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Feeling ‘under-babied’? More like underpaid and overburdened

Columns

It was just my luck last week that as my column on the fertility crisis was being laid out in newspaper pages and posted to websites, the sharpest minds of the Trump administration were gathered in the Oval Office to hold forth ... on the fertility crisis. Bad timing is an occupational hazard. But something made it a little more painful for me. As President Trump struggled to keep his eyelids open nearby, Dr. Mehmet Oz, who heads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, stated the gravity of the crisis in terms our nation will not soon forget. “One in three Americans,” ...

What’s so bad about a stable population?

Columns

Back in 1969, President Richard Nixon warned Congress against the rapid growth of the American population: “When future generations evaluate the record of our time, one of the most important factors in their judgment will be the way in which we responded to population growth.” If the American headcount continued rising at the current rate, Nixon said, the nation’s “social supplies — the capacity to educate youth, to provide privacy and living space, to maintain the processes of open, democratic government — may be grievously strained.” Since 1969, America’s ...

Dear Annie: Is a teenage bride ever okay?

Columns

Dear Annie: My 19-year-old daughter — she’ll be 20 in July — is a sophomore at Charleston College. She came home for spring break and informed my husband and me that she had found her soul mate at Charleston, and they plan to marry this summer. He’s 24 and a graduate student teaching English. She wants to go back to school in the fall as husband and wife. How they plan to support themselves we have no idea. Should we try to talk her out if it? We’ve already told her we think it’s a mistake. — Disapproving Dear Disapproving: Have a candid conversation with your daughter ...

Man underestimates chewing tobacco’s influence on his health

Columns

DEAR DR. ROACH: My husband has neuropathy in his feet. He is otherwise healthy, exercises daily, maintains his weight, and eats healthy. My concern is that he uses chewing tobacco. He insists that it doesn’t have a negative influence on his condition, but I disagree. What’s your medical opinion? He is fully aware of other health complications that chewing tobacco can cause, but he doesn’t make an effort to quit. I’m frustrated and worried about his future. He is 63. — A.C.W. ANSWER: There are many causes of neuropathy. Diabetes is a major one, but I get many letters from ...

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson disagreed about the American Revolution’s meaning even as they lay dying

Columns

Like Americans today, the people living in the United States in 1826 were preparing to celebrate a milestone for their country. July Fourth of that year marked the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. As what was known as the “Jubilee” of American independence approached, Americans realized that the founding generation was dying off. They wanted to take advantage of the founders’ insight while they still could. This meant soliciting memories and advice from the signers of the Declaration, only three of whom were still alive. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were ...

Our screen culture increasingly can’t read

Columns

We’ve been having a debate about “book bans” in recent years, but given the steep decline in student literacy, the deeper question is how anyone would notice whether a book is available in a school library or not. The New York Times published an eye-opening report on a study by the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford documenting steep declines in student test scores, especially in reading. Over the past 10 years, reading scores have declined in 83% of school districts. What looked like a Covid-driven catastrophe is, instead, part of a long-running trend. Reading ...