It’s Time for Education to Support Single Fathers
My prior post focused on some of the ways that education has been an advocate for improving the lives of disenfranchised groups within the democratic United States (“Education: Helper of the Disenfranchised” ). If educators want to continue this trend, it’s time to become an advocate for single fathers.
The Stats
Any discussion of statistics in relation to fathers/fatherhood has to be qualified with a general statement that empirical data for dads is typically not collected or in some situations, it leaves out some relevant considerations. According to the U.S. Census Bureau:
• There are 70.1 million fathers in the U.S. Of these, 44.8 million are not married and 1.8 million or 15% of single parents are officially listed as single fathers. [This begs the question: What about the remaining 43 million dads?]
• There are 154,000 stay-at-home fathers [However, this does not include some demographics like dads who work remotely from home while caring for children.]
• There are an equal number of deadbeat moms as deadbeat dads; about 35% of each group does not pay child support as court ordered; however, nationally, mothers were to pay $4.3 billion whereas fathers were to pay $29.8 billion. [In other words, single fathers pay seven times the amount of child support as mothers.] (19 June, 2011)
The U.S. Census Bureau also found that 90.2% of the time fathers are ordered to pay child support although 44.5% are not allowed to see their children at all. Furthermore, the Census Bureau does acknowledge that actually only 7% of fathers fail to pay their child support once the full story is shared. For example, 25% of dads are assessed higher support payments than they can actually pay (2010). Although parental alienation and failure to pay child support are punishable by law, and all deadbeat parents are supposedly equally prosecuted: “All too often, prosecutors who aggressively and relentlessly pursue ‘deadbeat dads’ for failing to pay financial support for their children, turn a blind-eye to the ‘deadbeat moms’ who deprive children of the “emotional support” by interfering with child custody” (Deadbeat Moms, 2000).
The financial and emotional toll all of this takes on fathers, especially single fathers, is devastating enough; however, there’s more reason that educators need to champion this group.
The Context
If the above information is placed within a larger context, the recent recession in the United States has hit men hardest. A recent report from Rutgers University found that of the Americans who feel “devastated” or “totally wrecked,” 64% of them are men (2 December, 2011). The report also refers to “stories of suicide” without giving details. Although it is known that worldwide that the suicide rate for men is higher than that for women, the percentage of these male deaths that are directly related to the disenfranchisement of single fathers is conservatively estimated to be 15,000-18,000 per year in the U.S. alone. As one contributor posted in the Antimisandry.com forum, “The deaths of these men is equivalent to 5 or 6 9/11 incidents per year with children left without fathers and it doesn’t cause a ripple in the pond of public, media or (big)government interest.”
Clearly, there are parallels to other disenfranchised groups in U.S. history whose causes education has championed. For instance, it’s well known that African American slaves were considered 3/5 human with no civil rights, and we are quite rightly outraged by that today. However, few modern Americans are aware that fathers in the U.S. have a similar status in the federal government’s view. For example, blogger Dean Dad of Inside Higher Ed recently wrote an open letter to the U.S. Census Bureau for labeling fathers “babysitters” rather than parents, clearly showing that in the eyes of the federal government, fathers have a lesser status as parents; therefore, they have less rights. This also gives them less access to needed resources.
There are more reasons educators must advocate for single fathers.
Reinforced in the Classroom
As part of the larger context, completion rates for males are declining while those of women are climbing. The National Center for Education Statistics recently reported that in 2009, 62.1% of associate’s degrees, 57.2% of bachelor’s degrees, 60.4% of master’s degrees, and 52.3% of doctoral degrees were award to women (2011). Furthermore, 42% of women ages 25-34 have completed at least a four-year degree while only 34% of men have. Although there may be other factors, certainly the disenfranchisement of fathers as described above plays a role. A single father I spoke with who preferred to remain anonymous mentioned that he is paying for the college tuition of two children; therefore, he cannot pay a third tuition to continue his own education as he needs to do to stay current in his field. “Mom’s income counts on the FAFSA,” he shared, “but she pays nothing toward college of the 50% she was court ordered to pay and the court does nothing.” There is also much more financial aid for single mothers (a href=http://bit.ly/xnHMiX> 925,000 hits in Google ) than for single fathers (a href=http://bit.ly/zN9r2E> 88,000 hits in Google ). Educators must provide more financial and other forms of support for single dads; they must also reach out to them more as academia has done for moms in the recent past.
There is concern that educators themselves are perpetuating negative stereotypes about males. Recent studies like the Gender Expectations and Stereotype Threat by British researchers Bonny Hartley and Robbie Sutton strongly indicate that female teachers and the feminization of curriculum have created an environment where “Girls think they are cleverer, more successful and harder working than boys from as young as four, a study has found” (31 August, 2010). The result is that boys who are educated in this environment grow up believing they are capable of less; therefore, they tend to aim for advancing their education less. They also showed that boys tend to thrive more with a male teacher than a female teacher.
Thirdly, it must not be forgotten that ostracizing one group has rippling effects. If people don’t care about supporting single fathers, it should be kept in mind that for each single father who is disenfranchised devastated, or a suicide, at least one child is affected. Is anyone really happy with these figures for children of fatherless homes? They are:
• 4.6 times more likely to commit suicide,
• 6.6 times to become teenaged mothers (if they are girls, of course),
• 24.3 times more likely to run away,
• 15.3 times more likely to have behavioral disorders,
• 6.3 times more likely to be in a state-operated institutions,
• 10.8 times more likely to commit rape,
• 6.6 times more likely to drop out of school,
• 15.3 times more likely to end up in prison while a teenager.
To think that this does not affect the classroom at all levels would be illogical. Something must be done, and the solution is to advocate to for single fathers.
The Solution
As they have done so often in the past, educators must take a leading role in making sure that single fathers do not continue to suffer from disenfranchisement and discrimination. This is never about pitting one group against another; rather, it’s about upholding a tradition that began at the very inception of the United States as a bold experiment where everyone is equal. This also means providing equal access and opportunity to education for all.
Image source: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=3062
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