‘It’s not normal for parents to raise their children in isolation’

‘Is this how we should raise children?’

Modern people “like to imagine ourselves as autonomous individuals, but in the natural human life cycle we spend a large proportion of our lives dependent on others,” said Louise Perryn. “We often feel a longing for something like a village,” especially “college-educated, relatively affluent Americans who moved away from their extended families in pursuit of career opportunities.” Yet “even though forming communities” would “solve many economic and practical problems,” particularly in raising children, few people actually “make the attempt.”

‘America is sliding toward illiteracy’

The “past decade may rank as one of the worst in the history of American education,” says Idrees Kahloon. The “decline began well before the pandemic, so Covid-era disrup