Is the moral barometer rising or falling?

We often ask that question in our seminars here at the Institute. And as we’ve observed responses over the years, one thing stands out: Spotting evidence for a falling barometer is a lot easier that finding the rising indicators.

So here’s some good news on the up side. The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics — a consortium of federal agencies that includes the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Census Bureau, the Administration for Children and Families, and 19 other government and private partners — has just reported its latest results for “38 key indicators on important aspects of children’s lives.” The news for our collective future — which, after all, is what children represent — is surprisingly positive.

To be sure, some were downers. Compared to prior decades, more kids today live in communities with substandard drinking water or in physically inadequate or overcrowded housing. More are born with low birth weights, and more are born to unmarried mothers.

But even a quick study of the new report reveals two telling facts.

First, the downers are largely in areas that kids can’t control. Where they themselves can take charge — concerning, say, social behavior or educational choice — the long-term numbers are positive. Is the message that adults mess things up for kids more than kids mess things up for themselves?

Second, there’s a curious blip in the 1990s. In series upon series of data, the indicators move in a positive direction through the 1980s. Then they slide backward, often dramatically, in the 1990s. After that, however, they get back on track, often arriving at 2005 or 2006 (the latest years reported here) in record territory. Is the message that the go-go1990s delivered an excess of materialism in a wasteland of unethical leadership that, while it seemed pleasant to adults, was mentally and morally tough on kids?

Whatever the reasons, the data supporting the rising-barometer theory is significant. Point by point, the facts speak for themselves:

• Births by women ages 15 to 19 has dropped by a third since its peak — 61.8 per thousand in 1991 — to 40.4 per thousand in 2005.
• Daily smoking by high-school seniors declined in the 1980s, roared back to record levels from 1995 to 2000 (24.6 percent in 1997), and has since dropped precipitously (12.2 percent in 2006).
• High-schoolers who say they have had sexual intercourse has risen modestly in the past several years, but still shows a long-term decline from 1991 (54.1 percent) to 2005 (46.8 percent).
• Serious drinking — having five or more alcoholic beverages in a row in the past two weeks — has dropped among 12th-graders from 1980 (41.2 percent) to 2006 (25.4 percent). Like smoking, it declined throughout the 1980s and surged back upward in the 1990s before tailing off again in this century.
• Although the numbers of youthful perpetrators of serious violent crime have risen somewhat in the last several years, the long-term trends are positive. From a peak of 51.9 incidents per thousand in (once again) 1993, it fell to 17.2 per thousand in 2005.
• High-school graduates who have taken the most advanced courses available increased remarkably between 1982 and 2004, in math (from 26.3 percent to 50 percent), science (35.4 percent to 68.4 percent), English (13.3 percent to 32.7 percent), and foreign languages (14.6 percent to 34.5 percent).
• High-school completion rates for 18-to-24-year-olds are up from 83.9 percent (1980) to 87.6 percent (2005) — a small gain, perhaps, until you remember how hard it is to push already high figures even higher.
• The percentage of young people ages 16 to 19 who are neither enrolled in school nor working at a job has declined from 12 percent (1984) to 8 percent (2006). The most dramatic declines are among women (from 14 percent to 8 percent in the same period), perhaps because many of them are not staying home with babies they are no longer having.
• The percentage of students who finish high school and go immediately to college also has shot upwards, from 49.3 percent (1980) to 68.6 percent (2005) — perhaps reflecting the new realities of finding work in a knowledge economy.

Even among indicators out of their control, children are showing progress. Three-to-5-year-olds are more frequently being read to at home. As they grow up, they are less subject to maltreatment than in the 1990s. They’re more apt to live in households where at least one parent is working. From ages 12 to 17, they are only one-third as likely to be a victim of serious violent crime as in the peak year of (again) 1990. The death rate among children 5 to 14 has been cut nearly in half since 1980, to the lowest figure on record (16.8 per 100,000) in 2004.

