Encouraging women to have babies?

Question

The Bell Curve asserts that the USA encourages the wrong women to have babies (uneducated, young, unmarried, etc.) by giving tax breaks, WIC, welfare, etc. The writers state that the US should encourage the RIGHT women to have babies: namely, those with high IQs (who also tend to be educated, married, and financially stable). What do you think of this?

Um there is no link. Read the book, sweetie.
The Bell Curve
Richard J. Herrnstein & Charles Murray
1994

*sigh* If you think I am making this up, or taking this out of context, PLEASE READ THE BOOK IN ITS ENTIRETY.

Have any of you actually read the book? I am getting answers that lead me to believe you have no idea what I'm talking about. LOL I guess it's that IQ thing again.

Ashley, it sounds like I hit a nerve with you. BTW, what is your IQ? The "right" women to have babies have IQs over 120, are married, educated, and have great careers.

Answer 1

Sounds good to me.

We need fewer children born to uneducated, unmarried women. This would help the crime rate drop dramatically.

Answer 2

I did not read the book, but agree with the idea that smart, educated who put their careers first, set up a means for good income and then decide to have kids are also smart/responsible enough to take birth control, use family planning and support their families. Uneducated women or women from uneducated families are more likely to think they can't do anything better with their lives, get pregnant accidentally, or choose to have children when they have no stable source of income. The result is the next generation following the same pattern.

Answer 3

Please link the article you are refering to.

Perhaps you should state the book you are talking about... the bell curve is a widely used statement.

I haven't read the article, but I found the whole context of your post to be interesting, so I did a search -
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45/019.html

Another interesting article - That was in regard to a special task force created just to research the contents of this book's "facts", and threw them all out -

American Psychological Association task force report
In response to the growing controversy surrounding The Bell Curve, the American Psychological Association's Board of Scientific Affairs established a special task force to publish an investigative report on the research presented in the book.[10] The final report, titled Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns, is available at an academic website. [11]

Some of the task force's findings supported or were consistent with statements from The Bell Curve. They agreed that:

IQ scores have high predictive validity for individual differences in school achievement.
IQ scores have predictive validity for adult occupational status, even when variables such as education and family background have been statistically controlled.
Individual differences in intelligence are substantially influenced by both genetics and environment.
There is little evidence to show that childhood diet influences intelligence except in cases of severe malnutrition.
There are no significant differences between the IQ scores of males and females.
Regarding Murray and Herrnstein's claims about racial differences and genetics, the APA task force stated:

There is certainly no such support for a genetic interpretation... . It is sometimes suggested that the Black/ White differential in psychometric intelligence is partly due to genetic differences (Jensen, 1972). There is not much direct evidence on this point, but what little there is fails to support the genetic hypothesis.

I'd say anyone can write a book, and while I haven't read this one except for pieces posted on the net and reveiws, I'd say I won't be reading it, either. Seems to be based heavily on race, and if you search either of these authors previous works, they are along the same lines. I don't support that.

Very thought provocking question without the race issue tossed in...

Answer 4

we shouldnt be encouraging ANYONE to have babies. it should be the people who are able, fiancially and mentally, and we should be doing a better job telling women about birth controls or abstinance. i'm sooo tired of seeing children having children, let alone people who just dont care to use any protection and just want to pop babies out every 9 months.

there was this family on tv once a few months back, they were a poor family from new orleans i believe, but the 14 y/o daughter got pregnant and she said she "didnt know any better". which is complete BS, what 14 y/o doesnt know that sex leads to kids? or why werent the parents more involved? these people dont need to be making babies if they cant even take care of the family they already have. its stupid. i was having sex ed in school starting in 4th grade. thats like what, 9-10 years old?

Answer 5

I'm not sure that because of these benefits people really make decisions on having children. I had my daughter at the age 14, unmarried, uneducated and defitnitley not fincially stable but I didn' t choose to use any of these benifits. I am now educated college grad, married and financially stable and still plan on having more children and still not using any of these benifits.

Answer 6

Women with those second set of qualifications are paid more to donate eggs, so I think there is already a financial incentive there.

Secondly, wheres the father in all this - it takes two.

Thirdly I think its a chicken & egg thing (well theres reproduction for you) since sometimes by having a child young, you may limit your choice for education & earning power. One more thing, where are you seeing that your second set of women is not having babies? If they had more babies, it might limit those other activities. Its all a vicious circle, this parenting!

Answer 7

Here's a little story of a woman I know. She was married both she and her husband had great jobs, a very nice home in an upscale neighborhood 2 kids and a dog. Both went to college and they were finacially stable. 4 yrs ago her husband died leaving her a single mother of 2 with a huge house payment she could no longer make on her salary. She had to sell the home and purchased a smaller one. He only had limited amount of life insurance which went to pay off his debts (as required by law) where she worked (and I wont mention the name but it starts with an E) also went under so she was left unemployed.

She now accepts WIC for her youngest as well as food stamps and medical insurance through the state..Is the the RIGHT kind of woman or the WRONG kind

All Im saying people are intitled to have chidren and just because someone uses WIC or state medical insurance doesnt mean they are the WRONG kind of woman.

I myself come from a finically stable home as well as provide my children with a finically stable home but when I saw what my friend went through I realized it can happen to any of us so DONT JUDGE

Answer 8

I see where this could be the case.
Have you seen the movie Idiocracy with Luke Wilson? It's stupid funny, but kind of shows how this happens.
Anyway, I don't know what could be done to encourage the "right" women to have babies.

Answer 9

wow. judge much? so what should we do, take away all assistance and let children go hungry? and what kind of woman is the "right" kind of woman. there are plenty of ladies out there that have lots of money, but failed miserably at raising their kids. and who's says that just because someone is not financially stable or falls on hard times that they are not educated or intelligent? we all go through challenging obstacles in our lives, it doesn't make you dumb, uneducated or unwed. it makes you a person! money does not buy everything; it takes much more to be a good mom.

besides, the Bell Curve is garbage.

Answer 10

I don't think they are encouraging, just helping. I think it is going to happen no matter what and at least there is help available so they don't feel like they have to have an abortion or cannot raise their child in a good environment with the things they need.

Answer 11

I wish there was a program to help those of use that are older, married, educated and gainfully employed to have a baby. I know I could adopt too, but all this costs money. I want to spend my money on the child, not give it away before I ever get the child. :(