Factors Affecting Variations in Human Fertility

Such a program might be unexpectedly effective as it came to be understood by our people. No very great shift in proportion of large families is required in order greatly to diminish whatever bad effects there may be in present birth differentials. It is not a radical program. It is such a program as might be proposed by economists in order to improve the economic level of the lowest groups, or by geneticists as a practical biological program. These changes may even come of themselves over a period of time. There is some evidence in this direction from some of the European cities. If present differentials are of significance for educational policy it is evident that education has a contribution to make in the further development of factual material on this subject, and in the development of population policies which will be in line with educational advance. A further possibility deserves serious consideration. Is American education today placing the proper emphasis on values? We have seen the change in emphasis from the classics to the physical sciences, and we are now witnessing an increasing emphasis on the sciences having to do with man. We may hope that this shift will continue. But this is not the emphasis we mean. We have in mind the re-direction of education so as to inculcate the highest human values, which are associated not alone with learning, nor even alone with service to humanity, but with the basic processes of normal human life, and with the sacrifices, and responsibilities and the happiness which go with them. It is a question whether the education of young people in our high schools and colleges is preparing them for the self-denial and patient effort required of responsible parents. Do the women's colleges create a true appreciation of the proportionate rewards offered by children in middle or later life as compared to the rewards offered by a career and other individualistic interests? In the same way we may question the education in human values given to boys and men in school and colleges. It is possible that the most significant changes to be made in educational policy in the next decade will have to do with a reorientation as to what is worth while in life, both for the individual and for the nation.