Three lessons? First, don’t bad-mouth kids, who in so many ways are doing better than we adults did at their age. Second, don’t assume their progress will always be a straight-line improvement, but help them keep their traction even if another period like the 1990s looms into view.

Third, and maybe most important, don’t grouse about a world losing its ethical bearings and going to smash until you’ve looked carefully at arguments for the other side. That’s not to say that the moral barometer is swirling upward — far from it. But the notion that the devil has all the good tunes takes a real and deserved beating from this report.

©2007 Institute for Global Ethics

“Anything that doesn’t fit into the political appointees’ ideological, theological or political agenda is often ignored, marginalized, or simply buried. The problem with this approach is that in public health, as in a democracy, there is nothing worse than ignoring science or marginalizing the voice of science for reasons driven by changing political winds.”

– Former U.S. surgeon general Richard Carmona, speaking last week to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Carmona, who served under President Bush from 2002 to 2006, says the administration muzzled his scientific reports and comments on subjects including secondhand smoke, stem cell research, global warming, abstinence-only sex education, and the emergency contraceptive Plan B.

CHICAGO
Conrad Black, who once owned the world’s third-largest media empire, faces up to 20 years in prison after being convicted of fraud and obstruction of justice in what prosecutors charged was a scheme to cheat shareholders.

A jury in Chicago also found three former executives of Black’s media firm, Hollinger International, guilty of mail fraud, reports the Chicago Sun-Times, formerly owned by Black.

Although his passport was confiscated, Black was allowed to remain free on $21 million bail until a July 19 hearing, Reuters reported.

Prosecutors said Black illicitly funneled money to himself and other top Hollinger executives under “non-compete agreements,” and illegally billed shareholders for personal expenses, such as lavish parties, vacations, and an apartment, according to MarketWatch.

A non-compete agreement is generally drawn up by a buyer of a firm and requires the sellers not to set up competing business. Ironically, notes the Globe & Mail, Black’s gigantic empire was felled ultimately by three small-town newspapermen who balked at what they viewed as suspicious side deals hidden in the fine print of their non-compete agreements when they bought small Hollinger properties.

The trial, the latest in a five-year U.S. crackdown on corporate fraud, became emblematic of the backlash against big business in the wake of scandals such as Enron, Tyco, and WorldCom.

Also, notes the Financial Times, the case was one more indictment of the shortcomings of “showpiece” boards of directors who fail to scrutinize CEO actions until the firm is in deep trouble.

In an editorial, the Financial Times said the verdict, which also included acquittals on some charges, was a carefully wrought decision that “sent a clear message. It cannot be accused of throwing the book at Lord Black and his fellow defendants because its members harbored a populist prejudice against corporate fat-cats. They deliberated for 11 days before returning a finely judged verdict.”

BEIJING
China, sensing an economic backlash against counterfeit and adulterated goods at home and exported abroad, last week stepped up efforts to restore consumer confidence — a push capped by the execution of the former head of the state food and drug administration for taking bribes to approve bogus drugs.

Chicago Tribune correspondent Evan Osnos, reporting from Beijing, writes that while the execution of Zheng Xiaoyu was assumed by many to be an effort to placate foreign consumers unnerved by recalls and bans on tainted Chinese products, “to Chinese officials and factory bosses, the message was far clearer: Top leaders are unwilling to let corruption endanger the export engine on which the nation’s growth and Communist Party’s power depends.”

The execution was a harsh and swift sentence even by Chinese standards, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times, reflecting deep anger among Chinese concerned about their health as well as international economic fallout.

At its root, writes Newsweek, the problem is akin to an ethical issue that could have been resurrected from U.S. history books: “China today resembles nothing so much as the United States a century ago, when robber barons, gangsterism, and raw capitalism held sway. Now as then, powerful vested interests are profiting from murky regulations, shoddy enforcement, rampant corruption and a lack of consumer awareness. In the United States during the early 20th century, public outrage over bogus drugs and contaminated foodstuffs, fueled by graphic accounts such as Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, finally prompted passage of the landmark Pure Food and Drug Act.”

