Cultural Survival Skills

The following is a re-blog from 2013

By Bob Caylor of the News Sentinel, Fort Wayne In., November 17, 1994

This is the continuation of the newspaper article explaining my research and theories on America’s decline.

Part Two

FEWER CHILDREN, MORE ELDERLY

Mawhinney’s theory begins and ends with children. The condition of children today foreshadows the shape of society decades from now, and what he sees isn’t good.

Children younger than 5 are a smaller portion of our population than ever before. In 1900, 12 percent of Americans were 5 or younger; in 1986, 7.4 percent of the population was in that age group. By 2010, that number is expected to fall to 6 percent.

Meanwhile, the 25- to 64-year-old age group is increasing its share of the population, but slowly. Mawhinney calls this young to middle-aged group the “culture-sustaining” portion of the population. They are working, paying taxes, raising children–in short, doing the bulk of the work involved in maintaining society.

And the elderly comprise an ever-growing share of the population. Most of them are retired and collecting much more in government benefits than they’er paying in taxes.

Much of the culture-building work the elderly could perform–helping with child care and passing on knowledge, tradition, ends up not being done, because many grandparents don’t live close to their grandchildren.

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In the next part, learn how an increasing percent of our decreasing population of children (our future) are at increased risk for various bio-psycho-social problems.

V. Thomas Mawhinney, Ph.D., 2/11/13

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