Following my earlier post on this, Ingrid Robeyns at Crooked Timber sheds some more light on the happiness of Dutch kids in particular. As I suspected, generous public arrangements as well as socially liberal attitudes explain quite a bit here, but it is clear that such policies do not necessarily work in any jurisdiction, ie. the Dutch cultural and physical setting somehow makes them work better. What is also noteworthy however in Robeyns’ piece is the observation that certain hierarchical structures which should in the end be to the benefit of children are under serious pressure:

“ … educational reforms in the last decades which have propagated the so-called “New Learning”, whereby children have been given more autonomy in deciding what to learn, and in learning to collect information and present information and opinions, rather than actually learning knowledge. Are French and German too difficult? Then why bother learning it, no-one forces you to do so. Why study history or geography if you can find all information in Wikipedia? In the Dutch debate, there is a consensus emerging that the educational reforms and this ‘New Learning’ have done more harm than good, and that children are increasingly lacking sufficient knowledge and skills in mathematics, sciences, and writing skills. In short, I think that these anti-hierarchical views on children’s education, whereby children are seen as equals to their parents and teachers, have harmed the children educational capital in the long run.

Indeed, excessive individualism combined with its inherent anarchical tendencies has started to produce that we may consider a ‘rudderless’ generation. Sure, in the short term this may produce children that are unusually well and happy in their overall being, but in the long run it may lead to some very disgruntled citizens whose social compass and lack of proper learning will add an additional cost to society. And that as I have explained at lengths before is one of the key issues facing most western societies.

Also, for the demographically inclined, it is important to note that despite the lavish taxpayer funded arrangements that support families with children, the Dutch birth rate remains remarkably low.