Chinese officials, who initially dismissed criticism about product-safety crises involving commodities as diverse as medications, toothpaste, pet food, tires, and seafood, last week abruptly switched gears. In the wake of Zheng’s execution, officials convened a rare press conference and, in an even more unusual move, admitted the problem.

The state-run China Daily quoted a spokesman for the government conceding that “China’s food and drug supervision work began late with weak foundations.”

Officials announced a five-year plan to tighten supervision and upgrade standards.

In a separate move, Chinese regulators banned the use of diethylene glycol as a sweetener for toothpaste, Bloomberg reports. The substance, often used in antifreeze, was found in shipments sent to the United States from China, resulting in all Chinese toothpaste imports being detained and tested at the border.

VARIOUS DATELINES
Corruption stories figured in news from the world press last week:

• Africa, often viewed as a continent crippled by corruption and misrule, has seen extraordinary progress in the past decade, according to a new World Bank report. The International Herald Tribune notes that the Bank found that several nations in Africa, including Ghana, Liberia, Rwanda, and Tanzania, have made significant strides against corruption, though Eritrea, Ivory Coast, and Zimbabwe suffered setbacks. A World Bank official told the Herald Tribune that the study challenges what has been dubbed “Afro-pessimism,” a wariness of investing in African ventures.
• The military-backed government of Bangladesh has arrested more than 17,000 people in its corruption crackdown, an official said last week, according to Forbes. Those arrested reportedly include leading politicians, businesspeople, and bureaucrats. Many have been released on bail. Bangladesh’s current government, which came to power after a political confrontation that scuttled last year’s elections, has vowed to clean up graft and hold rescheduled elections by the end of 2008.
• Thailand’s government has frozen more than $16 million in assets believed to be controlled by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is living in exile after being accused of corruption. The Bangkok Post reports that lawyers for Thaksin plan to file a civil suit asking for the freeze to be lifted. Thaksin was overthrown in a bloodless coup last September amid allegations that his massive business empire had evaded taxes.
• Chile will not extradite former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, who is wanted by his home nation on charges of corruption and human rights violations. A Chilean judge said the evidence was not strong enough to warrant Fujimori’s return, the BBC reports. Peru’s government says it will appeal.

SAN FRANCISCO
Internet giant AOL last week agreed to head off probable litigation by changing its business practices so that customers can more easily cancel services.

As part of a $3 million settlement with 48 states and the District of Columbia, AOL averted court action in the wake of complaints from customers who said they tried to close their accounts but ran into obstacles, the Washington Post reports.

Attorneys general who filed the suit claimed that AOL’s customer service representatives were paid bonuses if they found a way to retain the customer, according to the Associated Press.

The company recruited many new customers by offering free trials but automatically billed customers when those free periods expired. AOL agreed to offer refunds to customers who say the company continued to bill them after they attempted to cancel, PC World reports.

Also, AOL promised to offer more options for customers to cancel service. Previously, notes PC World, customers were only able to cancel by calling AOL and speaking to a service representative. Now, AOL customers can cancel by visiting an Internet site.

E-Commerce Times reports that AOL has been losing customers over the past several years as users migrate away from dial-up connections, the backbone of AOL’s first customer base, to broadband Internet actions.

AOL admitted no wrongdoing in agreeing to the settlement.

BOSTON
A preliminary report by a federal safety board into last year’s fatal collapse of a Boston tunnel says the disaster could have been averted if those overseeing the project had anticipated that an epoxy holding parts of the ceiling together could weaken over time.

Boston television station WHDH reports that the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation of the July 10, 2006, collapse of a tunnel in part of the city’s “Big Dig” project is likely to figure prominently in several criminal and civil court actions resulting from the death of 39-year-old Milena Del Valle, who was crushed when about 26 tons of concrete fell on her car.

