This David Broder's column, titled Strong Families, Strong Young Minds, appeared in the Nov. 27 Washington Post. Happy Thanksgiving.

In time for this great day come two new reports suggesting that the American family is looking strong and that we can, if we wish, make the future even brighter for the youngest among us.

One of the studies comes from the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. Each year since 1975, the institute has asked a huge sample of 50,000 students in grades 8, 10 and 12 questions about their life goals and attitudes. One of those questions is: How important is it to you to have a good marriage and family life?

It turns out that it is just as vital a goal for today's young people as it was for their parents. In 1977, 85 percent of the males and 91 percent of the females rated marriage and family as being extremely or quite important to them. In 2001, the figures were 88 percent and 93 percent.

Posted by Bill at 11/27/2002 11:06:29 AM | Link