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W. Dennis Duggan, FCJ© April 2007

“If The American Way of LifeFails the Child, It Fails Us All”

Pearl S. Buck

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______________________________________________

IN THE HIGH COURT FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIESOF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS_____________________________________________________________________

In The Matter of The CHILDREN of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICAand of The SEVERAL STATES

Petitioners,

Alleged To Be Neglected By Docket # 20-20-07NEGLECT PETITION

The Governments of The UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and of the SEVERAL STATES.

Respondents._____________________________________________________________________

The CHILDREN of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA respectfully allege to theHIGH COURT FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURTOF JUSTICE as follows:

1. We are the 75 million of the 300 million citizens of the United States ofAmerica who are under the age of 18.

2. We are the children who live in a country where the infant mortality rateranks 36th among all nations—two behind Cuba!

3. We are the children who live in a country where our life expectancy atbirth ranks 37 among all nations—14 behind Jordan!th

4. We are the children whose government is the only nation in the World thathas not ratified the International Convention on the Rights of Children,with the exception of Somalia.

5. Among our group, 12 million of us live in poverty.

6. Among our group, 9 million of us have no health insurance.

7. Among our group, 9.6 million of us have special health needs.

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8. Among our group who are age 16-24, 3.75 million of us are high schooldropouts.

9. Among our group who are female and black, 60% of us will have childrenbefore the age of 21 with men we will never marry.

10. Among our group who are poor or black, 50% of us will never graduatefrom high school. A black man will have a better chance of going to jailthan to college. The unemployment rate for black male high schooldropouts is 72%.

11. Among our group who are minority and male, we will eventually contribute70% of those in our prisons and jails. A black male with a high schooldegree will still have a 3 in 10 chance of spending time in prison. Thosewithout a high school degree will have a 6 in 10 chance.

12. From our group, we contribute one of every three poor persons inAmerica.

13. Among our group are millions of children in the State of New York who aredeprived of their Constitutional right to a sound basic education by a fundingsystem that is gamed by politicians who represent wealthy school districts.

14. Among our group, we who are teenage single parents will be condemned torepeat the cycle of our parents but under worse conditions and in highernumbers.

15. Our group will be left by this governing generation with a national debt of $9trillion to be paid by ourselves and our children and our children’s childrenand their children’s children.

16. We are the only segment of society completely without political power. Wecan not vote. We have no money to donate to political campaigns. We haveno jet planes to take politicians to Super Bowls. We have no ranches towhich we can invite important people to hunt. We have no ski chalets inAspen to entertain congressmen on weekends. We have no PAC’s or 527Organizations to influence elections with money.

.Wherefore: We, the Children of the United States of America, ask for Judgment

Against the Government of the United States and of the Several States Finding That TheyHave Neglected Us, the Children of this Nation, and Ordering Them To Provide Us WithSafe Streets and Clean Air, with Health Care until We Are Adults and with Decent Schoolsthat Will Graduate All of Us. We Ask Only of Those Who Have Chosen To Lead Us, ThatThey Give Us a Chance and not Hold Us Back.______________________________________________________________________

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So, I was just thinking....what couldwe do with, say, $500 billion? Thatamount is the current costs of the war inIraq. A recent Harvard study projectedthat the costs alone of treating and caringfor the Iraqi war Vets for the duration oftheir lives could be $750 billion. Someestimate that the total costs of the war willbe $1.5 trillion if you consider rebuildingcosts after the killing ends, replacementof equipment, interest on the amountsborrowed to fund the war, and medicalcosts for wounded veterans. But let’s juststick with $500 billion. You can decide foryourself if this particular expenditure of$500 billion was or is worth it----or, Ishould say, worth it to your childrenbecause we have borrowed the entireamount to fund the war, primarily from theChinese.

By the way, the United State’smilitary budget is greater than the militarybudgets of the next largest seventeenspenders combined. America accountsfor 43% of the world’s total militaryexpenditures. And of the national debtyou ask? It is approaching $9 trillion atthe rate of close to $2 billion per day.Each person in America owes about$30,000.

So, with that for a perspective, let’slook for another perspective. The City ofAlbany recently built a beautiful middleschool for 650 students. It cost $34million. $500 billion would build fifteenthousand new middle schools like this for10 million students. If the schools wereapportioned among the states, New Yorkwould get 800 new middle schools for520,000 students. Albany County wouldget 14 new schools for 9,000 students.This would be the equivalent of providingnew schools for the entire K-12enrollment for the City of Albany

You could do the same math for

medical clinics or roads or bridges orparks or libraries or senior citizen centersor nursing homes or anything that wouldactually improve our communities and ourquality of life. Of course, if you spent$500 billion that way, 3,200 people wouldnot die nor would 18,000 people beinjured and nothing would be destroyedand then have to be rebuilt—but we areignoring collateral benefits in thishypothetical.

The funding of our schools in NewYork is a good example of the criminalneglect of our politicians toward poorchildren. The New York State Court ofAppeals ruled that the formulas used tocompute State school aid for localitiescheated the City of New York (and byimplication, other poor districts). If youlooked behind the curtain, you would findthat the politicians would first figure theaid shares and then work back to devisethe formulas. Of course, any school childwould be flunked for cheating if caughtdoing something like that on a test.1

The result of this dishonesty—theCity of New York spends about $8,600per child for general education and$16,000 per child for special education.In the City of Albany, the numbers are$8,400 and $17,600. Hidden in thesenumbers is the fact that both districtshave a high percentage of children inpoverty who qualify for free lunches andwho receive special education. In NewYork City 28% of the students are belowthe poverty line and 76% receive a freelunch. In the City of Albany, 31% arebelow the poverty line and 73% get a freelunch. Astonishingly, the City of Albanyspends 41% of its education budget onspecial education students. New YorkCity spends 26%.