According to the Boston Globe, federal investigators spread the blame among multiple contractors and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, noting that the epoxy chosen to help secure ceiling panels was the wrong type of glue and that project oversight failed to detect the problem.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the federal safety board said San Francisco engineering firm Bechtel, which led the joint venture when it prepared preliminary designs for the $14.6 billion project, should have known the glue would not hold and should have monitored the panels after some loose bolts were found in 1999.

Bechtel did not specifically comment on the findings, saying it will await the release of the final report, which is expected within several weeks.

In previous statements Bechtel and other companies involved in the project have said they stand behind their work, BusinessWeek reports.

The project spanned more than a decade and was plagued by delays, leaks, and cost overruns. Originally estimated to cost about $2.6 billion, it spiraled to almost six times the original estimate, making it the most expensive public works project in U.S. history.

MONTREAL
The Canadian Cancer Society has called on the government to ban the use and export of asbestos, which is recognized as one of the most dangerous cancer-causing materials ever to be used on a widespread basis.

Despite its dangers, reports the Globe and Mail, industry groups have consistently challenged calls to end asbestos production, arguing that the substance is safe when handled carefully, such as when it is encased in concrete or other materials.

Also, industry leaders point out, the type of asbestos currently in use is a less dangerous variety than those linked to earlier waves of cancers.

Several successive Canadian governments have opposed moves to ban the use and export of asbestos.

Canada, which is among the world’s leading producers of asbestos, exports about 90 percent of the product to nations in the developing world, with India, Indonesia, and Thailand leading the list, according to a report from CTV.

The Times of India notes that a government agency there is working on a study — partially funded by the asbestos industry — examining safety factors related to asbestos.

Results are expected to influence Indian regulations regarding future importation policies.

WASHINGTON
A county in Virginia has raised an ethics controversy after a controversial crackdown on illegal immigrants that would deny them some services.

USA Today reports that members of the board of supervisors of Prince William County last week unanimously approved a measure that directs county agencies to provide a list of services that they can deny to illegal immigrants without breaking federal or state law.

The board also has instructed police to check the immigration status of all prisoners, according to the paper.

While it is unclear exactly which services would be denied, it is expected that the move would prohibit an illegal immigrant from using a municipal swimming pool or checking out a library book, reports the Los Angeles Times.

The Star-Exponent of Culpepper, Virginia, reports that the county’s approach — one of the toughest in the nation — comes as local officials throughout the United States complain that the federal government’s failure to implement immigration reform has placed a crushing burden on municipal governments.

Critics characterize the county’s move as racist and xenophobic.

Washington, D.C., television station WRC reports that about 150 protestors turned up outside the Prince William County administration center when the board of supervisors was meeting.

SAN DIEGO
Public schools are attempting to walk a narrow legal and ethical line by adjusting class schedules to allow students to participate in Muslim prayer, according to a report from the July 12 Christian Science Monitor.

Correspondent Randy Dotinga profiles a San Diego-area elementary school where a controversy erupted over whether, by accommodating Muslim students with a room for afternoon prayer, the school is unfairly promoting religion.

Critics say the action is unfair because no similar provision is offered for Christians. But a lawyer for a local Muslim group says the Muslim faith requires highly specific prayer obligations that most other religions do not.

At the center of the dilemma, writes Dotinga, is the fact that the “First Amendment seeks to balance an individual’s right to practice one’s religion without undue government interference while at the same time barring the government from endorsing or favoring any particular faith. In addition, in 2000, Congress approved the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which requires religious accommodations in many instances.”

An attorney with the National School Boards Association told the Monitor that schools already provide special accommodations for Christians, such as not having school on Sunday and having most major Christian holidays off.

And Kevin Hasson, who heads a bipartisan group called the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, dismissed what he characterized as public schools’ fear of religion, arguing that “the line is when the government comes in and says, ‘We really think you ought to pray.’ “

WASHINGTON
A new website, endorsed by a variety of multinational firms, provides a mechanism for companies and individuals to report bribery and corruption.

