Sherree L. Kassuba
Some people are blind to the fact that there is a limit to how many people can exist on this earth. Their knowledge of how population is supposed to be controlled by disease, famine and war is very limited. They only know about how clever individuals have postponed the mechanics that would control our population. Some people have just recently become aware of our limits to our natural resources and environmental problems.
In 1974 the General Assembly passed a resolution designating that year as World Population Year. The act was seen as a culmination to a long process of concern and as the precursor of a new and vast commitment by the nations and people of the world to the principle of population planning. World Population Year had five main objectives:.
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1. To improve knowledge of and information on the facts concerning population trends and prospects in both developed and developing countries.
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2. To sharpen awareness and to heighten appreciation of population problems and their implications by individual governments, by nongovernmental organizations and by scientific institutions.
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3. To promote effective education on population, family life and reproductive functions through formal and other educational systems.
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4. To promote the consideration of demographic factors in development planning and the development of policies and programs in population fields which individual governments might wish to undertake.
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5. To expand the international co-operation in population fields and to increase the supply of suitable technical assistance to countries which desire it, and in accordance with their needs.
The highlight of the year was the World Population Conference which brought together government leaders and international specialists to study and exchange views on population issues and to examine a draft World Population Plan of Action being formulated by the Secretary General with the assistance of an Advisory Committee of Experts on Global Population Strategy. The goals of World Population Year were countries in which rapid population growth is now occurring should consider seeking to reduce their rates of natural increase to less than 1.5% a year over the next two decades. And relatively low fertility countries that are already growing more slowly than this should seek to approach more closely a stationary population level over the next 20 years.
Here in this country we just finished the 1980 census. A census is taken every ten years and is made by the government. The census is the population of a strictly defined territory and it includes every person in that area without omission or duplication. Censuses furnish not only information about the population at a given time but, in combination, no less significant data about its development over a period. Censuses are typically restricted to factual questions to which there is a single truthful reply. The 1980 census will not be available to the public until January 1981, but some city counts are being written up in newspapers. According to the census count for New Haven, its current population is around 116,000. Ten years ago, the city’s population was 137,000. The new figures came as a rude shock, a 15.4% decline. What has been happening? For one thing, the population per household has been declining in recent years because of different life styles, more senior citizens, fewer children and high divorce rates.
The single most important factor in a country’s reproductive rate is the motivation of the people toward the regulation of family size. The desire for a small family is critical. If a couple is determined not to have more than two children, they usually will not, regardless of whether there is a birth control clinic down the street. If the motivation is weak, the practice of birth control is likely to be a sometime thing, although the motivation often grows with the number of children in the family.
A great many socioeconomic factors affect the reproductive goals of individuals and of a society. Among these are the general education level, the degree of urbanization, the social status of women, the opportunities open to women for employment outside the home and educating each child. The higher or greater each of these factors is the lower fertility generally will be. Other factors, such as the average age at marriage, especially of women, the degree of tolerance for illegitimate births or the usual length of breast feeding also can directly affect the fertility rates. No form of population control, even the most coercive or repressive, will succeed for long unless individuals understand the need for it and accept the idea that humanity must limit its numbers. The ultimate key to population control lies in changing human attitudes concerning reproductive behavior and goals in all societies.
The word education conjures visions of structured learning environments, textbooks, teachers, desks, research, etc. However, much education is the result of simple observation and everyday living experience. We must realize that education is not shaped only by the school, but also by the family, business, churches, government and especially friends. An important role of education is that it should be exciting. One general approach to educating the people is to show how population issues are related to almost every facet of our lives; where we live, the size of our families, the zoning of our communities. Population is woven into our whole life, it does not stand alone.
In late 1968, a new organization was founded, Zero Population Growth. The public response to the organization has been quite enthusiastic and also has a wide appeal to professional demographers and other groups within the scientific community. The goals are reduction of fertility to the replacement level and ultimate zero growth and population stabilization. It hopes to achieve these goals by (1) educating the public to the dangers of uncontrolled population growth and its relation to resources, environmental and social problems; and (2) by lobbying and taking other political action to encourage the development of antinatalist policies in government. In 1971 ZPG had over 40,000 members in 400 chapters in the United States and sister organizations had been established in Australia and Canada.
Population control is the conscious regulation of population size by society. Given the threat to our environment and the menace this represents to our already faltering ability to provide food enough for today’s population, it is clear that the human population cannot afford any further growth and will soon have to decline. No nation has yet adopted as a goal the reduction of its population growth rate to zero.
Bernard Berelson of the Population Council has analyzed and rated several proposed population control measures according to these criteria: technological, political, administrative and economic feasibility; ethical acceptability and presumed effectiveness. Most proposals that might be expected to be effective were rated relatively unacceptable on one basis or another. Among proposed general approaches to population control are family planning, the use of socioeconomic pressures and compulsory fertility control. Maximum freedom of choice is provided by traditional family planning, which allows each couple to plan the number and spacing of their children. But family planning alone should not be regarded as “population control” because it includes no consideration of optimum population size for the society, nor does it influence parental goals. The use of abortion and voluntary sterilization to supplement other forms of birth control can quite properly be included as part of family planning. These methods can be made available at costs everyone can afford. An extension of family planning that would include legal abortion and sterilization wherever acceptable, might be the first step toward population control. Family planning programs can provide the means of contraception and through their activities and educational campaigns can spread awareness of the idea of birth control among the people.
