Friday, October 30, 2015

My Op-Ed in today's Globe and Mail "Goodbye to the Age of China's "Little Emperors"

"Perhaps the greatest benefit of the policy change will be sociological. Under the one-child policy, most children are overindulged by two parents and four grandparents. They have no brothers or sisters, cousins, or uncles and aunts. All the expectations of the generations fall onto their young shoulders, and the pressure to succeed can be crushing and character-distorting. Moreover, these “little emperors” tend to grow up with an exaggerated sense of self-importance and often lack the social sensibilities necessary to a civil society.
The termination of this policy is a rare piece of good news out of China, and should be welcomed. It’s likely that Chinese couples with only one child will be turning in early tonight."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

On November 2 the Globe and Mail published this letter in response to your article:

Population alarm

Instead of considering the end of China’s one-child policy a rare piece of good news, the development should be viewed with alarm (Goodbye To The Age Of ‘Little Emperors’ – Oct. 30).

The inevitable consequences of abandoning the effort to curtail the population explosion in China are broad-ranging and frightening. The population of China and the world is already at record levels. The greater the planet’s population, the greater the resource depletion and corresponding pollution.

At some point in the population explosion, the threshold will be passed where the environment will no longer be sustainable.

Climate change is getting worse, not better. How can a huge increase in the population possibly help? Rather than rejoicing at the end of an effort to keep a lid on reproduction, world leaders should encourage adoption of the policy in all countries with bloated populations, including China.

Andrew Kavchak, Ottawa