Bribeline.org, created by a Maryland nonprofit group, allows anyone to report incidents of suspected graft in the United States or overseas, reports the Reuters news agency.

The tip line is supported by a variety of firms that do business abroad, including Wal-Mart, Tyco, and UPS, according to a report from the Associated Press.

Via a secure, multilingual website, company employees can anonymously report any bribe demands. According to the Times of London, no names are used, and the information is not intended for use by law enforcement officials.

Instead, the data will be used to map out the worst offenders among local officials, government ministries, police departments, and international organizations.

The organization sponsoring the website, Trace International, will not attempt to verify the information and acknowledges that there is a risk of false information being posted, although the group’s president says she believes the risk of malicious reporting is low, according to the Australian Age.

From CareerBuilder.com and Kelly Services:

“CareerBuilder.com and Kelly Services released the results of a new study, conducted by Harris Interactive, of diverse workers and non-diverse workers across the country. The purpose of the study was to gauge the frequency, severity and occasion for perceptions of discrimination or unfair treatment in the workplace, whether employee diversity is valued and how diversity impacts hiring decisions, compensation and career advancement. While the list of factors that makes one diverse is wide-ranging, this study focused primarily on workers in seven groups: 1) African American 2) Hispanic 3) Asian 4) Female 5) Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender (GLBT) 6) Individuals with disabilities and 7) Mature workers age 50 or older.

“Twenty-three percent of diverse workers said they have been discriminated against or treated unfairly in the workplace based on their diverse background. Individuals with disabilities reported the highest incidence at 44 percent of workers while Asian workers and mature workers reported the lowest incidence at 21 percent each. The other diverse groups in this study averaged 28 percent (African American 30 percent; Hispanic 29 percent; Female 25 percent; and GLBT 28 percent).

“Discrimination was not limited to those who classified themselves as diverse. Fifteen percent of non-diverse workers (defined as Caucasian males who are not GLBT, disabled or age 50 or older) said they felt discriminated against or treated unfairly in their workplace based on their non-diverse background.

“While half (55 percent) of diverse workers who experienced discrimination or unfair treatment categorized it as moderate, nearly one-in-five (19 percent) described it as severe. Among those reporting severe discrimination, Asian and Hispanic workers reported the highest levels (26 percent), followed by African American workers (22 percent), mature workers (16 percent), GLBT workers (13 percent) and workers with disabilities (11 percent).

“…Workers with disabilities reported the highest incidence of experiencing discrimination or unfair treatment on a daily basis at 5 percent. Workers with disabilities, mature workers and female workers reported the highest incidence of experiencing discrimination or unfair treatment at least once a week at 38 percent, 34 percent and 31 percent respectively…. GLBT workers reported the highest incidence (60 percent) of experiencing discrimination or unfair treatment in the workplace once a month….

” ‘While employers have come a considerable way in implementing fair and equal workplace practices, this study indicates that there is still much room for improvement,’ said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of Human Resources at CareerBuilder.com. ‘Diverse perspectives fuel rich idea generation, creativity and strong business performance. Companies that are not fostering a work environment that embraces and cultivates diversity and open communications are working against themselves.’

“Unfortunately, most of the discrimination or unfair treatment goes unaddressed. Half (50 percent) of diverse workers who experienced discrimination or unfair treatment said they did not report the incident. Of these workers, 64 percent said they didn’t think reporting the incident would make a difference while 35 percent feared being labeled as a trouble-maker and 32 percent feared losing their jobs….

“When asked why those being discriminated against stay with their current employer, more than half (64 percent) said they couldn’t afford to quit….”

“Elderly people and those in authority cannot always be relied upon to take enlightened and comprehending views of what they call the indiscretions of youth.”

– Sir Winston Churchill (British statesman and prime minister, 1874-1965)