Deck 4: Children Are Our Most Precious Commodity

Question 1

The infant mortality rate ______.

A) is very low in the United States
B) is not considered an important indicator of how a society treats its children
C) gauges the number of deaths per 1,000 live births for children under 1 year of age
D) is typically lowest in developing nations

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The U.S. infant mortality rate is on par with the rate found in ______.

A) Chile
B) Cuba
C) Canada
D) Iceland

Answer 2

A

Question 3

In their essay on children, Ruane and Cerulo argue that ______.

A) U.S. infant mortality rates indicate a discrepancy between our "ideal" and "real" cultural values about children
B) U.S. culture is remarkably consistent with regard to its views of and treatment of children
C) high fertility rates in the United States are a clear indicator of the positive value we place on children
D) the United States is the only industrialized nation of the world that has fertility rates above "replacement level"

Answer 3

A

Question 4

According to the Second Thoughts essay on children ______.

A) compared to other nations of the world, the United States has a very impressive record at fighting childhood poverty
B) the United States spends more money than other OECD nations fighting childhood poverty
C) in the US "group" portrait of the poor, more than one-third of the faces belong to children
D) compared to other nations of the world, the United States has a very impressive record at fighting childhood poverty and the United States spends more money than other OECD nations fighting childhood poverty

Question 5

Replacement-level fertility ______.

A) is the level needed for a population to renew itself without growing
B) becomes less important an issue as populations age
C) is more of an academic issue than a real policy concern
D) All of these choices are correct.

Question 6

Technically, low-income families are ______.

A) those found to be below the federal poverty level
B) those above the federal poverty level but below that deemed necessary for meeting basic needs
C) those utilizing TANF
D) those that qualify for TANF

Question 7

The U.S. birth rate ______.

A) is significantly above replacement-level fertility
B) is significantly below replacement-level fertility
C) hovers around replacement-level fertility
D) has been steadily increasing over the last few decades

Question 8

Among the rich OECD nations of the world ______.

A) the United States does the best job of fighting childhood poverty
B) the United States employs a very modern metric for calculating poverty
C) the United States has the highest childhood poverty rate
D) All of these choices are correct.

Question 9

According to Second Thoughts, a leading cause of death for U.S. babies is ______.

A) guns
B) injuries from auto accidents
C) emotional abuse
D) suicides

Question 10

Ideal culture refers to ______.

A) actual cultural practices
B) a culture dominated by ideal types
C) real culture
D) aspirational culture

Question 11

Real culture refers to ______.

A) the culture that is actually practiced
B) the "underside" of any culture
C) the values, beliefs, and norms to which we aspire
D) culture void of values

Question 12

Currently, the U.S. birth rate is ______.

A) at an all-time high
B) at an all-time low
C) is above that needed for replacement of the population
D) is rising

Question 13

The general fertility rate in the United States ______.

A) has been trending downward for years
B) has been increasing since the great recession
C) is also known as the total fertility rate
D) hit an all-time low at the turn of the 20th century

Question 14

By 2035, it is expected that ______.

A) children will outnumber all other age groups in the United States
B) the 65+ age group will be larger than the U.S. child population
C) the middle-aged segment of the population will be the largest segment
D) the size of the U.S. population will be much smaller than it is today

Question 15

The essay on children argues that ______.

A) a society where the elderly population is larger than the youth population is socially untenable
B) the ideal social structure will have an even proportion of all age groups
C) our ideal culture's valuing of children is misguided
D) it is socially misguided to have ideal and real culture out of sync with each other