Population control through the use of socioeconomic pressures to encourage or discourage reproduction is the approach advocated by many. The objective of this approach would be to influence the attitudes and motivations of individual couples. An important part of such an approach would be a large-scale educational program to persuade people of the advantages of small families, to themselves and to society. Information on birth control, of course, should accompany such educational efforts. As U.S. taxpayers know, the federal government uses economic pressure in its present income tax laws to encourage marriage and childbearing. Tax laws should be adjusted to favor, instead of penalize single people, working wives and small families. Perhaps they should even penalize large families that have incomes above certain levels. Tax measures in the U.S. and other countries might also include marriage fees, taxes on luxury baby goods and toys.
A somewhat different approach might be to provide incentives for late marriage and childlessness. Possibilities include paying a bonus to a first time bride over 25 years old, a bonus could also be given to couples after five childless years or to men who accept vasectomies after their wives have a given number of children. Adoption can be encouraged through subsidies and simplified procedures, particularly, as a measure to satisfy couples who have a definite desire for a child.
Social pressures on both men and women to marry and have children must be removed. If society were convinced of the need for low birth rates, no doubt the stigma that has customarily been assigned to singles and childless couples would soon disappear.
Compulsory control of family size is an unpleasant idea to many, but the alternatives may be much worse. Some governments practice involuntary population control, these usually being the poorer, less educated, overpopulated countries. Most times these countries use vasectomies on all fathers of three or more children, or a program of sterilizing women after their second or third child. They don’t educate their people about contraceptives or family planning because it is easier, they say, to sterilize the people than to educate them and sometimes there is an automatic limit put on the number of children allowed per family. Even sometimes there are economic sanctions put on couples if the number of children is over the nation,s limit.
There are many people proposing possibilities for coercive control of population. Some of the developments are: the development of a sterilizing capsule that can be implanted under the skin and removed when pregnancy is desired, issue each woman at marriage a marketable license that would entitle her to a given number of children, adding a sterilant to drinking water or staple foods, a sterilizing virus could be developed with an antidote available by injection. Some of these forms of sterilization seem inhuman and discriminate against particular groups, but if something isn’t done in some nations about overpopulation, these forms might have to go into action. And I think most people really wouldn’t want these actions developed for the overpopulated countries of the world, when education is all these people really need.
Activities
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1. Population Studies Week
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Organize a week during the unit or right after the unit to raise the general consciousness of your class, the student body or maybe even the community on the implications of overpopulation. I would use the multimedia and seminar approach which would include seminars, speakers, films, slides and posters. Groups that may come and speak would be ZPG, Right to Life, Planned Parenthood, Yale Medical School. And devote each day to a different aspect, such as “Is population a problem?”, “What can be done?”, etc. I would think people would respond well to this week.
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2. Human Population of New Haven
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What this activity includes is a class field trip to Grove Street Cemetery to examine old grave stones and try and determine how long people lived for and why. The class would gather the following information: birthdate (month and year), date of death, age of death, and sex on the worksheet. Include children as well as adults. Select a certain time period to look for, people born after 1850 for example and
compare it with the early 19th century people born before 1800. List at least 25 people. Then, back in the classroom compare between male and female and how long they lived. If a reason for death was put on the grave stone put that down on your worksheet. Then as a class determine why most people didn’t live as long as they do now. (diseases, childbirth, etc.)
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3. Survey about Overcrowding
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As a class put together a survey on overcrowding to hand out to the students and/or the community. Asking questions like “how long do you stand in line in the supermarket? gas station? etc. What are some of the problems caused by population growth? What population growth means and what we need? I’m sure the class could come up with a lot of questions to ask people about overcrowding.
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4. The class can make up different charts and graphs using the 1980’s census to do the birth and death rates of New Haven, Connecticut, and the United States. These charts and graphs can be made large enough to display in the classroom.
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5. Write a report on family planning programs in other countries like China, India, Japan, Russia.
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6. Research various wars here in the U.S. and other countries and what they have done to the human population and then write a report on the material.
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7. Write a creative paper comparing the population in 1980 and how it will be in the future. (1990, 2000, 2050, etc.)
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8. Set up a classroom library on population. Gather pamphlets, booklets, and other resources gotten from different groups on population, birth control, environmental and resource problems. Also see what your school library has on the subject.
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9. Write an informative pamphlet on population as a class to be handed out to the school so they are aware of population problems.
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10. Vocabulary words that should be defined as they apply to this unit.
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a. birth rate
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n. conception
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b. death rate
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o. contraceptives
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c. demographer
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p. U.S. Census Bureau
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d. fertility rate
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q. age structure
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e. reproductive age
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r. population control
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f. planned parenthood
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s. ZPG
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g. the pill
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t. voluntary population control
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h. IUD
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u. women’s liberation movement
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i. diaphragm
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v. involuntary population control
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j. condom
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w. vasectomy
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k. vaginal contraceptives
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x. sterilization
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1. rhythm method
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m. tubal ligation
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11. Questions to be used throughout the unit for class discussions.
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a. If population refers to more than fertility control, what does “population” mean?
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b. What social structures and stresses affect family size? Employment opportunities? The changing roles of women?
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c. Are family patterns changing, and if so, what is the effect of these changes on growing elderly populations and alternative family styles.
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d. What is the role of family planning in population programs? Is it effective in limiting population growth?
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e. Should family planning encourage people to have only the number of children they want : no matter how large that number is?
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f. What forms of family planning services have priority in your community? Contraceptions? Abortion? Sterilization?
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g. What factors determine where people live?
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h. Do international economic and political structures affect population size?
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i. Can these structures be manipulated? How and by whom?
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j. What is the potential impact of ZPG on national and local economies?
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k. Does a no-growth population mean that we must adapt to a no-growth economy?
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1. What are the components of a good and successful sex education program?
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m. What realistic objectives should be set for these programs?
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n. What is the difference between population education and sex education?
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o. What is the purpose of population education?
