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Is White, Working Class America 'Coming Apart'?

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Credit Peter Holden

Charles Murray is the author of Real Education and The Bell Curve, co-authored with the late Richard Herrnstein, among other books. He lives in Maryland.

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Originally published on Mon February 6, 2012 4:33 pm

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According to the libertarian social scientist Charles Murray, America is "coming apart at the seams." Class strain has cleaved society into two groups, he argues in his new book Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010: an upper class, defined by educational attainment, and a new lower class, characterized by the lack of it. Murray also posits that the new "lower class" is less industrious, less likely to marry and raise children in a two-parent household, and more politically and socially disengaged

1:19 pm

Mon February 6, 2012

Where Eye Care Is A Luxury, Technology Offers Access

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Credit Courtesy of Centre for Vision in the Developing World

A man from Liberia uses a pump to adjust his liquid silicon lens. Liquid-lens glasses are part of an effort to make eyewear more accessible in the developing world.

Credit Andrew Thomas Ryan / MIT Media Lab

EyeNetra's smartphone-based NETRA system can perform an eye exam in roughly two minutes.

By Larry Abramson

For millions of people in the developing world, one thing stands between them and a job or an education: a good pair of glasses. Quality eye care is often a luxury in areas where health services are scarce. So researchers and entrepreneurs are looking for breakthrough technologies to bring the cost of glasses and eye exams way down.

1:13 pm

Mon February 6, 2012

U.S. Travel To Cuba Grows As Restrictions Are Eased

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The U.S. government has restricted travel to Cuba for a half-century. However, the Obama administration has gone back to a Clinton-era policy that eased some limitations, and some 400,000 Americans visited Cuba last year.

By Nick Miroff

Cuba is the only country in the world the U.S. government restricts its own citizens from visiting. Americans can go to Burma, Iran, even North Korea if those places give them a visa.

The Obama administration has now relaxed travel rules for Cuba, leading to a surge in U.S.-government approved tours to the island. But in the U.S., some lawmakers staunchly opposed to the Castro government say the travel programs are filled with heavy doses of propaganda.

1:10 pm

Mon February 6, 2012

Helicopter Parents Hover In The Workplace

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As the millennial generation enters the workforce, employers report that parents are taking an increasingly active role advocating on behalf of their children.

By Jennifer Ludden

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So-called helicopter parents first made headlines on college campuses a few years ago, when they began trying to direct everything from their children's course schedules to which roommate they were assigned.

With millennial children now in their 20s, more helicopter parents are showing up in the workplace, sometimes even phoning human resources managers to advocate on their child's behalf.

Megan Huffnagle, a former human resources manager at a Denver theme park, recalls being shocked several years ago when she received a call from a young job applicant's mother.

1:00 pm

Mon February 6, 2012

In Indianapolis, Super Bowl Leftovers Are All Gone (To The Hungry)

Credit JOHN BERRY / The Post-Standard /Landov

A platter of wraps for a Super Bowl party.

By Eliza Barclay

The Super Bowl party is over, and that means refrigerators around the country today are jammed with uneaten Frito pies, fried chicken, and seven-layer dips – remnants of one of the most gluttonous days of the year.

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1:33 pm

Mon February 6, 2012