By: Dave Rojeck, PhD
Catholic Educational Leadership/Policy
My niece is a labor and delivery nurse. She has helped deliver hundreds, perhaps thousands of babies in her vocation. It's a passion of hers to help women give birth. She once told me that labor for women in their teens and 20s is much easier than for women in their 30s. That said, why has contemporary society put off child-bearing for so long? It's typical today for women not to marry and have children until their 30s. Why? Maybe it took time to find their significant other. Perhaps they put off motherhood to allow their career to blossom. At any rate, this has been the norm for a few generations. Previously, in the pioneering days, young ladies wed as teenagers. Laura Ingalls Wilder of Little House on the Prairie gave birth to her first child at 19. Giving birth at a young age, many couples had large families. As children grew, they could help with the many chores essential to living in pre-industrial times. Washing clothes by hand was indeed a more arduous process than machines offer today,
With a move to the cities and the onset of a mechanical society, it was not as essential for families to have many children. As women progressed in their careers, they put off child-rearing until later in life. Concerns over rising healthcare costs and overall economic concerns have also been factors in typical small families today. Raising children costs money. In light of this, we have seen a decline in the number of children per family. In 1960, the birth rate per woman was 3.65. While there were slight upticks in annual births from year to year, the decline over 60 years has been dramatic. In 2021, the birth rate was 1.66, a drop of more than 200 percent. This is considered below the 2.1 replacement level needed for a generation to replace itself completely.
Thus, if the USA is to grow from within, and not rely solely on immigrant populations, American families need to have more babies. Having babies when mothers are in their 20s is optimal if we want to maximize women's reproductive health. Yet, how can women get their careers on track after high school or college and start a family? The suggestion here is for 16 years to be the age of high school graduation. Students would get their diplomas at that time and enter career training and the workforce after that. This would add millions of people into the workforce at an earlier age and help to solve the American manufacturing crisis so that not all goods would have to be imported from China and elsewhere.
Early college and vocational education programs are options but high school graduation is still for 18-year-olds. Many consider it to be a waste of time sitting in a high school desk when they are strong, virile, and ready to work and/or train for their careers.
Giving birth in their 20s is a healthier outcome for women. They are less susceptible to having a cesarean section among other health concerns that may be brought to bear by waiting another decade to have children. By graduating high school at 16, women can utilize the next years preparing for their careers. By age 18-20, meet their future spouses, and establish a family while still young. The replacement level will return to a natural state.
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