the Official Day of Conception where couples are encouraged to stop work and every other commitment to have sex and conceive. If you have a baby nine months later, you win a refrigerator.

Such minor economic incentives are a drop in the bucket. Experts predict world population will begin declining in 50 years or sooner.

The real elephant in the room is the change in our culture from one of service to a society of selfishness for ourselves – the “me” generation.

Ultimately, this is linked to a decline in religious faith. Humans were never intended to pursue their own selfish desires independent of God’s judgment and wrath. We do so at humankind’s grave danger.

Wyatt Emmerich is the publisher of the Northside Sun in Jackson. He is also the owner of 22 newspaper in Mississippi including your Clarksdale Press Register.

-30-

‹ PreviousNext ›

Sports

In women’s hoops, we suddenly have a real Mississippi rivalry

Don’t look now, but we suddenly have a competitive Ole Miss-Mississippi State women’s basketball… READ MORE

His name is Carson, he lives in Raymond, and he will officiate the national championship
Seniors Ray, Smith compete in Bernard Blackwell All-Star Game
Matthews going to Miss. College after two years at Coahoma
Skipper coming back home to finish JUCO career at CCC
Tunica Academy boys win two

Sign Up for Notifications of Local Breaking News

Start E-mail NotificationsStop E-mail NotificationsStart Mobile NotificationsStop Mobile Notifications

Obituaries

Leonard Franklin (BIT) Vincent

Eddie Lee Ingram
Jean Turner Brewer
Prince Gene Bays
Amy Michelle Dixon
Joan Harrison Allen

Most Recent

Coahoma Early College High Schools eyes ACT and Benchmark tests

Coahoma Early College High School principal Cloretha Jamison will have a better idea of her… READ MORE

EDITORIAL: Do you want a shot?
FLOYD INGRAM: Yes, it’s c-c-c-cold outside
Wicker Hails $2.377 Million Award for UMMC Connected Care Pilot Program
Health department clarifies vaccine supply, new appointments available Jan. 25
Congressman Guest Applauds Army Corp of Engineers’ Record of Decision

Most Read News Article

  • Week
  • Month
  • Year
  • All Time

New Year’s gunshots hit Supervisor’s home

A bullet came through the home of District 3 Board of Supervisors member Derrell Washington at… READ MORE

EDITORIAL: Truancy is a crime against children
OPINION: Attack on capitol fueled by Internet conspiracy theories
Mississippi Economic Council's Virtual Capital Day 2021 Draws Over 500 Leaders on Livestream
DPS Most Wanted list proves successful with multiple captures in under a week
Phillips hits five 3-pointers in Coahoma loss to Northside

Coahoma County woman killed in auto accident

A Coahoma County woman has died following a motor vehicle accident on rain-slick streets in south… READ MORE

Four killed in Highway 161 crash
David Mancill: Unconventional route to ministry
FLOYD INGRAM: A look back on 2020
Police investigating 3 shooting, one at famed Crossroads
New Year’s gunshots hit Supervisor’s home

Richard Ira Gates

Richard Ira Gates, 60, Clarksdale died March 17, 2020 at his residence. Public viewing is from 2 to… READ MORE

Unkept property, litter and trash, trash, trash
Lee soccer falls to Magnolia Heights
Mississippi COVID-19 curve moving down
Flag commission narrow design to two finalists
Chamber delivers cookies to hospital

Richard Ira Gates

Richard Ira Gates, 60, Clarksdale died March 17, 2020 at his residence. Public viewing is from 2 to… READ MORE

Unkept property, litter and trash, trash, trash
Lee soccer falls to Magnolia Heights
Mississippi COVID-19 curve moving down
Flag commission narrow design to two finalists
Chamber delivers cookies to hospital

Opinion:

Wicker: Big Tech Has Crossed a Red Line

OPINION column - Senator Roger Wicker Wave of Censorship Confirms Need to Confront Tech Monopolies

SALTER: Wicker’s certification vote showed character, courage and loyalty to the Constitution
SALTER: Wicker’s certification vote showed character, courage and loyalty to the Constitution
FLOYD INGRAM: I’m looking forward to 2021
Capitol riot brings shame to GOP/Pence chose well but sadly late
JACK RYAN: Unacceptable in our democracy

Weddings & Engagement

WEDDING: Ashcraft / Dominguez

Alexandra Frances Ashcraft and Joshua Beau Dominguez were united in marriage Friday, October 30,… READ MORE

WEDDING: Debruler / Agostinelli
WEDDING: Hays/Zachary
Weiland / Bosarge engagement announced
ENGAGEMENT: Rodgers/Masterson
Hood / Wilson

News

Coahoma Early College High Schools eyes ACT and Benchmark tests

Coahoma Early College High School principal Cloretha Jamison will have a better idea of her… READ MORE

EDITORIAL: Do you want a shot?
FLOYD INGRAM: Yes, it’s c-c-c-cold outside
Wicker Hails $2.377 Million Award for UMMC Connected Care Pilot Program
Health department clarifies vaccine supply, new appointments available Jan. 25
Congressman Guest Applauds Army Corp of Engineers’ Record of Decision

Social

Leonard Franklin (BIT) Vincent

Eddie Lee Ingram
Jean Turner Brewer
Prince Gene Bays
Amy Michelle Dixon
Joan Harrison Allen

Special Sections & Magazines

Copyright 2020 • The Clarksdale Press Register
123 Second Street. • Clarksdale, MS 38614 • 662-627-2201

Emmerich Newspapers proudly serve the following Mississippi communities:

Click on the city name to visit its website.

ACKERMAN • CARROLLTON • CHARLESTON • CLARKSDALE • COLUMBIA • EUPORA • FOREST • GREENVILLE • GREENWOOD • GRENADA • HATTIESBURG • JACKSON • KOSCIUSKO • INDIANOLA • LOUISVILLE • MAGEE • MENDENHALL • McCOMB • NEWTON • PETAL • QUITMAN • SENATOBIA • WINONA • YAZOO CITY

As well as: DUMAS, Ark. • TALLULAH, La • FRANKLINTON, La.

For more information on how to extend your advertising message to these communities, click here.