On the other hand, the wealthycommunity of Mineloa on Long Island

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1. The litigation history of the cases to reform education financing in New York is so long (14years) and so complex that I would recommend delving into the cases only if you are retired and

spends $14,750 per pupil for generaleducation and $27,600 per pupil forspecial education. In Mineola, only 10%of the students are at the poverty leveland only 4% qualify for free lunches. Therich kids are different, they have moremoney. God bless the child who has hisown. Jonathan Kozol, the national2

champion for poor children, described itdifferently in the title to one of his books.He called it “Savage Inequalities.”

Among the Western industrializednations, why does the USA have theworst record for disregarding children?Here is my list.

1. In America, every political issuegets spun and spun and spun untilall the truth is wrung out. But spin,unlike a lie, has no respect for thetruth. “It does not oppose the truthlike a lie.” It disregards the truth.3

It disrespects the truth. So, thepolicies that would help childrenget spun—sucked—into thepolitics of such issues as abortion,health care, welfare, workfare, gayadoptions, gay marriages, schoolvouchers, and charter schools.These issues are then spun andspun until rational and respectfulpublic discourse is impossible.The arguments from the extremesare then able to shout down allmoderate voices in the middle.

2. In America, groups with nopolitical power are disregardedand children have no politicalpower.

3. The exception to rule #2 occurswhen a child dies tragically. Thenpoliticians fall all over themselvestrying to be the first ones to file abill named __________’s Law.(Just fill in the name of the latestvictim. Megan’s Law, Kristen’s law,Jennifer’s law, Amber’s Law,Aimee’s Law, Jacob’s Law, AdamWalsh Act, Hillary and Samantha’sLaw, Bryan’s Law, Brian’s Law,Jeanne’s Law, Amy’s Law,Cassie’s Law, Katie’s Law,Michael’s Law, Lizzie’s Law.)

3. Most parents of poor children don’t vote and we disregard groups that don’t vote.

4. Most disregarded children are poor and we disregard the poor.

5. Most disregarded poor children are minorities and we disregard minorities.

6. We all firmly believe we havefully earned and that we aredeserving of whatever successand bounty that entered our lives.After all, God helps those who helpthemselves—doesn’t he/she?4

Besides, if you are poor you mustnot be working (or praying) hardenough.

Anyway, as I said, I was justthinking. “Lisa, get me Andy Rooney andDilbert.”

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have finished mastering Descartes, Spinoza, Nietzsche and Hegel. Here, however are a couple ofkernel’s of insight.

The constitution requires that the Legislature provide free common schools for allstudents. This has been interpreted to mean that what must be provided is a “sound basiceducation.” That phrase has been further interpreted to mean that the Legislature has the duty toteach “the basic literacy, calculating, and verbal skills necessary to enable children to eventuallyfunction productively as civic participants capable of voting and serving on a jury.”(CFE v. State,86 NY2d 307, 316 [1995])

To determine if the legislature was meeting its duty the court, in the CFE (Campaign forFiscal Equity) law suits looked at the inputs and outputs of education. For example, if a schoolwere an auto plant, the court would look at the factory, the quality of the fabricating machines,the materials used and the training and skills of the workers. This would be the input side. Onthe output side, they would look at how good a car was manufactured. At some level, there is apresumption that a sufficient amount of money invested by the factory owner will result in agood car being made. Because the New York State Constitution mandates that, for educationpurposes, the Toyota school and the Ford school ought to be producing equally good students,within an acceptable range, the Legislature must insure that each is funded to accomplish thattask. This does not mean equal funding. For example if two children were each brought to theemergency room, one with a fever of 101 and the other with 106, the hospital has the duty tointervene with adequate (but not extraordinary) treatment to bring each student’s temperaturedown to 98.6—even if it costs more to treat the child with the higher fever. So to with schooldistricts.

2. “GOD BLESS THE CHILD” Billie Holiday, Arthur Herzog, Jr.

“Them that's got shall get, Them that's not shall lose. So the Bible said and it still is news.Mama may have, Papa may have, But God bless the child that's got his own, That's got his own.

Yes, the strong gets more, While the weak ones fade, Empty pockets don't ever make thegrade, Mama may have, Papa may have, But God bless the child that's got his own, That's got hisown.

Money, you've got lots of friends, Crowding round the door. When you're gone, spendingends, They don't come no more. Rich relations give Crust of bread, and such You can helpyourself, But don't take too much. Mama may have, Papa may have, But God bless the childthat's got his own That's got his own.

Mama may have, Papa may have, But God bless the child that's got his own That's got hisown. He just worry 'bout nothin' Cause he's got his own.

3. This concept is that of Harry G. Frankfurt, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Princeton and is fully explored in his book On Bullshit, Princeton University Press, 2005.

4. This phrase is not in the Bible. It does appear in the 1738 edition of Ben Franklin’s “Poor Richard’s Almanac,” but its true origins are unknown.